Monday, February 28, 2011

[EQ] Supporting the use of Cochrane Reviews in health policy and management decision-making: Health Systems Evidence

Supporting the use of Cochrane Reviews in health policy and management decision-making:
Health Systems Evidence

Kaelan A Moat, Health Policy PhD Program, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
John N Lavis, Director, McMaster Health Forum; Canada Research Chair in Knowledge Transfer and Exchange; Professor, Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics; Member, Centre for Health Economics and Policy Analysis; Associate Member, Department of Political Science, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

The Cochrane Library – February 2011

Available online at: http://bit.ly/hdPzwS

The idea that research evidence should play a more prominent role in health policy and health system management has been frequently promoted and widely accepted during the past decade.[1,2,3] However, bridging the gap between what has been learned through research and what is considered salient by policy-makers and stakeholders is rarely straightforward.

Nevertheless, there are several activities that have promise for better linking evidence to action.[4] One approach, sometimes called ‘facilitating user-pull’, places emphasis on creating ’one-stop shops’ for relevant, high-quality and optimally packaged systematic reviews and related products.[4] These types of efforts have recently gained more recognition and are viewed as key elements for strategies to strengthen national health systems,[5] as was noted at the First Global Symposium on Health Systems Research, held in Montreux, Switzerland, in November 2010.

Health Systems Evidence (HSE) was developed as a one-stop shop with an emphasis on policy- and management-related systematic reviews and related products. While The Cochrane Library is the one-stop shop for those with questions about clinical programmes and services or medicines, and health-evidence.ca has emerged as the one-stop shop for those with questions about public health programmes and services,[6] HSE is the only resource that answers questions about how to organise health systems in order to ensure that cost-effective programmes and services get to those who need them. It first became available as a free online resource in late 2008.

There are two key factors that drive the use of research evidence in policy-making: timeliness, and interactions between policy-makers and researchers.[7] HSE addresses the timeliness issue. With relevant reviews and review-related products categorised and presented in an accessible format, HSE enables policy-makers and stakeholders to find out quickly whether synthesised research evidence exists on a pressing issue and when the literature was last searched. HSE also provides information on the quality of the review and on the countries where the included studies were conducted, as well as links to structured, decision-relevant summaries.

The product of a collaboration between the McMaster Health Forum, McMaster University’s Program in Policy Decision-making, the Canadian Cochrane Centre, and Rx for Change, HSE is a continually updated, searchable repository of syntheses of research evidence, coded according to their relevance to governance, financial and delivery arrangements, and strategies for implementing change. Records contained in HSE are identified by:
(1) annual searches of Medline;
(2) review of each monthly issue of the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews;
(3) review of each weekly update from the Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects;
(4) review of each update of the Cochrane Qualitative Research Methods Group's database of qualitative reviews; and
(5) regular scanning of listservs and websites.

Each synthesis has links to user-friendly summaries, abstracts and full-text reports (when freely available), together with information about how recently the search for studies was conducted, the quality of the synthesis, and the countries in which the studies were conducted, helping policy-makers and managers to assess the relevance of each record.[5]…….

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Friday, February 25, 2011

[EQ] The Two Poverty Enlightenments: Historical Insights from Digitized Books

The Two Poverty Enlightenments:
Historical Insights from Digitized Books Spanning Three Centuries

Martin Ravallion, Development Research Group, World Bank
Washington DC, USA – Policy Research Working Paper 5549- 2011

Available online PDF [52p.] at: http://bit.ly/i8VrJ1

“…Word searches of Google's library of digitized books suggest that two Poverty Enlightenments have occurred since 1700, one near the end of the 18th century and the other 200 years later.

The historical literature suggests that only the second enlightenment came with a widespread belief that poverty could, and should, be eliminated. After the first Poverty Enlightenment, references to "poverty" as a percentage of all words declined until 1960, after which a striking resurgence of interest occurred.

That came with rising attention to economics and more frequent references to poverty policies. Developing countries also became more prominent in the literature. Both enlightenments came with greater attention to human rights.

The written record reflects the push back against government intervention, as well as the retreat from leftist economics and politics since the late 1970s. Although many debates from 200 years ago continue today, there is little evidence that the modern revival of the classical 19th century views on the limitations of government has come with a repeat of the complacency about poverty that was common back then. ….”

