Tuesday, July 8, 2008

[EQ] Limitations on human rights: are they justifiable to reduce the burden of TB in the era of MDR- and XDR-TB?

Limitations on human rights:
are they justifiable to reduce the burden of TB in the era of MDR- and XDR-TB?

 

Andrea Boggio, Department of History and Social Sciences, Bryant University, Smithfield, Rhode Island, USA.

Ernesto Jaramillo, Paul Nunn, Mario Raviglione, and Matteo Zignol, Stop TB Department, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland.

Geneviève Pinet, Department of Ethics, Trade, Human Rights, and Health Law, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland
Health and Human Rights - Published by the François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights within the Harvard School of Public Health
June 27th, 2008

Available online at: http://hhrjournal.org/blog/perspectives/limitations-on-human-rights-are-they-justifiable/

 

“…..Tuberculosis, in all its forms, poses a serious, demonstrable threat to the health of countless individuals as well as to health as a public good. MDR-TB and, in particular, the emergence of XDR-TB, have re-opened the debate on the importance, and nature, of treatment supervision for basic TB control and the management of drug-resistant TB. Enforcing compulsory measures regarding TB patients raises questions of respect for human rights. Yet, international law provides for rights-limiting principles, which would justify enforcing compulsory measures against TB patients who refuse to have diagnostic procedures or who refuse to be monitored and treated once disease is confirmed.


This article analyzes under what circumstances compulsory measures for TB patients may be enforced under international law. Compulsory measures for TB patients may, in fact, be justified on legal grounds provided that these measures are foreseen in the law, that they are used as a last resort, and that safeguards are in place to protect affected individuals. The deadly nature of the disease, its epidemiology, the high case fatality rate, and the speed at which the disease leads to death when associated with HIV are proven….”

 

MDR-TB à  Multi-drug resistant tuberculosis

XDR-TB  à  Extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB)

 

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[EQ] The Health Care Systems Of China And India: Performance And Future Challenges

The Health Care Systems of China and India: Performance And Future Challenges

 

Winnie Yip associate professor and Ajay Mahal assistant professor of international health economics at the Harvard School of Public Health in Cambridge, Massachusetts

Health Affairs, July/August 2008 -  Volume 27, No. 4 (2008): 921-932

 

Available online at:   http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/full/27/4/921

 

“….Both China and India have recently committed to injecting new public funds into health care. Both countries are now deciding how best to channel the additional funds to produce benefits for their populations. In this paper we analyze how well the health care systems of China and India have performed and what determines their performance.

 

Based on the analysis, we suggest that money alone, channeled through insurance and infrastructure strengthening, is inadequate to address the current problems of unaffordable health care and heavy financial risk, and the future challenges posed by aging populations that are increasingly affected by noncommunicable diseases. …”

 

 

PERSPECTIVE

The State Of Health Services In China And India: A Larger Context


Pranab Bardhan, professor of economics at the University of California, Berkeley

 

Available at: http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/full/27/4/933

 

“…..In this paper the problems of health services in China and India are related to some structural features of the two economies. Some similarities and differences exist across these two countries in terms of political economy, with differential results. Both countries have experienced remarkable economic growth during the past quarter-century, but this has not always translated into improvements in health for the poor.

 

Although China used to have an egalitarian basic public health service, the system has become quite inegalitarian during the past quarter-century, with the disintegration of the communes and adoption of fee-based services under a system of decentralized public finance. India’s health system has remained inegalitarian throughout…”

 

Table of Content at: http://content.healthaffairs.org/current.shtml

 

From the Editor  -  Global Health: Challenges Without Borders - Susan Dentzer

 

Reform Goes Global  - PROLOGUE: China And India: Reform Goes Global

 

The Health Care Systems Of China And India: Performance And Future Challenges

Winnie Yip and Ajay Mahal

 

From A National, Centrally Planned Health System To A System Based On The Market: Lessons From China

Jin Ma, Mingshan Lu, and Hude Quan

 

Regulating Health Care Markets In China And India

Gerald Bloom, Barun Kanjilal, and David H. Peters

 

 Specialty Care Systems: A Pioneering Vision For Global Health

Aman Bhandari, Sandra Dratler, Kristiana Raube, and R.D. Thulasiraj

 

PERSPECTIVE: When Incentives And Professionalism Collide - William C. Hsiao

 

PERSPECTIVE: Improving Health Services In India: A Different Perspective - Julian Schweitzer

 

PERSPECTIVE: The Evolution Of Health Insurance In India And China  - Mark V. Pauly

 

Paying For Care 

   PROLOGUE: Paying For Care

 

Financing Health Improvements In India

Anil B. Deolalikar, Dean T. Jamison, Prabhat Jha, and Ramanan Laxminarayan

 

Decentralization And Public Delivery Of Health Care Services In India - Nirvikar Singh

 

 Health Insurance In China And India: Segmented Roles For Public And Private Financing

Ashoke S. Bhattacharjya and Puneet K. Sapra

 

 

Social Health Insurance And Drug Spending Among Cancer Inpatients In China

Bo Zhou, Li Yang, Qingmin Sun, Haijuan Gu, and Bin Wang

 

Biotech & Drugs 

 

The Indian And Chinese Health Biotechnology Industries: Potential Champions Of Global Health?

