Friday, April 29, 2011

[EQ] New book: Social determinants approaches to public health: from concept to practice

New book:

Social determinants approaches to public health:
from concept to practice

Edited by Erik Blas, Johannes Sommerfeld and Anand Sivasankara Kurup

ISBN 978 92 4 156413 7

World Health Organization 2011

Available online PDF [222p.] at: http://bit.ly/jGKRYq

The thirteen case studies contained in this publication were commissioned by the research node of the Knowledge Network on Priority Public Health Conditions (PPHC–KN), a WHO-based interdepartmental working group associated with the WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health.

The publication is a joint product of the Department of Ethics, Equity, Trade and Human Rights (ETH), Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR), Special Programme of Research, Development and Research Training in Human Reproduction (HRP), and Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research (AHPSR).

The case studies describe a wealth of experiences with implementing public health programmes that intend to address social determinants and to have a great impact on health equity. They also document the real-life challenges in implementing such programmes, including the challenges in scaling up, managing policy changes, managing intersectoral processes, adjusting design and ensuring sustainability.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Introduction and methods of work

Erik Blas, Anand Sivasankara Kurup and Johannes Sommerfeld

Chapter 2 Scaled up and marginalized: A review of the Bangladesh Menstrual Regulation Programme

and its impact

Heidi Bart Johnston, Anna Schurmann, Elizabeth Oliveras and Halida Hanum Akhter

Chapter 3 Youth for Youth – A Model for Youth Suicide Prevention:

Case Study of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs Youth Council & Secretariat

Stephanie Sinclair, Amanda Meawasige and, Kathi Avery Kinew

Chapter 4. Food and vegetable promotion and the 5-a-day programme in Chile for the prevention of chronic non-communicable diseases:
Across-sector relationships and public–private partnerships

Irene Agurto, Lorena Rodriguez and, Isabel Zacarías

Chapter 5 Dedicated delivery centre for migrants in Minhang District, Shanghai: intervention on the

social determinants of health and equity in pregnancy outcome for internal migrants in Shanghai,

China

Su Xu, Jia Cheng, Jia Cheng, Shaokang Zhan and Erik Blas

Chapter 6 Reviving health posts as an entry point for community development:
A case study of the Gerbangmas movement in Lumajang district, Indonesia

Siswanto Siswanto and Evie Sopacua

Chapter 7 Child malnutrition: engaging health and other sectors: The case of Iran

Sara Javanparast

Chapter 8 The Millennium Villages Project: improving health and eliminating extreme poverty in rural

African communities

Yeşim Tozan, Joel Negin and James Ogola Wariero

Chapter 9 Immunization programme in Anambra State, Nigeria:
an analysis of policy development and implementation of the reaching every ward strategy

Benjamin Uzochukwu, Benjamin Onwughalu, Erik Blas, Obinna Onwujekwe, Obinna Onwujekwe, Daniel Umeh and Uche Ezeoke

Chapter 10 Women’s Empowerment and its Challenges:
Review of a multi-partner national project to reduce malnutrition in rural girls in Pakistan

Kausar S Khan and Ajmal Agha

Chapter 11 Local Health Administration Committees (CLAS):
Opportunity and empowerment for equity in health in Perú

Laura C. Altobelli and Carlos Acosta-Saal

Chapter 12 What happens after a trial?
Replicating a cross-sectoral intervention addressing the social determinants of health:
the case of the Intervention with Microfinance for AIDS and Gender Equity (IMAGE)

James Hargreaves, Abigail Hatcher, Vicki Strange, Godfrey Phetla, Julia Kim, Charlotte Watts, Linda Morison, John Porter, Paul Pronyk and Chris Bonell

Chapter 13 Insecticide-treated nets in Tanzania mainland:
challenges in reaching the most vulnerable, most exposed and poorest groups

Jaap Koot, Romanus Mtung’e and Jane Miller

Chapter 14 Addressing the social determinants of alcohol use and abuse with adolescents in a Pacific Island country (Vanuatu)

Patrick Harris, Jan Ritchie, Graham Tabi and Tony Lower

Chapter 15 From concept to practice: Synthesis of findings Erik Blas

To order the book, please visit: http://www.who.int/bookorders
To know more about the work of WHO on social determinants of health, please visit: www.who.int/social_determinants/en

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Thursday, April 28, 2011

[EQ] Global status report on noncommunicable diseases WHO 2010

Global status report on noncommunicable diseases 2010

Description of the global burden of NCDs, their risk factors and determinants

World Health Organization WHO April 2011
ISBN: 978 92 4 156422 9

Website: http://bit.ly/m8SKBz

PDF [176p.] at: http://bit.ly/lu32oS

“…..This report sets out the statistics, evidence and experiences needed to launch a more forceful response to the growing threat posed by noncommunicable diseases. While advice and recommendations are universally relevant, the report gives particular attention to conditions in low- and middle-income countries, which now bear nearly 80% of the burden from diseases like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer and chronic respiratory diseases. The health consequences of the worldwide epidemic of obesity are also addressed.

