Health Equity: 03/28/12

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

[EQ] Migration and health in the European Union

Migration and health in the European Union

Editors

Bernd Rechel, Philipa Mladovsky, Walter Devillé, Barbara Rijks, Roumyana Petrova-Benedict, Martin McKee
World Health Organization 2011 on behalf of the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies

Available online PDF [282p.] at: http://bit.ly/HlLJl1

“…..The increasing diversity of populations in Europe, including a growing proportion of migrants, creates new challenges for health systems, which have to adapt in order to remain responsive.

This book explores the overall context of migration and health in the European Union, addresses the rights of migrants to health and looks at problems in their access to health services, explores the challenges and opportunities in monitoring migrant health, reviews the health issues faced by migrants in Europe, discusses the policy response so far and the need for culturally responsive health services, provides examples of best practice, and looks at the policy implications of the findings presented…..”

Section I Introduction

one Migration and health in the European Union

Section II Context

two Trends in Europe’s international migration

three Asylum, residency and citizenship policies and models of migrant incorporation

Section III Access to health services

four The right to health of migrants in Europe

fi ve Migrants’ access to health services

Section IV Monitoring migrant health six Monitoring the health of migrants

Section V Selected areas of migrant health

seven Non-communicable diseases

eight Communicable diseases

nine Maternal and child health – from conception to fi rst birthday

ten Occupational health

eleven Mental health of refugees and asylum-seekers

Section VI Policy response

twelve Migrant health policies in Europe

thirteen Differences in language, religious beliefs and culture: the need for culturally responsive health services

fourteen Good practice in emergency care: views from practitioners

fi fteen Good practice in health service provision for migrants

Section VII Conclusions

sixteen The future of migrant health in Europe

The European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies is a partnership between the World Health Organization Regional Offi ce for Europe, the Governments of Belgium, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the Veneto Region of Italy, the European Commission, the European Investment Bank, the World Bank, UNCAM (French National Union of Health Insurance Funds), the London School of Economics and Political Science and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

KMC/2012/SDE
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[EQ] Alcohol in the European Union - Consumption, harm and policy approaches

Alcohol in the European Union

Consumption, harm and policy approaches

WHO Regional Office for Europe - 2012

Copenhagen, Denmark

Available online PDF [161p.] at: http://bit.ly/HfRKAK

“……Alcohol is one of the world’s top three priority areas in public health. Even though only half the global population drinks alcohol, it is the world’s third leading cause of ill health and premature death, after low birth weight and unsafe sex, and greater than tobacco. In Europe, alcohol is also the third leading risk factor for disease and mortality after tobacco and high blood pressure.

This report presents the latest literature overview of effective alcohol policies, and includes data from the European Union, Norway and Switzerland in the areas of alcohol consumption, harm and policy approaches.

The data presented were collected from a survey in 2011….”

Content:

Introduction

Alcohol as a health issue

Policy responses

- The impact of alcohol on health

- Societal burden of alcohol

- Unrecorded and illicit alcohol

- Information and education

- Reducing injuries and death from alcohol-related road crashes

- Community action

- Drinking environments

- Availability of alcohol

- The impact of alcohol marketing

- Pricing of alcohol

- Overview of effectiveness and cost–effectiveness

- Common evidence base and monitoring

- EU status report on public health policies on alcohol 2011

- Conclusions

- References

Annex 1 Adult per capita alcohol consumption in the EU, candidate countries, Norway and Switzerland (2009)

Annex 2 Lifetime abstainers in the EU, candidate countries, Norway and Switzerland by country and gender (2009)

Annex 3 Rates of heavy episodic drinking (binge-drinking)

Annex 4 Core findings and conclusions for EU-financed and co-financed projects since 2006

Thank you.

[EQ] Social Cities

Social Cities

Kelly, J-F.; Breadon, P.; Davis, C.; Hunter, A.; Mares, P.; Mullerworth, D.; Weidmann, B.,

Grattan Institute Melbourne. - Report No. 2012-4, March 2012

Available online PDF [68p.] at: http://bit.ly/H0DSwT

“……Without relationships we wither – individually and collectively. Yet our understanding of the human dimension of cities lags behind understanding of economic and environmental issues. The ‘productive city’ and the ‘green city’ are both further developed in thought and policy than the ‘social city’. Of course economic activity and a clean environment are essential to thriving cities, but cities must also help people to connect with one another….”

“…..In planning, building and redeveloping our cities, we consistently consider such factors as financial cost, economic productivity and environmental footprint. The social impact of projects, however, is rarely given equivalent emphasis. Perhaps this is not surprising. Material needs like housing (shelter) and income (jobs) are more familiar and easier to quantify, yet there is strong evidence that an adequate level of social connection is just as critical to our wellbeing.

Many of the issues facing our cities are enormous, difficult, and expensive to tackle – and residents often feel they have no say about decisions affecting them.

However, improving social connection is not necessarily hard or costly. As many of the examples in the ‘ideas’ appendix to this report show, individuals and small groups can often make a real difference without massive investments of public money…..”

Bringing people together

Out-of-hours use of schools.Increased evening, weekend and holiday use of school buildings and sports grounds would create new opportunities for social

connection….

