Health Equity: 11/17/09

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

[EQ] Epidemiologic approaches to health disparities - Epidemiologic Reviews (Nov 2009)

Epidemiologic approaches to health disparities

Epidemiologic Reviews - Volume 31, Number 1, 1 November 2009

Website: http://epirev.oxfordjournals.org/current.dtl

abstract Sherman A. James

Epidemiologic Research on Health Disparities: Some Thoughts on History and Current Developments
Epidemiol Rev 2009 31: 1-6; doi:10.1093/epirev/mxp010 [Abstract]

“….In this introduction to volume 31 of Epidemiologic Reviews,the author traces the history of health disparities researchin epidemiology and situates the 10 review articles comprisingthis edition within this history. With the aid of a conceptualmodel describing the key determinants of health disparities,he offers several suggestions for improving future epidemiologicresearch on health disparities….”

abstract Gina S. Lovasi, Malo A. Hutson, Monica Guerra, and Kathryn M. Neckerman

Built Environments and Obesity in Disadvantaged Populations
Epidemiol Rev 2009 31: 7-20; doi:10.1093/epirev/mxp005 [Abstract]

abstract Laura C. Senese, Nisha D. Almeida, Anne Kittler Fath, Brendan T. Smith, and Eric B. Loucks
Associations Between Childhood Socioeconomic Position and Adulthood Obesity
Epidemiol Rev 2009 31: 21-51; doi:10.1093/epirev/mxp006 [Abstract]

abstract Fiona McKenzie and Mona Jeffreys

Do Lifestyle or Social Factors Explain Ethnic/Racial Inequalities in Breast Cancer Survival?
Epidemiol Rev 2009 31: 52-66; doi:10.1093/epirev/mxp007 [Abstract]

abstract Marie Lynn Miranda, Pamela Maxson, and Sharon Edwards

Environmental Contributions to Disparities in Pregnancy Outcomes
Epidemiol Rev 2009 31: 67-83; doi:10.1093/epirev/mxp011 [Abstract] [FREE Full Text] [PDF] OPEN ACCESS

abstract Michael R. Kramer and Carol R. Hogue

What Causes Racial Disparities in Very Preterm Birth? A Biosocial Perspective
Epidemiol Rev 2009 31: 84-98; doi:10.1093/ajerev/mxp003 [Abstract]

abstract William A. Vega, Michael A. Rodriguez, and Elisabeth Gruskin

Health Disparities in the Latino Population
Epidemiol Rev 2009 31: 99-112; doi:10.1093/epirev/mxp008 [Abstract]

abstract Marjorie K. Mau, Ka'imi Sinclair, Erin P. Saito, Kau'i N. Baumhofer, and Joseph Keawe'aimoku Kaholokula

Cardiometabolic Health Disparities in Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders
Epidemiol Rev 2009 31: 113-129; doi:10.1093/ajerev/mxp004 [Abstract]

abstract Gilbert C. Gee, Annie Ro, Salma Shariff-Marco, and David Chae

Racial Discrimination and Health Among Asian Americans: Evidence, Assessment, and Directions for Future Research
Epidemiol Rev 2009 31: 130-151; doi:10.1093/epirev/mxp009 [Abstract]

abstract Jason Beckfield and Nancy Krieger

Epi + demos + cracy: Linking Political Systems and Priorities to the Magnitude of Health Inequities—
Evidence, Gaps, and a Research Agenda
Epidemiol Rev 2009 31: 152-177; doi:10.1093/epirev/mxp002 [Abstract]

Abstract Michael R. Kramer and Carol R. Hogue

Is Segregation Bad for Your Health?
Epidemiol Rev 2009 31: 178-194; doi:10.1093/epirev/mxp001 [Abstract]

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[EQ] Climate Change and Global Health: linking science with policy

Global Health Action Special Volume 2009

Climate Change and Global Health: linking science with policy

Climate change and global health: linking science with policy Heat, work and health: implications of climate change