The report takes an analytical approach, using global, regional and country-specific data to document the magnitude of the problem, project future trends, and assess the factors contributing to these trends. As noted, the epidemic of these diseases is being driven by powerful forces now touching every region of the world: demographic ageing, rapid unplanned urbanization, and the globalization of unhealthy lifestyles. While many chronic conditions develop slowly, changes in lifestyles and behaviours are occurring with a stunning speed and sweep…..”

Content:

Chapter 1: Burden: mortality, morbidity and risk factors
Chapter 2: NCDs and development
Chapter 3: Monitoring NCDs and their risk factors: a framework for surveillance
Chapter 4: Reducing risks and preventing disease: population-wide interventions
Chapter 5: Improving health care: individual interventions
Chapter 6: Tackling NCDs: the capacity of countries to respond
Chapter 7: The way forward: taking action based on evidence and lessons learnt

Annexes

Annex 1. Methods used for country estimates

Annex 2. List of countries by WHO Regions and World Bank Income Groups

Annex 3. Maps showing the global distribution of estimated NCD-related mortality and selected risk factors
Annex 4. Country estimates of NCD mortality and selected risk factors, 2008
Annex 5. Core indicators for consideration as part of the framework for NCD surveillance

Annex 6. Recommended approaches to implementing effective and sustainable multisectoral action on health

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[EQ] Doing Better for Families OECD 2011

Doing Better for Families

Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development

ISBN 978-92-64-09872-5 - OECD 2011

Available online as PDF file [279p.] at: http://bit.ly/iDT06q

“…….Families are the cornerstone of society. They play a central economic role, creating economies of scale for people living together and as the source of home production. They are a crucial engine of solidarity, redistributing resources (cash, in-kind or time) among individuals, households and generations. They provide protection and insurance against hardship. Families offer identity, love, care and development to their members and form the core of many social networks.

Families are changing. Life expectancy is higher, birth rates lower. In many families today, there are more grandparents and fewer children. Many families now live in non-traditional arrangements: there is more cohabitation, people marry at older ages, marriages end in divorce more often and remarriages are increasing. Parents’ aspirations have changed and across the OECD many fathers and mothers both want to combine a career and an active family life. Children have fewer siblings and live more often with cohabiting or sole parents. More children are growing up in blended families of re-partnered adults.

More effective public policies which do better for families can have large private and public payoffs. For example, by supporting vulnerable families and children more effectively now, policy is likely to avoid costly negative outcomes in future. Better co-ordination and co-location of services for families generate economies of scale and also ensure that more families get the variety of services they need.

But family policy is not just about services or cash allowances, income support during leave or tax breaks for families. It is also about promoting various health and education aspects of child well-being, about reducing barriers to parental employment and helping parents to provide for their children and easing family poverty risks. Increased parental employment will also further economic growth and improve the financial sustainability of social protection systems in the face of population ageing.

This book looks at how family policy is developing in the changing family context, and considers the different ways in which governments support families.

It first presents a range of work, family and child outcomes and then seeks to provide answers to the following questions:

Is spending on family benefits going up, and how does it vary by the age of the child?
What is the best way of helping adults to have the number of children they desire?

What are the effects of parental leave schemes on female labour supply, and on child well-being?
Are childcare costs a barrier to parental employment and how can flexible workplace options help?
What is the best time for mothers to go back to work after childbirth? And
what are the best policies to reduce poverty among sole parents?

The book concludes with an initial cross-country analysis of the relatively neglected topic of child maltreatment…………”

Table of Contents

Executive summary

Chapter 1. Families are changing .

Chapter 2. The balance of family policy tools – benefit packages, spending by age and families with young children.
Chapter 3. Fertility trends: What have been the main drivers?.

Chapter 4. Reducing barriers to parental employment. .

Chapter 5. Promoting child development and child well-being .

Chapter 6. Sole parents, public policy, employment and poverty.

Chapter 7. Child maltreatment .

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Wednesday, April 27, 2011

[EQ] Campbell International Development Group opens to register systematic reviews

Campbell International Development Group opens to register systematic reviews

Campbell has established a new group: the International Development Coordinating Group (IDCG)

URL: http://bit.ly/jFe9JM

This network of researchers, policy makers, and practitioners will produce and disseminate systematic reviews of high policy relevance on the effects of international development interventions.

