Health Equity: 06/17/09

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

[EQ] Consultancy on the Social Determinants of Neglected and Other Poverty-Related Diseases

Consultancy on the Social Determinants of Neglected and Other Poverty-Related Diseases

Call for Expression of Interest in a
Consultancy on the Social Determinants of Neglected and Other Poverty-Related Diseases in Latin America and the Caribbean

Deadline for submission of applications: 10 July 2009.

Website: http://new.paho.org/hq/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1508&Itemid=259&lang=en

This Call is an initiative of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO/WHO), in the context of its Program for the Elimination of Neglected and Other Poverty-Related Diseases. PAHO/WHO Health Surveillance and Disease Prevention and Control Area, Communicable Diseases Project

“…The purpose of the consultancy is to analyze the social determinants of health associated with neglected infectious diseases (NIDs) (i.e. living conditions, cultural factors, etc.), as well as possible key interventions to mitigate them in order to reduce the burden of selected NIDs that can be targeted through mass drug administration (MDA)—i.e. onchocerciasis, lymphatic filariasis, schistosomiasis, soil-transmitted helminthiasis, and trachoma—as well as other diseases that could be part of an integrated plan, including Chagas disease, rabies transmitted by dogs, plague, leprosy, leishmaniasis, and congenital syphilis, among others.

Consultoría sobre los determinantes sociales de las enfermedades desatendidas

Invitación a presentar expresiones de interés para una consultoría sobre los determinantes sociales de las enfermedades desatendidas y otras infecciones relacionadas con la pobreza en América Latina y el Caribe

Fecha límite para la presentación de solicitudes: 10 de julio de 2009

Website: http://new.paho.org/hq/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1508&Itemid=259&lang=es

Organización Panamericana de la Salud (OPS/OMS) en el contexto del Programa de Eliminación de Enfermedades Desatendidas y de otras enfermedades infecciosas relacionadas con la pobreza. El Área de Vigilancia de la Salud y Prevención y Control de Enfermedades, Proyecto de Enfermedades Transmisibles de OPS/OMS

El propósito de la consultoría es analizar los determinantes sociales de salud relacionados con las enfermedades infecciosas desatendidas (es decir, condiciones de vida, factores culturales, etc.), así como las posibles intervenciones clave para mitigarlos dirigidas a reducir la carga de las enfermedades infecciosas desatendidas seleccionadas que pueden controlarse a través de administración masiva de medicamentos, por ejemplo, la oncocercosis, la filariasis linfática, la esquistosomiasis, las geohelmintiasis y el tracoma, y también de otras enfermedades que podrían formar parte de un plan integrado de control, incluyendo la enfermedad de Chagas, la rabia transmitida por perros, la peste, la lepra, la leishmaniasis y la sífilis congénita, entre otras.

Contact:

Dr. Ximena Aguilera Senior Advisor on Communicable Diseases
Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO)
525 Twenty-Third Street NW Washington, DC, 20037-2895, USA

Phone: (+1-202) 974-3191 E-mail: aguilerx@paho.org

* * *

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

Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/eqpaho

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] Consultancy on Disease Mapping and Modeling for Neglected and Other Poverty-Related Diseases

Consultancy on Disease Mapping and Modeling for Neglected and Other Poverty-Related Diseases

Call for Expression of Interest in a Consultancy on:
Disease Mapping and Modeling for Neglected and Other Poverty-Related Diseases in Latin America and the Caribbean

Deadline for submission of applications: 10 July 2009

Website: http://new.paho.org/hq/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1509&Itemid=259&lang=en

The purpose of the consultancy is to conduct or improve disease mapping of the selected neglected infectious diseases (NIDs) that can be targeted through mass drug administration (MDA), i.e. onchocerciasis, lymphatic filariasis, schistosomiasis, soil-transmitted helminthiasis, and trachoma, as well as other diseases that could be part of an integrated plan, including Chagas disease, rabies transmitted by dogs, plague, leprosy, leishmaniasis, and congenital syphilis, among others.

This will require deciding on the level of disaggregation (in consultation with PAHO/HSD/CD), according to the population size that will provide the best information for NID strategy and that will be the most feasible, given the time constraints and technical and financial resources dedicated to this exercise.