Sarah E. Frew, Hannah E. Kettler, and Peter A. Singer

 

 Pharmaceutical Policy In China - Qiang Sun, Michael A. Santoro, Qingyue Meng, Caitlin Liu, and Karen Eggleston

 

Disease & Demography 

 

 The Health Of Aging Populations In China And India

Somnath Chatterji, Paul Kowal, Colin Mathers, Nirmala Naidoo, Emese Verdes, James P. Smith, and Richard Suzman

 

Will China’s Nutrition Transition Overwhelm Its Health Care System And Slow Economic Growth?

Barry M. Popkin

 

 Finding A Policy Solution To India’s Diabetes Epidemic - Karen Siegel, K.M. Venkat Narayan, and Sanjay Kinra

 

Tackling HIV In India: Evidence-Based Priority Setting And Programming - Mariam Claeson and Ashok Alexander

 

INTERVIEW: China’s Latest Health Reforms: A Conversation With Chinese Health Minister Chen Zhu  - Tsung-Mei Cheng

 

Health Tracking 

MARKETWATCH: The Impact Of Consumer-Directed Health Plans On Prescription Drug Use

Jessica Greene, Judith Hibbard, James F. Murray, Steven M. Teutsch, and Marc L. Berger

 

MARKETWATCH: Do Consumer-Directed Health Plans Drive Change In Enrollees’ Health Care Behavior?

Anna Dixon, Jessica Greene, and Judith Hibbard

 

TRENDS: Medicare Psychiatric Admissions, 1987–2004: Does The Past Offer Insights For The Future?

Philip G. Cotterill

 

FROM THE FIELD: Rapid Antiretroviral Therapy Scale-Up In Hubei Province, China

Renslow Sherer, Xien Gui, Faxian Zhan, Caroline Teter, Diana Liu Ping, and Randolph F. Wykoff

 

 

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         This message from the Pan American Health Organization, PAHO/WHO, is part of an effort to disseminate 
         information Related to: Equity; Health inequality; Socioeconomic inequality in health; Socioeconomic 
         health differentials; Gender; Violence; Poverty; Health Economics; Health Legislation; Ethnicity; Ethics; 
         Information Technology - Virtual libraries; Research & Science issues.  [DD/ KM
S Area] 

         “Materials provided in this electronic list are provided "as is". Unless expressly stated otherwise, the findings
         and interpretations included in the Materials are those of the authors and not necessarily of The Pan American
         Health Organization PAHO/WHO or its country members”.

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    IMPORTANT: This transmission is for use by the intended recipient and it may contain privileged, proprietary or confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient or a person responsible for delivering this transmission to the intended recipient, you may not disclose, copy or distribute this transmission or take any action in reliance on it. If you received this transmission in error, please notify us immediately by email to infosec@paho.org, and please dispose of and delete this transmission. Thank you.  

[EQ] The Chronic Poverty Report 2008-09

The Chronic Poverty Report 2008-09

 

Chronic Poverty Research Centre CPRC - UK’s Department for International Development (DFID)

July 2008

 

Available online PDF [164p.] at: http://www.chronicpoverty.org/pubfiles/CPR2_whole_report.pdf

 

‘…..Over the last five years, in an era of unprecedented global wealth creation, the number of people living in chronic poverty has increased. Between 320 and 443 million people are now trapped in poverty that lasts for many years, often for their entire lifetime. Their children frequently inherit chronic poverty, if they survive infancy. Many chronically poor people die prematurely from easily preventable health problems.

 

For the chronically poor, poverty is not simply about having a very low income: it is about multidimensional deprivation – hunger, undernutrition, illiteracy, unsafe drinking water, lack of access to basic health services, social discrimination, physical insecurity and political exclusion. Whichever way one frames the problem of chronic poverty – as human suffering, as vulnerability, as a basic needs failure, as the abrogation of human rights, as degraded citizenship – one thing is clear.

Widespread chronic poverty occurs in a world that has the knowledge and resources to eradicate it.

 

This report argues that tackling chronic poverty is the global priority for our generation. There are robust ethical grounds for arguing that chronically poor people merit the greatest international, national and personal attention and effort. Tackling chronic poverty is vital if our world is to achieve an acceptable level of justice and fairness.

There are also strong pragmatic reasons for doing so. Addressing chronic poverty sooner rather than later will achieve much greater results at a dramatically lower cost. More broadly, reducing chronic poverty provides global public benefits, in terms of political and economic stability and public health….”