[EQ] HDCA conference: Innovation, Development & Human Capabilities - The Hague The Netherlands - September 6-8, 2011

HDCA conference:
Innovation, Development & Human Capabilities

The Hague, The Netherlands - Main conference: September 6-8th, 2011

Website: http://bit.ly/gz5Y4j

Call for papers - Submission of proposals - dateline: March 15^th 2011

Bringing about human development for all is a challenge. It is not sufficient to investigate how human capabilities are expanded or diminished by our current policies, institutional arrangements, incentive structures, social practices, infrastructures and technologies. Grounded in our understanding of these realities, we also need to be creative and innovative in order to bring about change.

The 2011 conference theme Innovation, Development and Human Capabilities is an invitation to discuss and reflect on this. Whether it concerns social or technological innovation, grassroots innovation or innovation policy – to make innovation truly work for human development, input from different angles is needed. We thus expect speakers and papers from a wide variety of disciplines.

Evening of Monday, September 5^th, 2011, the 1st Annual Amartya Sen Lecture will be held.
This new lecture series celebrates Amartya Sen‘s important contributions to the fields of human development and capability. It will focus on themes from Sen’s wide ranging contributions to these areas, ranging from his work on capability and freedom to his related works in areas such as democracy, development, gender, liberty, welfare, poverty, famines and social choice.

The 2011 Amartya Sen Lecture will be held by Prof. Tony Atkinson currently professor of economics at the University of Oxford. During his career he has made many contributions in the areas of economics of income distribution, microeconomics, public economics, and poverty and security. There is an inequality measure named after him: the Atkinson index.

Haq Memorial Lecture -Opening lecture of the conference (September 6^th 2011)
The biennial Mahbub-ul-Haq Memorial Lecture is given by a leading academic or practitioner who has made important contributions to the field of Human Development, broadly understood. The lecture commemorates the contribution of Mahbub-ul-Haq to this field.

The 2011 Haq Memorial Lecture will be given by Fazle Hasan Abed. He is founder and chairperson of BRAC, currently the world’s largest non-governmental development organization. For his outstanding contributions to social improvement, Abed has received the Ramon Magsaysay Award, the UNDP Mahbub Ul Haq Award and the inaugural Clinton Global Citizen Award. Innovation is one of the four key values of BRAC.

Conference program, The exact program for the conference will be published a couple of weeks before the conference takes place.

Pre-confer. Events A number of related events will take place before HDCA conference. Participants of the HDCA conference may be interested in registering for one of those events as well. These are:

· Summer school on Capability and Multidimensional Poverty
Mon. Aug. 22^th - Fri. Sept. 2^th. Location: Delft University of Technology.
Organized by OPHI (Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative)..

· Introduction course on the Capability Approach
Mon. Aug. 29^th - Fri. Sept. 2^nd. Location: t.b.a.
Organized by Ingrid Robeyns, Erasmus University Rotterdam.

· Seminar “The Offensive Internet - Speech, Privacy and Reputation”
Sat. Sept. 3, afternoon. Location: Delft
Seminar with Martha Nussbaum on her new edited volume The Offensive Internet - Speech, Privacy and Reputation
(co-editor: Saul Levmore). Organized by Jeroen van den Hoven and Job Timmermans, TU Delft

· HDCA pre-conference public lecture by Martha Nussbaum
Mon. Sept. 5^th, morning. Location: the ISS, The Hague
Martha Nussbaum will speak about her new book ”Creating Capabilities: The Human Development Approach”.
Organized by Lalaine Siruno, 3TU.Ethics, in collaboration with the ISS. Participation is for free..

· Workshop ‘Teaching Human Development’
Mon. Sept. 5^th, 9 am - 5 pm. Location: TU Delft
Organized by Severine Deneulin, University of Bath.

Conference aims & topics - http://bit.ly/e9Rzr6

Papers on the 2011 conference theme ‘innovation, development & human capabilities’ may explore, amongst others, the following topics:

· Institutional, social & technological innovation for human development

· Innovation & inclusion, social justice, etc.