Guest Editor: Tord Kjellstrom

Climate change and infectious diseases

Guest Editor: Rainer Sauerborn

Available online PDF [176p.] at: http://www.globalhealthaction.net/index.php/gha/article/view/1966/2591

or URL: http://www.globalhealthaction.net/index.php/gha/article/download/1966/2591

“…..publication of a specially prepared cluster of papers to be available for the UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen in December.
Guest Editors Tord Kjellstrom and Rainer Sauerborn, together with leading experts in the field, address the direct and indirect impacts of global warming upon health and suggest policy strategies in Climate Change and Global Health: linking science with policy. Their message is that health impacts should be a central topic in the ongoing debate on climate policies. (Published 11 November 2009)

CONTENTS

Foreword - Maria Neira, World Health Organization

Invited Editorial

Health as a crucial driver for climate policy - Rainer Sauerborn, Tord Kjellstrom and Maria Nilsson

“…There are three strong reasons for the climate policy community to consider health impacts:

1) the impacts are large, increasing and inequitably distributed;

2) the majority of people everywhere are concerned about the protection of their own and their children’s health
and are hence prepared to support mitigation policies; and

3) certain mitigation policies have significant positive health ‘co-benefits’, and these should be quantified and promoted to support mitigation arguments…”

Heat, work and health: implications of climate change

The thermal environment of the human being on the global scale - Gerd Jendritzky and Birger Tinz

Issues in health risk assessment of current and future heat extremes - Yasushi Honda and Masaji Ono

Comparing approaches for studying the effects of climate extremes _ a case study of hospital admissions in Sweden during an extremely warm summer

Joacim Rocklo¨v and Bertil Forsberg

Maintaining health, comfort and productivity in heat waves - Ken Parsons

Workplace heat stress, health and productivity _ an increasing challenge for low and middle-income countries during climate change

- Tord Kjellstrom, Ingvar Holmer and Bruno Lemke

Effects of heat on workers’ health and productivity in Taiwan - Ro-Ting Lin and Chang-Chuan Chan

Work-related heat stress concerns in automotive industries: a case study from Chennai, India

Ramalingam Ayyappan, Sambandam Sankar, Paramasivan Rajkumar and Kalpana Balakrishnan

Heat stress assessment among workers in a Nicaraguan sugarcane farm - Orlando Delgado Cortez

A pilot field evaluation on heat stress in sugarcane workers in Costa Rica: What to do next?

Jennifer Crowe, Berna van Wendel de Joode and Catharina Wesseling

The ‘Hothaps’ programme for assessing climate change impacts on occupational health and productivity: an invitation to carry out field studies

Tord Kjellstrom, Sabine Gabrysch, Bruno Lemke and Keith Dear

Climate change and infectious diseases

Climate change, its impact on human health in the Arctic and the public health response to threats of emerging infectious diseases

Alan J. Parkinson and Birgitta Evenga°rd

Effects of climate change on tularaemia disease activity in Sweden - Patrik Ryde´n, Anders Sjo¨stedt and Anders Johansson

Milder winters in northern Scandinavia may contribute to larger outbreaks of haemorrhagic fever virus - Magnus Evander and Clas Ahlm

Local scale prediction of Plasmodium falciparum malaria transmission in an endemic region using temperature and rainfall

- Yazoume´ Ye´, Moshe Hoshen, Catherine Kyobutungi, Vale´rie R. Louis and Rainer Sauerborn 103

Meningococcal disease and climate - Helena Palmgren 1

Climate variability and increase in intensity and magnitude of dengue incidence in Singapore

- Yien Ling Hii, Joacim Rocklo¨v, Nawi Ng, Choon Siang Tang, Fung Yin Pang and Rainer Sauerborn

Climate impacts on environmental risks evaluated from space: a conceptual approach to the case of Rift Valley Fever in Senegal

- Yves M. Tourre, Jean-Pierre Lacaux, Ce´cile Vignolles and Murielle Lafaye

Vulnerability to episodes of extreme weather: Butajira, Ethiopia, 1998_1999

- Anders Emmelin, Mesganaw Fantahun, Yemane Berhane, Stig Wall and Peter Byass

Using high spatial resolution remote sensing for risk mapping of malaria occurrence in the Nouna district, Burkina Faso

