Selected Topics - Health Policy and Advocacy

Events

• School of Public Health and Community Medicine, UNSW - Upcoming Events

Global policies and related documents

• Choosing Health: making healthier choices easier
  This UK White Paper, published in 2004 sets out the key principles for supporting the public to make healthier and more informed choices in regards to their health. It outlines the government's programme to provide information and practical support to get people motivated and improve emotional well-being and access to services so that healthy choices are easier to make.
• Draft Legal Review of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) from a Health Policy Perspective
  "The General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) is one of the most important multilateral trade agreements to emerge from the Uruguay Round negotiations that created the World Trade Organization (WTO). GATS constitutes the multilateral legal framework through which WTO members will approach the progressive liberalization of trade in services, including health-related services. Health policy is an important social endeavor that faces both opportunities and challenges from GATS. Many factors, including the complexity of GATS, the lack of empirical data on international trade in health-related services and on the health effects of liberalized trade in services, and inequalities in resources and power between developed and developing countries create a difficult environment for people in public health and health care who want to understand the actual and potential impact of GATS on their activities."
• European Commission: Overview of Health Policy
  This site outlines the European Commission's approach to public health throughout Europe. It provides links to strategy and programme documents, health information, health determinants, risk assessment and threats to health.
• International Declaration of Health Rights
• Priorities for Research to Take Forward the Health Equity Policy Agenda
  Report from the WHO Taskforce on Health Systems Research Priorities for Equity in Health, October 15 2004, Coordinator Piroska Öskin, Department of Public Health Sciences, Division of International Health (IHCAR), Stockholm, Swede
• WHO Essential Drugs and Medicines Policy (EDM)
  This site provides access to WHO documents on essential medicines policy. It includes a definition of essential medicines, a library of essential medicines, guides to selection and use and links to a wide array of policy documents.
• WHO International Health Regulations
  "The purpose of the International Health Regulations is to ensure the maximum security against the international spread of diseases with minimum interference with world traffic."
• WHO Health Evidence Network
  HEN is an information service primarily for public health and health care decision-makers in the WHO European Region. It comprises two services: Answers to questions to support the decision-making process; and easy access to sources of evidence such as databases, documents and networks of experts.
• World Health Organisation: Evidence and Information for Policy
  “The Evidence for Health Policy site presents current activities relating to epidemiology and the burden of disease, cost-effectiveness of health care interventions, and health systems assessment and reform, including quality of care, ethical issues, financing, resource allocation, regulation and legislation.”

