Friday, May 1, 2009

[EQ] Eleventh Futures Forum on the ethical governance of pandemic influenza preparedness

Eleventh Futures Forum on the ethical governance of pandemic influenza preparedness

     

2008, iv + 28 pages  ISBN 978 92 890 7186 4

WHO Regional Office for Europe-  Copenhagen, Denmark

 

Available online PDF [36p.] at: http://www.euro.who.int/Document/E91310.pdf

 

“…..The Eleventh Futures Forum reviewed some countries’ experience in applying ethical governance approaches to a major contemporary policy concern for WHO and its Member States: preparedness for an influenza pandemic. The topic provided a concrete policy-making example that participants could use to discuss broader and more generic ethical governance approaches in European health systems.

 

Decision-makers could face a number of key ethical questions in an influenza pandemic, such as how to ensure equitable, fair and cost-effective access to curative drugs, vaccines and medical treatment, how to set priorities for treatment, and how to allocate resources to prevent and treat influenza. The Forum aimed to enable the participants to identify good practices, exchange and learn from experience in ethically governing pandemic influenza preparedness and identify some of the knowledge gaps.

 

This report describes the ethical considerations used in pandemic influenza planning in the WHO European Region, WHO’s work on incorporating ethical considerations in the development of such plans, some possible guiding principles for ethical decision-making, the ethical frameworks for pandemic influenza planning in three countries (Norway, Switzerland and the United Kingdom), national decision-making structures for planning and response (with a case study from Belgium), the issue of public participation in ethical questions in pandemic influenza preparedness, and the Forum’s conclusions…..”.

 

Content:

Introduction.

1. Pandemic influenza planning in countries .

2. Ethical considerations in developing a public health response to pandemic influenza: the work of who.

3. Principles for ethical decision-making in pandemic influenza planning.

4. National provisions for ethical decisions in influenza pandemic planning and response.

5. National decision-making structures on pandemic influenza planning and response.

6. Endorsing ethical principles through public involvement .

7. Conclusions and recommendations .
References.

 

 

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information Related to: Equity; Health inequality; Socioeconomic inequality in health; Socioeconomic
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[EQ] How can donors help build global public goods in health ?

How can donors help build global public goods in health ?

 

Monica Das Gupta, Development Research Group, The World Bank

Lawrence Gostin, O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law, Georgetown University Law Center

Policy Research working paper ;  WPS 4907 The World Bank, Development Research Group

Human Development and Public Services Team, April 2009

 

Available online at:
http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/IW3P/IB/2009/04/20/000158349_20090420112159/Rendered/PDF/WPS4907.pdf

 

“…..Aid to developing countries has largely neglected the population-wide health services that are core to communicable disease control in the developed world. These mostly non-clinical services generate "pure public goods" by reducing everyone's exposure to disease through measures such as implementing health and sanitary regulations. They complement the clinical preventive and treatment services which are the donors' main focus.

 

Their neglect is manifested, for example, in a lack of coherent public health regulations in countries where donors have long been active, facilitating the spread of diseases such as avian flu. These services can be inexpensive, and dramatically reduce health inequalities. Sri Lanka spends less than 0.2% of GDP on its well-designed population-wide services, which contribute to the country's high levels of health equity and life expectancy despite low GDP per head and civil war. Evidence abounds on the negative externalities of weak population-wide health services.

 

Global public health security cannot be assured without building strong national population-wide health systems to reduce the potential for communicable diseases to spread within and beyond their borders. Donors need greater clarity about what constitutes a strong public health system, and how to build them. The paper discusses gaps in donors' approaches and first steps toward closing them…..”

 

 

 

 *      *     *

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/ KMS 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.