· Grassroots innovation

· Designing for the expansion of human capabilities

· Human development and participatory technology assessment

· Innovation & sustainability

In addition to papers on the 2011 conference theme, the HDCA invites you to submit proposals on all core HDCA topics, including but not limited to:

· philosophical and ethical foundations;

· ethics and development

· issues in operationalizing the capability approach;

· capability measurement and empirical analysis;

· human rights;

· sustainability;

· participation and public deliberation;

· civil society;

· health and disability;

· education;

· economics and human development;

· formal and informal institutions & practices

· poverty and inequality;

· gender;

· values, religion, culture and freedom;

· inclusion & exclusion/discrimination;

· justice

Thursday, February 24, 2011

[EQ] From conflict and crisis to renewal: generations of change

From conflict and crisis to renewal: generations of change

The State of World Population 2010

External Relations Division of UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund

Available online PDF [116p.] at: http://bit.ly/hwiYkD

“……….Conflict today is less about soldiers engaging in battle with soldiers on the other side of a national border and more about combatants struggling for control within a single country and employing any means to break the will of civilians—women, girls, men and boys—by disempowering them physically, psychologically, economically, and socially.

In many of today’s conflicts, women are disempowered by rape or the threat of it, and by the HIV infection, trauma and disabilities that often result from it. Girls are disempowered when they cannot go to school because of the threat of violence, when they are abducted or trafficked, or when their families disintegrate or must flee. In some conflicts, men are also disempowered by sexual violence. Boys, too, are sometimes exploited or forced to become soldiers.

The State of World Population 2010 explores how conflict and protracted humanitarian emergencies affect women and girls—and men and boys—and shows how many women and young people have overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles and have begun rebuilding their lives and laying the foundation for peace and renewal of their societies……..”

Content:

1 Bosnia and Herzegovina as catalyst of change
2 A resolution and reality: a decade on the ground
3 Women on the front lines of recovery
4 In times of crisis, gender relations in flux
5 Youth: The future of post-conflict societies
6 Living without an anchor: refugees and the internally displaced
7 Imprisoned at home: life under occupation
8 And the next ten years?

• + Bibliography
• + Indicators
• + Notes for Indicators
• + Technical Notes

[EQ] Call for Abstracts World Congress Public Health: Towards Global Health Equity: Opportunities and Threats

Call for Abstracts
 Towards Global Health Equity: Opportunities and Threats

The 13th Triennial World Congress on Public Health
April 21-29, 2012 - Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Abstract Submission Deadline is Friday, October 21, 2011, Midnight Pacific

Deadline in other time zones: 
 1:00 am Mountain time, 2:00 am Central time, 3:00 am Eastern time, 7:00 am Greenwich Mean Time. See World Clock.

The World Federation of Public Health Associations and the Ethiopian Public Health Association


 Website: http://bit.ly/e02iEw

“…... Reducing these disparities is imperative as it is widely recognized that in the "global village", threats to some can easily translate into threats to all. In order to minimize these disparities in global health, identifying the different threats and the opportunities to combat them, is vital.

In its declaration at the 12th World Congress on Public Health, held in Istanbul, Turkey in 2009, the WFPHA adopted a resolution that re-emphasized 
 "Health as a Human Right". 
 
 The declaration noted, Now is the time for all those who affect the lives of others, working in government, industry, and in civil society, and as health care workers, academics, community and faith-based leaders, and citizens, to affirm the fundamental and elemental importance of public goods, including public health, and to assert and practice the basic human values of solidarity, sustainability, morality, justice, equity, fairness and tolerance?

The Congress will harness the synergy and strengths of innovation and experience from the developing and developed worlds. It will address the enormous challenges and opportunities facing public health organizations worldwide in making progress towards collectively attaining global health equity.

Abstracts should demonstrate the role that public health could play in addressing emerging issues and current problems that contribute to global health inequity. Abstracts should also showcase innovations, tools, transferable knowledge, and technology. Highlighting these lessons learned from across the globe, will help us make collective decisions and recommendations to the global health community, thereby, moving us forward towards sustainable global health equity….”

