Wednesday, July 9, 2008

[EQ] Coverage of Cervical Cancer Screening in 57 Countries: Low Average Levels and Large Inequalities

Coverage of Cervical Cancer Screening in 57 Countries: Low Average Levels and Large Inequalities

Emmanuela Gakidou, Stella Nordhagen, and Ziad Obermeyer are at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States of America. Ziad Obermeyer is also at Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
PLoS Med June 2008 - 5(6): e132

 

Available online at: http://medicine.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-document&doi=10.1371/journal.pmed.0050132

 

 

“….Effective coverage rates for cervical cancer screening services are very low outside of developed countries, and women at the highest risk of developing cervical cancer are among the least likely to be screened. Coverage rates decline with advancing age, when cervical cancer incidence rates are the highest. Poor women, who likely have higher exposure to known cervical cancer biological risk factors such as smoking and unsafe sex [62], also show much lower coverage rates.

Improving the effective coverage of cervical cancer screening or developing alternative ways to decrease cervical cancer mortality worldwide would have a considerable impact on decreasing the disease's burden as well as overall health inequalities. No one strategy will work everywhere, making it important to consider multiple strategies across—and likely within—countries….”

 

Summary Points

- The large declines in cervical cancer mortality in developed countries have been attributed to widespread screening, but it is unclear whether this success can be replicated in the developing world.

- It is generally assumed that screening coverage in the developing world is low; in this paper we substantiate this claim with evidence from 57 countries, thus contributing to the evidence base for formulation of effective policies.

- Our analysis of population-based surveys indicates that coverage of cervical cancer screening in developing countries is on average 19%, compared to 63% in developed countries, and ranges from 1% in Bangladesh to 73% in Brazil.

- Older and poor women, who are at the highest risk of developing cervical cancer, are least likely to be screened.

- Strategies for improving cervical cancer prevention must be adapted to meet the specific needs of individual countries: expanded screening may be a viable option where sufficient infrastructure and health system access exists, but novel strategies need to be considered in other settings.

 

 

 

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[EQ] Call for Research Proposals: Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research

Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research and the Human Resources for Health Department, World Health Organization


Call for Research Proposals:
Incentives to attract and retain qualified health workers to under-served areas within low and middle income countries


Deadline for submission of proposals: September 12th 2008

 

Website: http://www.who.int/alliance-hpsr/Health%20Worker%20Incentives%20Underserved%20areas.pdf

 

This call for proposals is jointly issued by the Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research and the Human Resources for Health Department, WHO:-


- The Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research (HPSR) is an international collaboration, based in WHO Geneva, that aims to promote the generation and use of health policy and systems research as a means to improve the health systems of developing countries.

 

-          The Human Resources for Health Department, at WHO helps build and strengthen stewardship capacity to develop and implement health workforce policies, strengthens institutional capacity to develop and ensure quality and adequate quantity of health workforce production and manages knowledge regarding health workforce development

 

Supporting National Processes for Evidence-Informed Policy in the Health Sector of Developing Countries

 

Deadline for submission of proposals: September 12th 2008


Website: http://www.who.int/alliance-hpsr/Supporting%20National%20Processes%20Evidence%20for%20Evidence%20Inform%20Policy.pdf

 

The Alliance is launching this Call for Proposals so that it can provide support to national processes for evidence-informed policy making. The Alliance has allocated up to 500,000 USD for this Call and intends to award several grants to institutions in different regions for a period of up to three years.
The Alliance may consider extending grants beyond this period but only for those institutions that show good performance.
The Alliance plans to award 3-4 grants, however the final number and size of the grants will depend on the quality and cost of the applications received.


As the work focuses upon evidence to policy linkages at the national level, the Alliance HPSR particularly encourages applications from national (or sub-national) institutions in developing countries. In recent years the Alliance has collaborated closely with the:
Evidence-Informed Policy Networks - EVIPNet: www.evipnet.org

 

 

 

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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/ KM
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[EQ] Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation: Post-Graduate Fellowship announcement

Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation – Post-Graduate Fellowship announcement

Post-Graduate Fellowship at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation - IHME


Call for applications: Currently accepting applications for our Post-Graduate Fellowship winter cohort to begin in February 2009. 

 

Website: http://www.healthmetricsandevaluation.org/print/PGFWinter09Ad.pdf

 

 

“….The vision of IHME is to make available high-quality information on population health, its determinants, and the performance of health systems for all countries. We seek to achieve this directly, by catalyzing the work of others and by training researchers and policy makers. Our goal is to improve the health of the world’s populations by providing the best information.

The IHME Post-Graduate Fellowship Program provides a unique opportunity for individuals with graduate-level training and a strong quantitative background to conduct in-depth, methodological research on a variety of global health topics with the mentorship of faculty and senior researchers. Through research, training workshops and mentorship, the program is intended to enhance the analytical skills of future academics and professional leaders in the field of global health measurement and evaluation…”

 

Applications must be received by September 1, 2008. Interviews with selected applicants will occur in September.
Candidates will be notified in October and will begin the fellowship on February 1, 2009.

 

Sean Lassiter, Education and Training Project Officer

Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington

(206) 897-2832 - seanpl@u.washington.edu

 

 

 

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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/ KM
S 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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    IMPORTANT: This transmission is for use by the intended recipient and it may contain privileged, proprietary or confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient or a person responsible for delivering this transmission to the intended recipient, you may not disclose, copy or distribute this transmission or take any action in reliance on it. If you received this transmission in error, please notify us immediately by email to infosec@paho.org, and please dispose of and delete this transmission. Thank you.