Health Equity: 09/23/08

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

[EQ] Global Health Law: Health in a Global Community

Global Health Law: Health in a Global Community

Lawrence O. Gostin, Georgetown University Law Center, O'Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law Scholarship. Paper 15 - September 22, 2008

in Public Health Law Power, Duty, Restraint (University of California Press and Milbank Memorial Fund: Revised & Expanded 2d ed. 2008).

Available online PDF [56p.] at: http://lsr.nellco.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1014&context=georgetown/ois

“…..The examination of public health law traditionally focuses on constitutions, statutes, regulations, and common law at the national and sub-national level. However, the determinants of health (e.g., pathogens, air, food, water, even lifestyle choices) do not originate solely within national borders. Health threats inexorably spread to neighboring countries, regions, and even continents. Peoples’ lives are profoundly affected by commerce, politics, science, and technology from all over the world. Global integration and interdependence occur “as capital, traded goods, persons, concepts, images, ideas, and values diffuse across state boundaries.” It is for this reason that law and policy need to be transnational, i.e., extending beyond sovereign nations. There is no other way to truly ensure the public’s health than through cooperation and global governance.

This chapter searches for answers as to why health hazards seem to change form and migrate everywhere on the earth; why extant global governance systems are frequently ineffective; and how international law can be used as a tool for improving the health of the world’s population, especially the poorest and most vulnerable. This requires an understanding of the global dimensions of disease and man’s role in harming the planet; the meaning and sources of international law; and modern international regimes of high relevance to health, including infectious diseases, tobacco, trade, and human rights….”

Website: http://lsr.nellco.org/georgetown/ois/papers/15/

Public Health Law
Power, Duty, Restraint - Revised and Expanded Second Edition 2008
Lawrence O. Gostin - California/Milbank Books on Health

Contents

Foreword by Daniel M. Fox, Samuel L. Milbank, and Carmen Hooker Odom
Preface to the Second Edition

PART ONE: CONCEPTUAL FOUNDATIONS OF PUBLIC HEALTH LAW
PART TWO: LAW AND THE PUBLIC'S HEALTH
PART THREE: PUBLIC HEALTH AND CIVIL LIBERTIES IN CONFLICT
PART FOUR: THE FUTURE OF THE PUBLIC'S HEALTH
Notes
Selected Bibliography

Chapter one: A Theory and Definition of Public Health Law is available online PDF [40P.] at:
http://lsr.nellco.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1007&context=georgetown/ois

‘……[Public health law] should not be confused with medical jurisprudence, which is concerned only in the legal aspects of the application of medical and surgical knowledge to individuals. . . . [P]ublic health is not a branch of medicine, but a science in itself, to which, however, preventive medicine is an important contributor. Public health law is that branch of jurisprudence which treats of the application of common and statutory law to the principles of hygiene and sanitary science.

James A. Tobey (1926)…”

* * *

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/ KMS 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
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.

[EQ] The Neglected Tropical Diseases of Latin America and the Caribbean

The Neglected Tropical Diseases of Latin America and the Caribbean:
A Review of Disease Burden and Distribution and a Roadmap for Control and Elimination

Peter J. Hotez1 *, Maria Elena Bottazzi1, Carlos Franco-Paredes2,3, Steven K. Ault4 *, Mirta Roses Periago4

1 Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Tropical Medicine, The George Washington University and Sabin Vaccine Institute, Washington, D.C., USA
2 Hospital Infantil de México, Federico Gómez, México, D.F., México,
3 Department of Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America,
4 Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO), Washington, D.C., United States of America
PLoS Negl Trop Dis 2(9): e300. doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0000300

Available online at: http://www.plosntds.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pntd.0000300

“….The neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) represent some of the most common infections of the poorest people living in the Latin American and Caribbean region (LAC). Because they primarily afflict the disenfranchised poor as well as selected indigenous populations and people of African descent, the NTDs in LAC are largely forgotten diseases even though their collective disease burden may exceed better known conditions such as of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, or malaria. Based on their prevalence and healthy life years lost from disability, hookworm infection, other soil-transmitted helminth infections, and Chagas disease are the most important NTDs in LAC, followed by dengue, schistosomiasis, leishmaniasis, trachoma, leprosy, and lymphatic filariasis.

