Health Equity: 08/25/08

Monday, August 25, 2008

[EQ] LAUNCH of the WHO Report on the Social Determinants of Health - Thursday, 28 August 2008 - 10h00 - 11h00 CET

LAUNCH of the WHO Report on the Social Determinants of Health

WHO's Commission on Social Determinants of Health (CSDH) will hand over its report to the World Health Organization (WHO)

News Conference: Media briefing and launch of the Report of the Commission on Social Determinants of Health

WHERE: Salle de presse III, Palais des Nations, Geneva

WHEN: 10h00 - 11h00 CET Thursday, 28 August 2008

(Central European Time) = Geneva time To check local time in Geneva against your time zone, see the World Clock at:
http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/meeting.html )

WHO: Dr Margaret Chan, Director-General, World Health Organization

Sir Michael Marmot, Chair, Commission on Social Determinants of Health and Professor at the University College, London, UK.

Website: http://www.who.int/social_determinants/en/

Closing the gap in a generation: Health equity through action on the social determinants of health

Closing the gap in a generation:
Health equity through action on the social determinants of health

Social justice is a matter of life and death. It affects the way people live, their consequent chance of illness, and their risk of premature death. We watch in wonder as life expectancy and good health continue to increase in parts of the world and in alarm as they fail to improve in others.

“….Many of the differences in health between - and within - countries result from the social environment where people are born, live, grow, work and age. These "social determinants of health" have been the focus of a three-year investigation by an eminent group of policy makers, academics, former heads of state and former ministers of health. Together, they comprise the World Health Organization's Commission on the Social Determinants of Health. On the 28th August, the Commission will present its findings to the WHO Director-General Dr Margaret Chan.

The Commission on Social Determinants of Health was established in 2005 by the late WHO Director-General, Dr LEE Jong-wook, to marshal evidence and make recommendations on reducing health inequities.

The Report in English and the Executive Summary in six UN languages and supporting media materials including a press release, backgrounders, country examples, figures, tables and graphs, B-Roll material including visuals, and a podcast including voices of the Commissioners

All the material is under embargo until 10h00 CET 28August 2008.

For more information or interviews, please contact:

Sharad Agarwal, Communications Officer, World Health Organization, Geneva

Telephone +41.22.791.1905, Mobile: +41(0)79.621.5286, Email: agarwals@who.int

http://www.who.int/social_determinants/final_report/

The twenty Commissioners are global and national leaders from political, government, civil society and academic fields and from all geographic regions of the world. Individually and as a group, they give profile and voice for the Commission. Drawing on their expertise and experience, they translate the knowledge and learning from other components into levers for policy change and action on health. They communicate the key message and recommendations of the Commission in policy arenas and lever political attention and policy change. In addition, they mobilise financial and human resources and political support for the Commission.

The Commission meetings are opportunities to profile the message of the commission and the leadership, knowledge and action within the regions in which they are held. They provide a means to review the learning and action on social determinants of health taking place, and use this to inform the policy and advocacy of the Commission.

Michael Marmot - Commission Chair
Frances Baum
Monique Bégin
Giovanni Berlinguer
Mirai Chatterjee
William Foege
Yan Guo
Kiyoshi Kurokawa
Ricardo Lagos
Stephen Lewis
Alireza Marandi
Pascoal Mocumbi
Ndioro Ndiaye
Charity Ngilu
Hoda Rashad
Amartya Sen
David Satcher
Anna Tibaijuka
Denny Vågerö
Gail Wilensky

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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/ KMC 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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[EQ] Effective Dissemination of Findings from Research - a compilation of essays

Effective Dissemination of Findings from Research – a compilation of essays

The Institute of Health Economics (IHE), Alberta Canada, 2008

Available online [PDF 88p.]at: http://www.ihe.ca/documents/Dissemination.pdf

“…..The effective dissemination of findings from health-related research – implying consideration of these findings by clinicians, policy makers, and consumers in reaching decisions – poses many challenges. In health care, there has been increasing recognition of the need to facilitate the transfer of research evidence

into clinical practice and policy development. Considerable sums are spent on research, but concern continues that relevant findings are too often not

appreciated or taken up by those who might benefit.