The Group’s scope covers social and economic development interventions which aim to improve the quality of life for people in low- and middle-income countries. These include interventions in the areas of agriculture and rural development; banking and finance; transport, energy, water and sanitation infrastructure; social development; and governance.

The International Development Coordinating Group has grown out of Campbell's partnership with the International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie) seeks to "improve the lives of poor people in low- and middle-income countries by providing, and summarizing, evidence of what works, when, why and for how much".

Professor Howard White, Alfred Deakin Research Institute, Australia and Executive Director of 3ie, and Professor Peter Tugwell, University of Ottawa, Canada are Co-Chairs of the Group.

The International Development Coordinating Group is committed to providing authors with the support necessary to complete Campbell reviews and will provide or arrange substantial technical assistance for reviewers, especially with respect to information retrieval, critical appraisal and statistical methods. We welcome the participation of researchers, students, practitioners, policy makers and service users. Any interested party can propose a title for a review, form a review team, and submit a protocol for a Campbell review to the Group.

Steps for registering a systematic review with the International Development Coordinating Group

Website http://bit.ly/jgXkFa

New titles are approved by our Advisory Board, an internationally representative group of experts in international development research, policy and practice. Protocols and reviews are also subjected to a rigorous peer assessment process. We solicit critiques from substantive, methodological, and information search specialists and seek the Editorial Board's approval before publishing protocol and review documents in the Campbell Library. The process of registering a review with our Group is as follows:

1. Authors contact Group secretariat to discuss proposed title and scope

2. Authors are asked to submit a title registration form for review

3. Once title agreed, authors are required to submit a protocol within 6 months of title registration.
Protocols are then subject to rigorous peer review by International Development Group editors and the Campbell Collaboration Methods Group

4. Systematic review reports submitted to the Group are also subject to rigorous peer review.

For all enquiries regarding registration, please contact Birte Snilstveit: bsnilstveit@3ieimpact.org

Financial support for reviews-in-progress

Financial support for reviews is expected to be available from on-going requests for proposals by organisations such as the International Initiative for Impact Evaluation(3ie), the UK's Department for International Development (DFID) and the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID), among others.

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[EQ] Campbell International Development Group opens to register systematic reviews

Campbell International Development Group opens to register systematic reviews

Campbell has established a new group: the International Development Coordinating Group (IDCG)

URL: http://bit.ly/jFe9JM

This network of researchers, policy makers, and practitioners will produce and disseminate systematic reviews of high policy relevance on the effects of international development interventions.

Professor Howard White, Alfred Deakin Research Institute, Australia and Executive Director of 3ie, and Professor Peter Tugwell, University of Ottawa, Canada are Co-Chairs of the Group.

Steps for registering a systematic review with the International Development Coordinating Group

Website http://bit.ly/jgXkFa

1. Authors contact Group secretariat to discuss proposed title and scope

2. Authors are asked to submit a title registration form for review

4. Systematic review reports submitted to the Group are also subject to rigorous peer review.

For all enquiries regarding registration, please contact Birte Snilstveit: bsnilstveit@3ieimpact.org

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[EQ] Development assistance for health: trends and prospects

Development assistance for health: trends and prospects

Christopher JL Murray a, Brent Anderson a, Roy Burstein a, Katherine Leach-Kemon a, Matthew Schneider a, Annette Tardif a, Raymond Zhang a
Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, University of Washington, Seattle, USA

The Lancet, Early Online Publication, 11 April 2011doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(10)62356-2

Website: http://bit.ly/k2JgEt

“…….The global economic crisis that began to unfold in 2008 has raised serious concerns about the ability of developing countries to meet targets for improvements in population health outcomes, and about the ability of developed countries to meet their commitments to fund health programmes in developing countries.

This uncertainty underscores the importance of tracking spending on global health, to ensure resources are directed efficiently to the world's most pressing health issues….”

“…….Growth in global health spending will probably slow and might contract in 2011. We will enter a period of dramatically intensified competition for resources among the many important global health priorities.
Although the global health community is unlikely to influence the politics of fiscal contraction, it can take on two specific challenges: provide compelling evidence that past and continuing investments are making an impact; and show that resources devoted to health programmes are an effective means to advance health and broader development goals.
It will be crucial in this environment for the global health community to transparently evaluate and communicate about the successes and failures of global health funding. Only real evidence of success will sustain global health financing in coming years….”