Reports, guidelines and projects

• A Practical Approach to Pharmaceutical Policy
  Pharmaceuticals are an essential component of health care. But for many people in low- and middle-income countries, access to the medicines they need to prevent or treat severe illnesses is limited. Typical problems are lack of availability, costs that exceed the individual’s purchasing power or lack of competent “agents” – health workers that are well trained to give the correct advice on which medicines to take. Pharmaceutical policy is the part of health policy that aims at addressing these problems and increasing access to safe, effective and affordable medicines for all patients. There are many obstacles against achieving these goals. Such obstacles can arise from financial interests on the side of suppliers and health care providers, who may benefit from charging higher prices and issuing more prescriptions than might be justified from a clinical and economic viewpoint. Or from rogue suppliers trying to introduce low quality or counterfeit drugs into markets with less effective regulation. Also, corruption and ineffective bureaucracies sometimes interfere with well intended programs to offer access to essential medicines for the poor. This book offers policy makers a hands-on approach, tested in the World Bank’s field work in many countries, for assessing the pharmaceutical sector, recognizing typical “patterns of dysfunction” and developing strategies to quickly deal with the most urgent problems while at the same time building a platform for sustainable long term policy. It offers examples from a variety of low- and middle income countries and provides practical assessment tools for policy makers. The book ends with the author’s outlook on future developments in this complex policy field. [publisher summary] [World Bank, 17 June 2010]
• Access to Essential Medicines
  A global campaign launched by Doctors Without Borders (Medicins Sans Frontieres) to guarantee access to essential medicines for all.
• Assessing Capacity for Health Policy and Systems Research in Middle and Lower Income Countries
  This report by Miguel A. Gonzalez Blok and Anne Mills, 2003 examines the capacity of health systems in middle and low income countries to address the increasing demand for evidence based health care.
• Bridging the gap: The role of monitoring and evaluation in evidence-based policy making
  “This publication [by UNICEF, the World Bank and the International Development Evaluation Association] offers a number of strong contributions from senior officers in institutions dealing with Evidence-based policy making. These institutions are national and local governments, UNICEF, the World Bank and the International Development Evaluation Association. It tries to bring together the vision and lessons learned from different stakeholders on the strategic role of monitoring and evaluation in evidence-based policy making. These stakeholders are policy-makers, in their role of users of evidence, and researchers and evaluators, in their role of suppliers of evidence. The concept of 'evidence-based policy making' has been gaining currency over recent years. The use of strong evidence can make a difference to policy making in at least five ways: (i) Achieve recognition of a policy issue; (ii) Inform the design and choice of policy; (iii) Forecast the future; (iv) Monitor policy implementation; [and] (v) Evaluate policy impact.”
• Building Effective Research Policy Networks: Linking Function and Form
  We know that networks matter for international development. This short paper, published by the ODI addresses some of the main characteristics of networks to identify a set of criteria worth looking into to explain how networks can better carry out their given functions. This paper is based on the same premise as previous work: that, ideally, the process of setting up networks needs to begin by defining the functions they want to play and then choosing their structure accordingly.
• Building the Field of Health Policy and Systems Research: Framing the Questions
  Following the First Global Symposium on Health Systems Research in Montreux in November 2010, PLoS Medicine commissioned three articles on the state-of-the-art in Health Policy and Systems Research (HPSR). Three Policy Forum articles, authored by a diverse group of global health academics, critically examine the current challenges to the field and lay out what is needed to build capacity in HPSR and support local policy development and health systems strengthening, especially in low- and middle-income countries. Paper 1: Kabir Sheikh and colleagues. Building the Field of Health Policy and Systems Research: Framing the Questions. Paper 2: Lucy Gilson and colleagues. Building the Field of Health Policy and Systems Research: Social Science Matters. Paper 3: Sara Bennett and colleagues. Building the Field of Health Policy and Systems Research: An Agenda for Action. [publication summary] [PLoS Med 8(8): e1001073. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1001073 - August 16, 2011]
• Capacity planning in health care: a review of the international experience: New policy brief on capacity planning
  "…This policy brief [by Stefanie Ettelt, Ellen Nolte, Sarah Thomson, Nicholas Mays, and the International Healthcare Comparisons Network] reviews approaches to capacity planning, a crucial component of health care governance. By concentrating on a selection of countries as diverse as Canada, Denmark, England, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and New Zealand, it aims to show a range of approaches to health care financing and organization, since both of these factors have an impact on approaches to capacity planning." Also available in Russian.
• Closing the gap: policy into practice on social determinants of health – discussion paper
  "Evidence from countries that have made progress in addressing social determinants and reducing health inequities shows that action is required across all of five key building blocks, which have been selected as the five World conference themes: 1. Governance to tackle the root causes of health inequities: implementing action on social determinants of health; 2. Promoting participation: community leadership for action on social determinants; 3. The role of the health sector, including public health programmes, in reducing health inequities; 4. Global action on social determinants: aligning priorities and stakeholders; [and] 5. Monitoring progress: measurement and analysis to inform policies and build accountability on social determinants… The rationale for action on social determinants of health rests on three broad themes. First, it is a moral imperative to reduce health inequities. Second, it is essential to improve health and well-being, promote development, and reach health targets in general. Third, it is necessary to act on a range of societal priorities — beyond health itself — that rely on better health equity. Poor progress in the implementation of a social determinants approach reflects in part the inadequacy of governance at the local, national, and global levels to address the key problems of the 21st century. Health inequities challenge the traditional division of societies and their governments into sectors for organizational purposes. Rather than such divisions, the reduction