Consultoría sobre el mapeo y modelamiento de enfermedades desatendidas

Invitación a presentar expresiones de interés para una consultoría sobre el mapeo y modelamiento de enfermedades desatendidas y otras infecciones relacionadas con la pobreza en América Latina y el Caribe

Fecha límite para la presentación de solicitudes: 10 de julio de 2009

Website: http://new.paho.org/hq/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1509&Itemid=259&lang=es

El propósito de la consultoría es llevar a cabo o mejorar el mapeo de enfermedades infecciosas desatendidas seleccionadas que pueden controlarse a través de administración masiva de medicamentos, por ejemplo, la oncocercosis, la filariasis linfática, la esquistosomiasis, geohelmintiasis y tracoma, y también de otras enfermedades que podrían formar parte de un plan integrado de control, incluyendo la enfermedad de Chagas, la rabia transmitida por perros, la peste, la lepra, la leishmaniasis y la sífilis congénita, entre otras. Para ello será necesario decidir el nivel de desagregación (en consulta con la OPS/HSD/CD), de acuerdo con el tamaño de la población que mejor informará a la estrategia de control de las enfermedades infecciosas desatendidas y que es el más factible dadas las limitaciones de tiempo y los recursos técnicos y financieros dedicados a este ejercicio..

Contact:

Dr. Ximena Aguilera Senior Advisor on Communicable Diseases
Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO)
525 Twenty-Third Street NW Washington, DC, 20037-2895, USA

Phone: (+1-202) 974-3191 E-mail: aguilerx@paho.org

* * *

Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/eqpaho

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] Virtual Event: Country-Led Evaluation Systems Tuesday, 23 June 2009

Virtual meetings: Meet the Author Series

Country-Led Evaluation Systems

On Line Interactive Meetings with Best Known Evaluators

Organized by Pan American Health Organization PAHO/WHO and UNICEF CEE/CIS

When: Tuesday, 23 June 2009, at 10 AM Washington DC time

Please check the local time in your own town: http://www.timeandd ate.com/worldclo ck/meeting. html

   Where: in front of your personal or work computer anywhere in the world or at:
   PAHO HQ Room 612
   525 23^Rd St. NW Washington DC 20037

Link to participants – Via Internet through Elluminate:

https://sas.elluminate.com/m.jnlp?sid=1110&password=M.953FDA5344526E966FD944A7568E21

The event is free and open to interested people. You may attend virtually from your personal or work computer anywhere in the world. In addition to watching live presentations, you will have the option to ask questions and provide comments.

This conference will enable the sharing of good practices and lessons learned. Global-level speakers will contribute with international perspectives.

Agenda

10:00- 10:05am

Welcome

Dr. Rosina Salerno, PAHO/WHO Internal Oversight and Evaluation Services

10:05 – 10:10am

Introduction and key questions

Marco Segone, Regional Chief, Monitoring and Evaluation, UNICEF Regional office for CEE/CIS, and former IOCE Vice President

Presenters

10:10 – 10:20am

LUNDGREN, Hans. Manager OECD/ DAC Network on Development Evaluation: Country-led evaluation Systems. What is the role for bilateral and multilateral agencies?

10:20 – 10:30am

O’BRIEN Finbar. Head of Evaluation, UNICEF: Country-led evaluation Systems.
What is the role for bilateral and multilateral agencies?

10:30 – 10:55am

Q&A from Participants

Rosina Salerno, PAHO/WHO Internal Oversight and Evaluation Services

10:55 – 11:00am

Closing remarks

Marco Segone, Regional Chief, Monitoring and Evaluation UNICEF Regional office for CEE/CIS, and former IOCE Vice President

Why?

Monitoring and evaluation has a strategic role to play in informing policy-making processes.
The aim is to improve relevance, efficiency and effectiveness of policy reforms. Why then is monitoring and evaluation not playing its role to its full potential? What are the factors, in addition to the evidence, influencing the policy-making process and outcome? How can the uptake of evidence in policy-making be increased?

Country-led monitoring and evaluation systems may enhance evidence-based policy-making by ensuring national monitoring and evaluation systems are owned and led by the concerned countries.
This facilitates the availability of evidence relevant to country-specific data needs to monitor policy reforms and national development goals, whilst at the same time, ensuring technical rigour through monitoring and evaluation capacity development.

This conference is part of the program “Meet the Author” where selected authors of evaluation books will be available to respond to your questions. The program was planned together with UNICEF and includes the participation of two major Global Evaluation Networks: IDEAS and IOCE. The first virtual meeting with the editor of the UNICEF book, “Country-led monitoring and evaluation systems” was held in February 2009, and drew an audience of 110 participants from all over the world. Building on the consensus for the initiative, PAHO, together with UNICEF, designed this program to enable meet the authors of evaluation books, sharing with them good practices and lessons learned on evaluation with a special attention to national and local M&E systems.