Supplementary webappendix
Webtable: Development assistance for health by channel of assistance, 2000–10
http://bit.ly/melZAr

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[EQ] Building a Research Framework for Social Epidemiology

Contextual Influences on the Individual Life Course:
Building a Research Framework for Social Epidemiology

Juan Merlo, Lund University, Sweden
Psychosocial Intervention, April 2011, Vol. 20 (1), 109-118

Available online PDF [10p.] at: http://bit.ly/i5s64N

“……Individual health is not only individual responsibility, but also depends on the social contexts that condition the individual across the life course. However, while it is of high public health relevance to identify these contextual influences, they still remain poorly understood, and the research performed so far has suffered from severe limitations.

This paper presents a research agenda for social epidemiology that underlines a number of novel concepts, ideas, and unanswered questions deserving future investigation. The paper presents a conceptual framework intended to organize the investigation of geographical, socioeconomic, and cultural disparities in health.

This framework identifies five main areas of research:
(1) identifying the relevant contexts that influence individual health by measuring general contextual effects,
(2) measuring contextual characteristics, the specific effects of these characteristics on individual health and their underlying cross-level mechanisms,
(3) investigating general and specific contextual effects from a longitudinal,a life-course perspective and across generations,
(4) developing quasi-experimental methods (e.g., family-based designs) for the analysis of causal effects in contextual analyses, and
(5) using the achieved scientific knowledge for planning and evaluating interventions.

The proposed framework emphasizes that future research in social epidemiology should question the current means-centric reductionism that is mostly concerned with the identification of (contextual) risk factors, and it stresses the need to deliberately investigate determinants of variance. In fact, social epidemiology is not only interested in increasing the (mean) health of the population, but also in understanding and decreasing inappropriate health inequalities (variance). ….”

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[EQ] Priority actions for the non-communicable disease crisis

Priority actions for the non-communicable disease crisis

The Lancet, Volume 377, Issue 9775, Pages 1438 - 1447, 23 April 2011

Prof Robert Beaglehole DSc a , Prof Ruth Bonita PhD a, Richard Horton FMedSci b, Cary Adams MBA c, George Alleyne MD d, Perviz Asaria MPH e, Vanessa Baugh MSc f, Henk Bekedam MD g, Nils Billo MD h, Prof Sally Casswell PhD i, Michele Cecchini MD j, Ruth Colagiuri BEd s, Prof Stephen Colagiuri MBBS s, Tea Collins DrPH k, Prof Shah Ebrahim DM l, Michael Engelgau MD m, Gauden Galea MD n, Thomas Gaziano MD o, Robert Geneau PhD p, Prof Andy Haines FMedSci q, James Hospedales FFPH d, Prof Prabhat Jha DPhil r, Ann Keeling MA s, Prof Stephen Leeder MD t, Paul Lincoln BSc u, Prof Martin McKee MD q, Judith Mackay FRCP v, Prof Roger Magnusson PhD t, Prof Rob Moodie MBBS w, Modi Mwatsama BSc u, Sania Nishtar MD x, Prof Bo Norrving MD y, David Patterson LLM z, Prof Peter Piot MD q, Johanna Ralston MS aa, Manju Rani PhD g, Prof K Srinath Reddy DM bb, Franco Sassi PhD j, Nick Sheron FRCP cc, David Stuckler PhD dd, Prof Il Suh PhD ee, Julie Torode PhD c, Cherian Varghese MD g, Judith Watt BA ff, for The Lancet NCD Action Group and the NCD Alliance

Website: http://bit.ly/iegnxo

The UN High-Level Meeting on Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) in September, 2011, is an unprecedented opportunity to create a sustained global movement against premature death and preventable morbidity and disability from NCDs, mainly heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes, and chronic respiratory disease. The increasing global crisis in NCDs is a barrier to development goals including poverty reduction, health equity, economic stability, and human security.

The Lancet NCD Action Group and the NCD Alliance propose five overarching priority actions for the response to the crisis—leadership, prevention, treatment, international cooperation, and monitoring and accountability—and the delivery of five priority interventions—tobacco control, salt reduction, improved diets and physical activity, reduction in hazardous alcohol intake, and essential drugs and technologies.

The priority interventions were chosen for their health effects, cost-effectiveness, low costs of implementation, and political and financial feasibility. The most urgent and immediate priority is tobacco control.

We propose as a goal for 2040, a world essentially free from tobacco where less than 5% of people use tobacco. Implementation of the priority interventions, at an estimated global commitment of about US$9 billion per year, will bring enormous benefits to social and economic development and to the health sector. If widely adopted, these interventions will achieve the global goal of reducing NCD death rates by 2% per year, averting tens of millions of premature deaths in this decade.….”

Related links:

The huge impact of chronic conditions
Why do some disease-management programs succeed while others founder?
McKinsey research http://bit.ly/hTx8WT

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