Health Equity: 09/29/09

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

[EQ] Analysis of policy development in European countries for tackling non communicable diseases NCD

Gaining Health

Analysis of policy development in European countries for tackling non communicable diseases

By Anna Ritsatakis and Péter Makara

Editors: Jill L. Farrington, Robert Geneau and Bosse Pettersson

Regional Office for Europe of the World Health Organization 2009

Available online as PDF file [274p.] at: http://www.euro.who.int/Document/E92828.pdf

The structure of the book is as follows.

Chapter 1. Introduction - This chapter gives the rationale for the study and an overview of the book.

Chapter 2. History and context of policies to tackle NCD non communicable diseases

This chapter describes the key features of NCD non communicable diseases policy development in the last two decades, the broader context and related policy initiatives.

Chapter 3. Methodology, underlying concepts and values

This chapter sets out why and how the original study was carried out, with an explanation of underlying concepts and values.

Chapter 4. Country case studies

The case studies describe NCD non communicable diseases policy development in Albania, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Kyrgyzstan and Lithuania. These eight countries were selected to provide reasonable geographical coverage and to include countries at different levels of economic development and with a range of political, administrative and health care systems and length of NCD policy experience.

Chapter 5. Reflections on experiences

Drawing on cross-analysis of the case studies and other sources, this chapter reflects on country experience throughout the policy cycle, presents the lessons learnt, and illustrates how different stakeholders and NCD issues influence the development of policies.

Chapter 6. Pointers for the future

Leading on from the conclusions of the analysis, this chapter offers countries valuable pointers on moving forward within the framework of the European NCD Strategy and also alerts them to emerging challenges and opportunities for NCD policy development in the future.

Contents

Chapter 1 Introduction 1

Chapter 2 History and context of policies to tackle NCD

Chapter 3 Methodology, underlying concepts and values

Chapter 4 Case studies: policy development in countries for tackling noncommunicable diseases

Albania – Finland – France – Greece Hungary –Ireland – Kyrgyzstan – Lithuania

Chapter 5 Reflections on experiences

Chapter 6 Pointers to the future

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[EQ] How can gender equity be addressed through health systems?

How can gender equity be addressed through health systems?

Sarah Payne, School for Policy Studies, University of Bristol, United Kingdom
Joint Policy Brief #12, 2009
World Health Organization, on behalf of the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies

Available online as PDF file [45p.] at: http://www.euro.who.int/document/E92846.pdf

Key messages (English, French, German and Russian): http://www.euro.who.int/HEN/policybriefs/20090924_1

“………Gender differences in health and in how well health systems and health care services meet the needs of women and men are well known: in Europe, there are variations in terms of life expectancy, the risk of mortality and morbidity, health behaviours and in the use of health care services. There is also increasing research evidence demonstrating the importance of a number of different social determinants of health, and these interact with gender inequalities in ways that can magnify the impact on health.

Additionally, there has also been an increasing recognition that health policy may exacerbate gender inequalities when it fails to address the needs of either men or women, and that health systems must address gender equity. This forms part of good stewardship, as well as meeting the needs of the populations served. Gender equity objectives have also been identified in position statements from WHO, the United Nations and the European Union (EU).

For the purposes of this policy brief, the ‘policy problem’ is the way in which health systems might address gender equity in order to reduce the health gap between men and women and to improve efficiency.

This document identifies some of the main approaches used to address gender equity in health systems, elaborating on three examples in order to suggest how these methods might be developed in the context of health policies across Europe…..”

Contents

Key messages

Executive summary

Policy brief

The policy issue: gender equity in health systems and health care services

Approaches for gender equity

Policy approaches: three examples

Facilitating implementation

Summary

References

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[EQ] Growing Pains in Latin America: An Economic Growth Framework as Applied to Brazil, Costa Rica, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru

Growing Pains in Latin America:
An Economic Growth Framework as Applied to:
Brazil, Costa Rica, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru

Liliana Rojas-Suarez, Senior fellow at the Center for Global Development, is an expert on financial services and the development impact of global financial flows.
Center for Global Development - September 2009

Available online at: http://www.cgdev.org/content/publications/detail/1422848/

Website: http://www.cgdev.org/content/publications/detail/1422848/

“…….Before the global economic crisis began in 2008, all countries in Latin America, long known as the world’s most economically and financially volatile region, had experienced five consecutive years of economic growth, a feat that had not been achieved since the 1970s. Yet despite this growth, Latin America’s incomeper-capita gap relative to high-income countries and other emerging-market economies widened, and poverty remained stubbornly high. Latin America, in short, suffered from growing pains even when things were going reasonably well.

What policies could help Latin America avoid these pains and achieve accelerated, sustained growth that reduces poverty and inequality? To find out, CGD senior fellow Liliana Rojas-Suarez convened a task force to identify the foundations of growth in the region.1 Prominent experts in Latin America were then invited to apply this framework to five very different countries by assessing past reform efforts and offering practical suggestions for the future. The task-force framework and the subsequent case studies form the book Growing Pains in Latin America: An Economic Growth Framework as Applied to Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico and Peru.

An Economic Growth Framework for Latin American

The framework identifies the key foundations for growth in Latin America and provides a mechanism for designing reforms that strengthen these foundations while taking into account the region’s unique characteristics and obstacles to market-based reforms and sustainable growth.

The unique features of Latin America

While Latin America shares many features with the rest of the developing world, and countries within Latin America differ significantly among themselves, three features characterize most countries in the region: Latin America is the most financially open, the most democratic, and the most socially unequal of the world’s developing regions……….”

The Book:

Growing Pains in Latin America lays out and applies a region-specific framework for delivering sustainable economic growth.

A task force of experts led by CGD senior fellow Liliana Rojas-Suarez and MIT professor Simon Johnson describes the framework, its (simple) principles, and its flexibility and ability to adapt. Other experts then apply the framework to Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico, and Peru, providing specific policy recommendations while taking into account the unique conditions of each country.

In an introductory essay, Rojas-Suarez explains and contextualizes the need for a new approach to growth in Latin America. Comprehensive yet flexible, the recommendations in Growing Pains can be applied to all of Latin America and will be valuable to anyone concerned with growth, prosperity, and equality in the region.

· Front Matter

· Chapter 1. Introduction

· Chapter 2. Helping Reforms Deliver Growth in Latin America: A Framework for Analysis

· Chapter 3. Pro- and Anti-Market Reforms in Democratic Brazil

· Chapter 4. Colombia’s Efforts at Achieving Inclusive and Sustainable Growth

· Chapter 5. Political and Institutional Obstacles to Reform in Costa Rica

· Chapter 6. How Can Reforms Help Deliver Growth in Mexico?

· Chapter 7. Helping Reforms Deliver Inclusive Growth in Peru

· Contributors

· Index

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