Dissemination, also referred to in this publication as Knowledge Transfer (KT) and Knowledge Transfer and Exchange (KTE), is a process that goes far beyond just distributing accounts and results of research. Distribution of findings is an important issue and vehicles for distribution (such as reports, journals, and the Internet) will need consideration as they vary in their coverage, timeliness, and cost. However, the essence of effective dissemination is that it is an interactive exchange between researchers and those they are intending to influence. In the field of health technology assessment (HTA), a study undertaken by EUR-ASSESS distinguished between diffusion
– a passive process by which information is spread; dissemination – an active process of spreading a message to defined target groups; and implementation

– a more active process which includes interventions to reduce or remove barriers to change, and activities to promote change (Granados et al., 1987).

A major intent of research dissemination is to provide and use information as input to decisions or policies that might require a change in behaviour or

attitude on behalf of the target audience. This indicates the need for active promotion of the desired message. Approaches taken will depend on the target

audience as well as the specifics of the research. One of the challenges may be matching the research findings to the wider perspectives or requirements

of the groups who are being addressed…”

“….The essays presented in this book have grown out of a workshop on effective dissemination of findings from research organized by the Institute of Health Economics (IHE), that was held two years ago at the University of Alberta. The publication includes some of the material presented at that workshop. It is intended as one of the many available resources on dissemination of research findings for those interested in the subject….”

Table of Contents

Foreword

Chapter 1.

Chapter 2. Knowledge translation of research findings

Introduction

What should be transferred?

To whom should knowledge be transferred and with what effect?.

With what effect should knowledge be transferred?.

How should research knowledge be transferred?.

Effectiveness of professional behaviour change strategies

Effectiveness of knowledge translation strategies focusing on patients

Effectiveness of knowledge translation strategies focusing

on policy makers and senior health service managers

Summary

References

Chapter 3. Knowledge Transfer and Exchange (KTE): a systematic review, key informant interviews and design of a KTE strategy

Introduction

Background.

Methods
Systematic review

Stakeholder interviews

Results

Discussion

Summary of findings

Developing a KTE strategy

A three phased KTE ‘intervention’.

Conclusion.

References

Appendix A: Steps in the systematic review.

Appendix B: Summary of KTE implementation studies identified in the literature.

Chapter 4. SBU’s Ambassador Program in Northern Sweden

The Swedish Health Care System

The Swedish Council on Technology

Assessment in Health Care

The SBU Ambassador Program

The SBU North Ambassador Program

Has the Ambassador Program served its purpose?

References

Chapter 5. The Alberta HTA Chronic Pain Ambassador Program: an Alberta adaptation of the SBU clinical Ambassador Program

Lessons learned

Conclusions and implications

References

Chapter 6. CADTH’s Liaison Program

References

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[EQ] Health Status Determinants: Lifestyle, Environment, Health Care Resources and Efficiency

Health Status Determinants: Lifestyle, Environment, Health Care Resources and Efficiency

Isabelle Joumard, Christophe André, Chantal Nicq and Olivier Chatal

ECONOMICS DEPARTMENT WORKING PAPERS No. 627

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development 04-Aug-2008

Available online as PDF file [74p.] at:

http://www.olis.oecd.org/olis/2008doc.nsf/ENGDATCORPLOOK/NT0000363E/$FILE/JT03249407.PDF

“….This paper aims to shed light on the contribution of health care and other determinants to the health status of the population and to provide evidence on whether or not health care resources are producing similar value for money across OECD countries.

· First, it discusses the pros and cons of various indicators of the health status, concluding that mortality and longevity indicators have some drawbacks but remainthe best available proxies.

· Second, it suggests that changes in health care spending, lifestyle factors (smoking and alcohol consumption as well as diet), education, pollution and income have been important factors behind improvements in health status.

· Third, it derives estimates of countries’ relative performance in transforming health care resources into longevity from two different methods – panel data regressionsand data envelopment analysis – which give remarkably consistent results.

The empirical estimates suggest that potential efficiency gains might be large enough to raise life expectancy at birth by almost three years on average for OECD countries, while a 10% increase in total health spending would increase life expectancy by three to four months…..”

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Introduction and main findings

2. Measuring health care outcomes

The average health status of the population can be proxied by various indicators

Information on equity in population health status is critically missing

3. Determinants of health status: literature review, model specification and empirical results

Most previous analyses have adopted a production-function approach

…with broad consensus on the inputs potentially contributing to population health status

Specification and empirical results

4. Health care resources are not producing the same “value for money” across countries

Panel data regressions provide some indication of the relative performance of individual countries

Panel data results and DEA efficiency scores are broadly consistent

Overall findings and implications for future research

GLOSSARY

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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