Sharing household resources -
According to one estimate, the drills in private homes are used an average of 12 to 13 minutes over their lifetime.160 People in the

same neighbourhood might have tools they rarely use, or a garden they don’t have time to cultivate. Under the rhetoric of 'collaborative consumption', websites such as Share Some Sugar in the US or Open Shed in Australia match locals to share resource….

Sharing Homes

Many older Australians live alone in large homes and need just a little support and companionship to remain independent….

Personalised care networks

The social networking application TYZE was developed in Canada as a way to coordinate support around a vulnerable individual, such as a frail older person or someone living with a disability or chronic illness….

Hyper-local websites and other online networks

A great deal of online communication takes place between people who are already in close proximity to one another. Hyper-local websites encourage neighbourhood social connection by sharing local news, posting information about events, debating planning issues and lobbying government….

Big Lunches

The Big Lunch is an annual event designed to encourage as many people as possible to have lunch with their neighbours “in a simple act of community, friendship and fun…..”.

Neighbourhood clean up days

Clean up Australia Day is a national event organised by neighbourhood, which brings local residents together for the common purpose of enhancing the environment….
Walking Groups

Walking school bus

Dog walking areas …”

Content:

Overview

1. What is social connection, why is it important, and what does it have to do with cities?

2. City structure

3. Neighbourhoods

4. Streets

5. Buildings

Conclusion

6. Appendix – ideas for social connection in cities

7. References

Thank you.

[EQ] Evaluation for equitable development results

Evaluation for equitable development results

UNICEF, in partnership with UNDP, UNWomen, ILO, IDRC, IOCE, IDEAS and the International Organisation for Cooperation in Evaluation (IOCE); CONEVAL in Mexico

Website: http://bit.ly/GTSURL

“……An Equity-focused evaluation is a judgment made of the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact and sustainability – and, in humanitarian settings, coverage, connectedness and coherence – of policies, programmes and projects concerned with achieving equitable development results. It involves a rigorous, systematic and objective process in the design, analysis and interpretation of information in order to answer specific questions, including those of concern to worst-off groups.

It provides assessments of what works and what does not work to reduce inequity, and it highlights intended and unintended results for worst-off groups as well as the gap between best-off and worst-off groups. It provides strategic lessons to guide decision-makers and to inform stakeholders.

The book is divided into three parts.
Part I presents the relationship between evaluation and human rights and equity
Part II focuses on the methodological implications in design, implement and use of Equity-focused evaluations; and
part III presents few examples of Equity-focused evaluations…..”

Part 1: Evaluation and equity

§ Evaluation to accelerate progress towards equity, social justice and human rights.
by Marco Segone, UNICEF Evaluation Office; Co-chair, UNEG Taskforce on National Evaluation Capacities; and former IOCE Vice President

§ Human rights and gender equality in evaluation.
by Janie Eriksen, UNICEF Evaluation Office, Shravanti Reddy, UNWomen Evaluation Office, and Janice Muir, OIOS; and members of UNEG Taskforce on Human Rights and Gender Equality

§ When human rights is the starting point for evaluation.
by Donna Mertens, Department of Educational Foundations and Research, Gallaudet University

§ Strengthening Equity- focused evaluations through insights from feminist theory and approaches.
by Katherine Hay, Senior Specialist, Evaluation, International Development Research Centre, Regional Office for South Asia and China

§ Decolonizing evaluation in a developing world. Implications and cautions for Equity-focused evaluations
by Rodney K. Hopson, Duquesne University, Karen E. Kirkhart, Syracuse University and Katrina L. Bledsoe, Education Development Center, Inc

Part 2 - Methodological implications for Equity-focused evaluations

§ Methodological issues to design and implement equity-focused evaluations.
by Michael Bamberger, Independent consultant

§ Developmental evaluation for Equity-focused evaluations.
by Michael Quinn Patton, Founder and Director, Utilization-focused evaluation

§ Systems thinking and Equity-focused evaluations.
by Martin Reynolds, independent consultant and Bob Williams, independent consultant

§ Methodological challenges in using programme theory to evaluate pro-poor and equity-focused programmes
by Patricia Rogers, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University and Richard Hummelbrunner, Independent consultant

§ Case Study and equity in Evaluation.
by Saville Kushner, University of the West of England

§ Values-Engaged Evaluations.
by Jennifer Greene, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

. Part 3 Examples of Equity-focused evaluations

§ Evaluating the contribution of UNDP to equity-focused public policies in Brazil and China.
by Juha Uitto, Deputy Director, UNDP Evaluation Office and Oscar Garcia, Senior Evaluation Adviser, UNDP Evaluation Office

§ Using a human rights approach to evaluate ILO’s discrimination strategy.
by Francisco Guzman, Senior Evaluation Specialist, ILO Evaluation Office

§ CONEVAL experience in evaluating interventions for Indigenous populations in Mexico.
by Gonzalo Hernández, Thania de la Garza, María Fernanda Paredes and Brenda Valdez Meneses,
Consejo Nacional de Evaluación de la Política de Desarrollo Social

§ UNICEF supported evaluations with elements of equity-focused evaluations.

Thank you.