Contact Information:
Dr. Rosina Salerno, PAHO/WHO Internal Oversight and Evaluation Services

Pan American Health Organization PAHO/WHO - Washington D.C. salernor@paho. org

PAHO/WHO Website

Twitter: http://twitter.com/eqpaho

Attached PDF file with instructions for participants to connect Via Elluminate

* * *

Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/eqpaho

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] Comparative Effectiveness Research and Evidence-Based Health Policy: Experience from Four Countries

Comparative Effectiveness Research and Evidence-Based Health Policy:

Experience from Four Countries

Kalipso Chalkidou, Sean Tunis, Ruth Lopert, Lise Rochaix, Peter T. Sawicki, Mona Nasser, and Bertrand Xerri

National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (UK)
Center for Medical Technology Policy (USA)
Department of Health and Ageing (Australia)
Haute Autorit´e de Sant´e (France)
Institut f¨ur Qualit¨at und Wirtschaftlichkeit im Gesundheitswesen (Germany)

The Milbank Quarterly, Vol. 87, No. 2, 2009 (pp. 339–367)

June 2009 (Volume 87 Number 2): http://www.milbank.org/quarterly/8702feat.html

Context: The discussion about improving the efficiency, quality, and long-term sustainability of the U.S. health care system is increasingly focusing on the need to provide better evidence for decision making through comparative effectiveness research (CER). In recent years, several other countries have established agencies to evaluate health technologies and broader management strategies to inform health care policy decisions. This article reviews experiences from Britain, France, Australia, and Germany.

Methods: This article draws on the experience of senior technical and administrative staff in setting up and running the comparative effectiveness research CER entities studied. Besides reviewing the agencies’ websites, legal framework documents, and informal interviews with key stakeholders, this analysis was informed by a workshop bringing together U.S. and international experts.

Findings: This article builds a matrix of features identified from the international models studied that offer insights into near-term decisions about the location, design, and function of a U.S.-based comparative effectiveness research CER entity. While each country has developed a CER capacity unique to its health system, elements such as the inclusiveness of relevant stakeholders, transparency in operation, independence of the central government and other interests, and adaptability to a changing environment are prerequisites for these entities’ successful operation.

Conclusions: While the CER entities evolved separately and have different responsibilities, they have adopted a set of core structural, technical, and procedural principles, including mechanisms for engaging with stakeholders, governance and oversight arrangements, and explicit methodologies for analyzing evidence, to ensure a high-quality product that is relevant to their system.

PDF [29p.] at: http://www.milbank.org/quarterly/milq_87_2-final-chalkidou.pdf

* * *

Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/eqpaho

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] A health disparities perspective on obesity research

A health disparities perspective on obesity research

Paula Braveman, MD, MPH, University of California, San Francisco — Family & Community Medicine

Prev Chronic Dis 2009;6(3). Volume 6: No. 3, July 2009

Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2009/jul/09_0012.htm

“…..Obesity is a major risk factor for chronic disease and can decrease longevity, quality of life, and economic productivity. Compelling ethical, human rights, and practical reasons exist for addressing social disparities in obesity, which requires systematically applying a disparities perspective to obesity research and relevant policy.

A disparities perspective guides us to consider multiple dimensions and levels of social advantage and disadvantage and how those advantages and disadvantages produce disparities in obesity and its consequences….”

“…….A disparities lens has much to contribute to health research in general and to obesity research in particular. Focusing on disparities can guide us to examine multiple dimensions and levels of advantage or disadvantage, relative and absolute deprivation, discrimination, and social exclusion. This perspective leads us to consider conditions in both social and physical environments at the individual/household/family and the community levels that can create opportunities and resources or obstacles to health. Our attention is drawn to exposure to advantage and disadvantage over time and to determinants of vulnerability to exposure effects.

We are reminded of an array of sources of advantage and disadvantage, including cumulative stress related to material poverty and the psychosocial stressors that often accompany it. Such a research framework encourages us to consider social factors that seem distal to obesity but could be highly relevant to experiences and behaviors that result in biological processes underlying obesity and its adverse clinical and social sequellae. A disparities perspective encourages us not to rely entirely on simple categorizations of social advantage or disadvantage, such as low income or educational level, but to examine the actual distributions of the relevant factors and how they relate to the health indicator of interest…..”

“……A disparities perspective leads us to ask the questions: What causes, exacerbates, or ameliorates racial or ethnic or socioeconomic differences in obesity during a person’s lifetime and across generations? Where and how can the pathways to obesity disparities be interrupted most effectively and efficiently? Do interventions that decrease obesity prevalence at the population level also reduce obesity disparities across social groups, and vice versa? What are the differential consequences of obesity, in health and social terms, for people in different social groups?

To answer these questions we must study social factors rather than attempt to control for them. High-quality disparities research looks for the root causes of social disparities in health to inform efforts to intervene. In contrast, prevailing approaches often take poverty, near-poverty, and institutionalized racial bias as givens and focus primarily on how to buffer the health-damaging effects. A disparities lens can make practical contributions to obesity research, even regarding questions whose central focus is not disparities….”

* * *

Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/eqpaho

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.