 

“….Priority goes to two policy areas – social protection (Chapter 3) and public services for the hard to reach (Chapter 5) – that can spearhead the assault on chronic poverty. Alongside these are anti-discrimination and gender empowerment (Chapter 5), building individual and collective assets (Chapters 3, 4 and 6) and strategic urbanisation and migration (Chapters 4 and 5). Working together, these policies reduce chronic poverty directly and create and maintain a just social compact that will underpin long-term efforts to eradicate chronic poverty (Chapter 6). Such social compacts ensure a distribution of public goods and services that contributes to justice and fairness….”

 

Content:

 

PART A – Chronic poverty as a key policy issue

Chapter 1 – Foundations for understanding and challenging chronic poverty

A. Chronic poverty and justice

B. The nature and extent of chronic poverty

What is chronic poverty?

What causes chronic poverty?

Who is chronically poor? Where do they live?

How many chronically poor people are there?

C. Why address chronic poverty?

D: How to address chronic poverty?

Policies against chronic poverty – preventing entries and promoting exits

E. Chronically Deprived Countries and Consistent Improvers

F. Conclusion

Chapter 2 – The policy and political challenge

A. Introduction

B. Where are the chronically poor in PRSs?

C. Policy responses/policy choices in PRSs

D. Political systems and ownership

E. Institutional mainstreaming and participation of the poor

F. Implementation

Obstacles to implementation

G. Conclusion

PART B – Four sets of policies for poverty eradication

Chapter 3 – Addressing insecurity through social protection

A. Introduction

B. The central role of vulnerability

C. The importance of social protection

D. Lessons from existing social protection programmes and policies

Policies, institutions and tools

Identifying and overcoming obstacles to social assistance

The politics of initiating social protection

Poverty discourse, ideology and selection of beneficiaries

Challenging the dependency thesis

Social protection to foster the social compact

E. Country context

Contextualising social protection

How to escape the ‘social protection trap’ in a Chronically Deprived Country?

F. Conclusion

Chapter 4 – Economic growth and chronic poverty

A. Introduction

B. Poor people and the growth process

C. Disaggregation matters for policy

D. Transformative growth

Developmental States

E. Growth and strategic choices

Making agriculture work for the chronically poor: infrastructure, education, information

Strategic urbanisation and reducing spatial inequalities

F. Social protection as a policy lever for growth in Chronically Deprived Countries

G. Conclusion

Chapter 5 – Transformative social change

A. Introduction

B. Gender equality, social inclusion and increased ‘agency’: social goals to end chronic poverty

Creating the enabling environment for social movements

Public action against discrimination

Supporting migrants and migration

Policies for a pro-poor demographic transition

Post-primary education

C. Politics

D. Policy contexts

E. Conclusion

Chapter 6 – Ending violent conflict and building a social compact

A. Introduction

B. Violent conflict and impoverishment

Injustice and ending war

C. Redefining the fragile state

Consequences of state fragility for poverty

D. Towards a social compact

How are social compacts built?

E. Financing the social compact

What role should donors play?

F. Conclusion

PART C – Conclusion

Chapter 7 – Eradicating chronic poverty

A. Eradicating chronic poverty

B. Five key poverty traps 1

C. Policy reponses to chronic poverty traps

Social protection and social assistance

Public services for the hard to reach

The building of individual and collective assets

Anti-discrimination and gender empowerment policies

Strategic urbanisation and migration

D. Country context

E. Regaining the promise of poverty reduction

References

PART D – Annexes

 

Background Papers :

http://www.chronicpoverty.org/cpra-background.php

 

 

       *      *      *     *  
         This message from the Pan American Health Organization, PAHO/WHO, is part of an effort to disseminate 
         information Related to: Equity; Health inequality; Socioeconomic inequality in health; Socioeconomic 
         health differentials; Gender; Violence; Poverty; Health Economics; Health Legislation; Ethnicity; Ethics; 
         Information Technology - Virtual libraries; Research & Science issues.  [DD/ KM
S Area] 

         “Materials provided in this electronic list are provided "as is". Unless expressly stated otherwise, the findings
         and interpretations included in the Materials are those of the authors and not necessarily of The Pan American
         Health Organization PAHO/WHO or its country members”.

         ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
         PAHO/WHO Website: http://www.paho.org/ 
         EQUITY List - Archives - Join/remove: http://listserv.paho.org/Archives/equidad.html  

 

 

 

    IMPORTANT: This transmission is for use by the intended recipient and it may contain privileged, proprietary or confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient or a person responsible for delivering this transmission to the intended recipient, you may not disclose, copy or distribute this transmission or take any action in reliance on it. If you received this transmission in error, please notify us immediately by email to infosec@paho.org, and please dispose of and delete this transmission. Thank you.