General topics:

Achieving Millennium Development Goals: Vital for Global Health Equity

Armed Conflict and Health Impacts (including Mental Health)

Climate Change and the Impact on Strategies for Global Health

Forums for Public Health In Africa

Global Health, State of the World Economy, Rapid Urbanization and Health System

Health Equity – A Global Social Responsibility

Health Insurance, Social Health Insurance, Micro Insurance; Implications for Public Health

Health Systems Development – Integrating Public Health

HIV/AIDS – Own, Scale-up and Sustain

Household Food Security and Public Health

Human Resources in Public Health; Towards Workforce Strategies

Maternal and Child Health – Achieving MDGs & Sustaining Them

Non-communicable Diseases – Innovative Approaches for Health Promotion

Pandemic and Disaster Preparedness: Lessons learned and challenges ahead

Primary Health Care – A Feasible Road Toward the MDGs

Public Health Laws and Regulations

Resetting Financial Aid for Global Health

Sexual Health and Public Health

Strengthening Capacity Building for Public Health- Public Health Education and Workforce Needs

Strengthening Public Health Organizations for Global Health

The Health of Indigenous and Ethnic Minorities (including Traditional Medicine)

The Public Health Response to Migration

           Contacts:

Laetitia Bourquin Program Manager, World Federation of Public Health Associations

Editor-assistant to Prof. B.Borisch, Editor-in-Chief Pathobiology

IMSP, Geneva Tel: +41 22 379 04 53 Fax: +41 22 379 59 12 mailto: laetitia.bourquin@unige.ch http://www.unige.ch/medecine/imsp/

[EQ] Health Behaviours, Socioeconomic Status, and Mortality

Health Behaviours, Socioeconomic Status, and Mortality:
Further Analyses of the British Whitehall II and the French GAZEL Prospective Cohorts

Silvia Stringhini 1*, Aline Dugravot 1, Martin Shipley2, Marcel Goldberg1, Marie Zins1, Mika Kivima¨ ki 2,

Michael Marmot 2, Se´verine Sabia 1, Archana Singh-Manoux 1,2,3

1 INSERM U1018, Centre for Research in Epidemiology and Population Health, Hopital Paul Brousse, Villejuif, France,
2 Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London, London, United Kingdom,
3 Centre de Ge´rontologie, Hoˆ pital Sainte Pe´rine, Assistance Publique-Hoˆ pitaux de Paris, Paris, France

PLoS Med 8(2): e1000419. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1000419 – February 22, 2011

Available online at: http://bit.ly/dXByVS

“……….Differences in morbidity and mortality between socioeconomic groups constitute one of the most consistent findings of epidemiologic research.
However, research on social inequalities in health has yet to provide a comprehensive understanding of the mechanisms underlying this association.
In recent analysis, we showed health behaviours, assessed longitudinally over the follow-up, to explain a major proportion of the association of socioeconomic status (SES) with mortality in the British Whitehall II study.
However, whether health behaviours are equally important mediators of the SES mortality association in different cultural settings remains unknown. In the present paper, we examine this issue in Whitehall II and another prospective European cohort, the French GAZEL study.

Methods and Findings:
We included 9,771 participants from the Whitehall II study and 17,760 from the GAZEL study. Over the follow-up (mean 19.5 y in Whitehall II and 16.5 y in GAZEL), health behaviours (smoking, alcohol consumption, diet, and physical activity), were assessed longitudinally. Occupation (in the main analysis), education, and income (supplementary analysis) were the markers of SES.

The socioeconomic gradient in smoking was greater (p,0.001) in Whitehall II (odds ratio [OR] = 3.68, 95% confidence interval [CI] 3.11–4.36) than in GAZEL (OR = 1.33, 95% CI 1.18–1.49); this was also true for unhealthy diet (OR = 7.42, 95% CI 5.19–10.60 in Whitehall II and OR = 1.31, 95% CI 1.15–1.49 in GAZEL, p,0.001).

Socioeconomic differences in mortality were similar in the two cohorts, a hazard ratio of 1.62 (95% CI 1.28–2.05) in Whitehall II and 1.94 in GAZEL (95% CI 1.58–2.39) for lowest versus highest occupational position. Health behaviours attenuated the association of SES with mortality by 75% (95% CI 44%–149%) in Whitehall II but only by 19% (95% CI 13%–29%) in GAZEL. Analysis using education and income yielded similar results.

Conclusions:
Health behaviours were strong predictors of mortality in both cohorts but their association with SES was remarkably different. Thus, health behaviours are likely to be major contributors of socioeconomic differences in health only in contexts with a marked social characterisation of health behaviours.