Health Equity: 08/24/10

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

[EQ] Global Economic cost of cancer report

Global Economic cost of cancer report


 Rijo M. John, Director of international tobacco control research, America Cancer Society, 
 Hana Ross, Strategic director of international tobacco control research, American Cancer Society

August 16, 2010 - The American Cancer Society and LIVESTRONG®


 Report Summary available online PDF [14p.] at: http://bit.ly/9NTLj6

“….This report, authored by American Cancer Society researchers is a first-of-its-kind study on the economic cost of all causes of death globally, including cancer and other noncommunicable diseases and communicable diseases. 
 The report shows that cancer has the greatest economic impact from premature death and disability of all causes of death worldwide. 
 
 The economic toll from cancer is nearly 20 percent higher than heart disease, the second leading cause of economic loss ($895 billion and $753 billion respectively). This figure does not include direct medical costs, which would further increase the overall economic impact of cancer. …”

The report summary can be found at:

http://www.cancer.org/acs/groups/content/@internationalaffairs/documents/document/acspc-026203.pdf

Press Release:

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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] US Global Health Initiative: Informing Policy With Evidence

The US Global Health Initiative: Informing Policy With Evidence

Eran Bendavid and Grant Miller
Division of General Internal Medicine, Center for Health Policy, and the Center for Primary Care and Outcomes Research, Stanford University, Stanford, California (Drs Bendavid and Miller); and National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, Massachusetts (Dr Miller).
JAMA. 2010;304(7):791-792. - Vol. 304 No. 7, August 18, 2010
EXTRACT | FULL TEXT

“….The US approach to global health is changing in ways that presentan enormous opportunity to understand the link between foreignassistance and health…”

In May 2009, the Obama Administration unveiled a 6-year $63 billion Global Health Initiative (GHI),1 increasing its commitment to supporting health care in the world's poorest countries during tight budgetary times. The initiative aims to consolidate many of the existing programs in an effort to improve coordination of the current structure that uses multiple government agencies and programs. The core principles reveal several departures from the past decade's approaches that include implementing new women-centered and girl-centered approaches; strengthening health care systems; increasing support to multilateral organizations such as the GAVI Alliance (formerly The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation) and the Global Fund; and encouraging country ownership of health care plans.2…..”

From: Lawrence Gostin

The President's Global Health Initiative
JAMA 2010 - Vol. 304 No. 7, August 18, 2010

Available at http://bit.ly/b1TNas

“……The U.S. Global Health Initiative (GHI) represents the Obama administration’s new strategy for international development assistance in health. With a pledge of $63 billion over six years, GHI aims to fund PEPFAR and a set of broader global health issues (e.g., maternal and child health, nutrition, and neglected tropical diseases). GHI is also being framed as “smart power” whereby health would serve as a critical tool for U.S. foreign policy.

However, as the U.S. enters a period of severe budgetary restraint and as domestic crises rise to the fore, the promise of global health reform could become illusory. The lack of coordination and coherence in the U.S. global health architecture, as well as the broader U.S. foreign assistance system, require fundamental changes in the U.S. approach to global health going forward. This article analyzes current weaknesses in the GHI strategy and makes four key suggestions for the transformation of the U.S. global health enterprise under GHI.

These suggestions include:
(1) the devotion of resources that are predictable, sustainable, and scalable to needs;
(2) the development of a true “whole of government” approach;
(3) greater collaboration with international partners for success; and
(4) the encouragement of host country ownership…..”

Lawrence O. Gostin, Linda D. and Timothy J. O’Neill Professor of Global Health Law -Faculty Director, O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law
Director, WHO Collaborating Center on Public Health Law & Human Rights -Professor of Public Health, the Johns Hopkins University - Georgetown Law -Washington, DC USA

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[EQ] Effects of the World Bank's maternal and child health intervention on Indonesia's poor: Evaluating the safe motherhood project

Effects of the World Bank’s maternal and child health intervention on Indonesia’s poor:
Evaluating the safe motherhood project

John Baird, Steven Ma, Jennifer Prah Ruger

Yale University, United States

Social Science & Medicine (2010), doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2010.04.038

Available online at: http://bit.ly/aRgiOW Or at: http://bit.ly/bjQgXe

“….This article examines the impact of the World Bank’s Safe Motherhood Project (SMP) on health outcomes for Indonesia’s poor. Provincial data from 1990 to 2005 was analyzed combining a difference-in-differences approach in multivariate regression analysis with matching of intervention (SMP) and control group provinces and adjusting for possible confounders.

Our results indicated that, after taking into account the impact of two other concurrent development projects, SMP was statistically significantly associated with a net beneficial change in under-five mortality, but not with infant mortality, total fertility rate, teenage pregnancy, unmet contraceptive need or percentage of deliveries overseen by trained health personnel.

Unemployment and the pupile teacher ratio were statistically significantly associated with infant mortality and percentage deliveries overseen by trained personnel, while pupile teacher ratio and female education level were statistically significantly associated with under-five mortality. Clinically relevant changes (52-68% increase in the percentage of deliveries overseen by trained personnel, 25-33% decrease in infant mortality rate, and 8-14% decrease in under-five mortality rate) were found in both the intervention (SMP) and control groups…”

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