On the other hand, for some important NTDs, such as leptospirosis and cysticercosis, complete disease burden estimates are not available. The NTDs in LAC geographically concentrate in 11 different sub-regions, each with a distinctive human and environmental ecology. In the coming years, schistosomiasis could be eliminated in the Caribbean and transmission of lymphatic filariasis and onchocerciasis could be eliminated in Latin America.

However, the highest disease burden NTDs, such as Chagas disease, soil-transmitted helminth infections, and hookworm and schistosomiasis co-infections, may first require scale-up of existing resources or the development of new control tools in order to achieve control or elimination. Ultimately, the roadmap for the control and elimination of the more widespread NTDs will require an inter-sectoral approach that bridges public health, social services, and environmental interventions….”

“……Rather than a strictly disease-centered approach [4],[9],[72],[82], comprehensive public policies aimed at community development and poverty reduction will be adopted. These policies will be then implemented at the local level through the mobilization and involvement of various agencies [9],[72] under the responsibility of different government sectors (inter-sectoral action) so that they can come together in a synergistic and synchronic manner. Together with strong social participation and appropriate technologies, the inter-sectoral action completes the three pillars advocated in a primary health care strategy and will contribute towards health systems strengthening. Examples of such inter-sectoral partnering were recently reviewed [72],[82]….”

* * * *

    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 James Lind Library: explaining and illustrating the evolution of fair tests of medical treatments

The James Lind Library: explaining and illustrating the evolution of fair tests of medical treatments

J R Coll Physicians Edinb Volume 38 Issue 3 - 28 August 2008

The Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh

Available online at: http://www.rcpe.ac.uk/publications/articles/journal_38_3/james_lind.pdf

"….The James Lind Library (www.jameslindlibrary.org ) has been established to improve public and professional general knowledge about fair tests of treatments in healthcare and their history. Its foundation was laid ten years ago at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, and its administrative centre is in the College's Sibbald Library, one of the most important collections of historic medical manuscripts, papers and books in the world.

The James Lind Library is a website that introduces visitors to the principles of fair tests of treatments, with a series of short, illustrated essays, which are currently available in English, Arabic, Chinese, French, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish.

A 100-page book – Testing Treatments – is now available free through the website, both in English and in Arabic and Spanish translations. To illustrate the evolution of ideas related to fair tests of treatments from 2000 BC to the present, the James Lind Library contains key passages and images from manuscripts, books and journal articles, many of them accompanied by commentaries, biographies, portraits and other relevant documents and images, including audio and

video files. New material is being added to the website continuously, as relevant new records are identified and as methods for testing treatments evolve. A multinational, multilingual editorial team oversees the development of the website, which currently receives tens of thousands of visitors every month.

The James Lind Library editorial team:

I. Chalmers ,James Lind Initiative, Oxford, UK;

I. Milne, The Sibbald Library, Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, UK;

U. Tröhler, Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Bern, Switzerland;

J Vandenbroucke, Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Leiden University Hospital, the Netherlands;
A Morabia, CBNS, Queens College, City University of New York, USA;
G Tait, Information Services, Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, UK;
E Dukan, The Sibbald Library, Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, UK

The James Lind Library

Created to help people understand fair tests of treatments in health care.
The principles of fair tests are explained in essays containing many examples.

These essays are available in
Chinese (中国), English, French (français), Russian (русский язык), Portuguese (Português) and Spanish (español).

The text of 'Testing Treatments' – a 100-page book published by the British Library in 2006 - is available here without charge,
in the original English, and in Arabic, Chinese, and Spanish translations.

The James Lind Library is dedicated to patients and professionals who have contributed evidence about the effects of treatments in health care.

The James Lind Library to mark the 250th anniversary of the publication of James Lind's Treatise of the Scurvy.

http://www.jameslindlibrary.org/trial_records/17th_18th_Century/lind/lind_tp.html
Lind J (1753). A treatise of the scurvy. In three parts. Containing an inquiry into the nature, causes and cure, of that disease. Together with a critical and chronological view of what has been published on the subject.

* * * *

"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
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.