- Peter Dambach, Ali Sie´, Jean-Pierre Lacaux, Ce´cile Vignolles, Vanessa Machault and Rainer Sauerborn

Cooking fuels and the push for cleaner alternatives: a case study from Burkina Faso

- Shelby Yamamoto, Ali Sie´ and Rainer Sauerborn

Climate change influences infectious diseases both in the Arctic and the tropics: joining the dots

Birgitta Evenga°rd, and Rainer Sauerborn

Climate change and population health in Africa: where are the scientists? - Peter Byass

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[EQ] Report: Systems thinking for health systems strengthening

Systems thinking for health systems strengthening

Editors: Don de Savigny; Taghreed Adam

World Health Organization 2009 - ISBN: 978 924 156389 5

Available online

English PDF [112p.] at: http://whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/2009/9789241563895_eng.pdf

Spanish PDF [115p.] at: http://www.who.int/alliance-hpsr/AllianceHPSR_flagship_report_Spanish.pdf

The Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research is pleased to announce the launch of its latest Flagship Report, Systems Thinking

for Health Systems Strengthening, on Tuesday 17 November 2009 at the Global Forum for Health Research in Havana, Cuba.

This latest flagship report from the Alliance offers a practical approach to strengthening health systems through "systems thinking".

In its "Ten steps to systems thinking," the report shows how we can better capture the wisdom of diverse health system stakeholders in designing solutions to system problems. It suggests ways to more realistically forecast how health systems might respond to system-strengthening interventions, while also exploring potential synergies and dangers among those interventions.

Health systems strengthening is rising on political agendas worldwide. This Report will deepen understanding and stimulate fresh thinking among stewards of health systems, health systems researchers, and development partners.

Health system strengthening often seems a distant, even abstract aim. However, at a time when economic downturn, a new influenza pandemic, and climate change add to our collective challenges, the need for robust health systems is more acute than ever.

“….Systems thinking: To understand and appreciate the relationships within systems, several recent projects have adopted systems thinking to tackle complex health problems and risk factors – in tobacco control, obesity and tuberculosis. On a broader level, however, systems thinking has huge and untapped potential, first in deciphering the complexity of an entire health system, and then in applying this understanding to design and evaluate interventions that improve health and health equity.

Systems thinking can provide a way forward for operating more successfully and effectively in complex, real-world settings. It can open powerful pathways to identifying and resolving health system challenges, and as such is a crucial ingredient for any health system strengthening effort….”

Content:
Preface

Executive Summary

Chapter 1 - Systems thinking for health systems strengthening: An introduction

Chapter 2 - Systems thinking: What it is and what it means for health systems

Bringing the system into focus with a systems thinking lens

Systems thinking: A paradigm shift

System stakeholder networks

Another view of interventions

Intervening at high leverage points in the system

Implications of systems thinking for designing and evaluating health interventions

Chapter 3 - Systems thinking: Applying a systems perspective to design and evaluate health systems interventions .

Systems thinking: A case illustration

Ten Steps to Systems Thinking

Part I: The intervention design

Part II: The evaluation design .

Chapter 4 - Systems thinking for health systems: Challenges and opportunities in real-world settings

Part I - Select challenges in applying a systems perspective
1. Aligning policies, priorities and perspectives among donors and national policy-makers

2. Managing and coordinating partnerships and expectations among system stakeholders

3. Implementing and fostering ownership of interventions at the national and sub-national level

4. Building capacity at the country level to apply a systems analytic perspective

Part II: Innovative approaches to applying the systems perspective

1. Convening multiple constituencies to conceptualize, design and evaluate different strategies

2. Applying the whole systems view

3. Developing knowledge translation processes

4. Encouraging an increased national understanding of health systems research and increased global support for strengthening capacity in health systems research

Chapter 5 - Systems thinking for health systems strengthening: Moving forward

The growing focus on health systems

Schools of thought and experience

Moving forward

Wrapping up

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