of these inequities demands coherent policy responses across sectors and across countries, with firm political commitment by all parties. General principles, which must be adapted to each country’s needs and context, can be identified for overcoming the political and technical obstacles to action on social determinants. First, action on social determinants to reduce health inequities requires long-term, sustained implementation. Benefits can become apparent in the short term, however, and the sooner countries start to implement a social determinants approach, the better. Second, the initial step is to build public understanding of health inequities and social determinants of health. Third, equitable health and well-being need to be placed as a priority goal for government and broader society. Fourth, ensuring coordination and coherence of action on social determinants is essential. Fifth, a social determinants approach cannot be a 'programme' that is rolled out, but rather requires a holistic approach incorporating all of the five building blocks applied across society." [World Health Organization, 2011]
• Commission on the future of Health Care in Canada publications
  The Commission on the Future of Health Care in Canada's mandate was to make recommendations on sustaining a publicly-funded health system that balances investments in prevention and health maintenance with those directed to care and treatment. This page includes the final report of this commission.
• Communicating research for evidence-based policymaking: A practical guide for researchers in socio-economic sciences and humanities
  "The social and economic challenges which we face require policymaking at all levels – regional, national and European – to move beyond traditional paradigms and create responses which offer sustainable solutions now and in the future. The European Economic Recovery Plan (1) and the EU 2020 strategy (2) create the broad policy context for this approach. ‘Smart’ investment, which focuses on the skills that are needed for the future, is seen as a major pillar of Europe’s strategy to respond to the challenges it faces. The research projects funded under the Framework Programmes can play a major role in giving shape to this approach. The Directorate-General for Research is supporting researchers and project coordinators in meeting these challenges. In wide-ranging discussions with policymakers and researchers it has explored how to best ensure dialogue between both areas. This dialogue is crucial if the policy messages provided by the research supported by the EU are to contribute to the development of the strategies and approaches necessitated by the realities we face. This guide is the most recent stage of this process of identifying needs and developing appropriate support. It builds on the work undertaken in our earlier publication ‘Scientific evidence for policymaking’ which identified the key priorities for deepening communication and strengthening the transfer of knowledge and experience between research and policymaking. This publication is designed to offer an easy-to-read guide which identifies the most important stages in the development of a dynamic communication strategy and which will ensure that the projects funded under the Framework Programmes make a real difference in enabling policymakers to respond to the significant challenges we face. Divided into three parts – Concept, Policy Briefs and Practical Means – this guide is intended to help exploit research concepts into genuine policy action." [publication summary] [Directorate-General for Research, Socio-economic Sciences and Humanities Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg 2010 (EUR 24230 EN)]
• Complexity and Vagueness in the capability approach: strengths or weaknesses?
  Enrica Chiappero Martinetti , University of Pavia, 2004 - "This paper discusses the meanings of complexity and vagueness in relation to the capability approach and the implications of operational zing intrinsically complex and vague concepts such as poverty and well-being."
• Data strategies for policymaking: Identifying international good practice
  "In recent years the European Commission has gradually moved towards a more evidence-based policymaking approach. The underlying assumption is that policy decisions based on systematic evidence produce better outcomes. With the move towards evidence-based policymaking, the need for high-quality data – which can include statistical and qualitative data, but also existing research – has increased. The data needs for the increasingly formalised and institutionalised impact-assessment process are an example of how data needs of modern policymaking have increased." [Prepared for the European Commission Directorate General for Health and Consumers (DG SANCO), and The RAND Corporation]
• Does X Really Cause Y?
  Bryan Dowd and Robert Town, Academy Health, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Changes in Health, Care Financing and Organization (HCFO) program. September 2002 - "The purpose of this paper is to assist policymakers by providing an introduction to some of the problems associated with causal inference from empirical data."
• Ethics in Public Health Research: Anthrax Vaccine and Public Health Policy
  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has classified Bacillus anthracis, the causative organism of anthrax, as a category A potential bioterrorism agent. There are critical shortcomings in the US anthrax vaccine program. Rather than depending on the private sector, the government must assume direct production of anthrax vaccine. The development of a capacity capable of preemptive immunization of the public against anthrax should be considered. [publication summary] [American Journal of Public Health, November 2007, Vol 97, No. 11, pp.1945-1951]
• European Policy: Health Impact Assessment: A Guide (EPHIA)
  Project Group: IMPACT, University of Liverpool, England; Institute of Public Health in Ireland; RIVM, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment Bilthoven, Netherlands; LOEGD Institute of Public Health GERMANY, May 2004. This document has been developed for the European Community and its institutions, and provides a guide to assessing or commissioning an assessment of the impacts of EU policies on human health.
• Evaluation of Healthcare Services: Asking the Right Questions to Develop New Policy and Program-Relevant Knowledge for Decision-Making
  This article presents a framework for thinking about the key questions that need to be answered to develop new policy and program-relevant knowledge that can be used to make more informed decisions. It is a primer for administrators, policy makers and others about how to identify the knowledge they need to make decisions regarding new or existing programs. The article covers three related dimensions in evaluation: types of evaluations, key domains of inquiry and generic research questions. While the questions are generic, they can be readily adapted to any new and/or existing healthcare program evaluation. Examples of how the generic questions can be adapted to primary healthcare clinics and home care are presented. Program evaluation is an extensive topic and it is beyond the scope of this article to outline all relevant aspects. Rather, this article presents a framework for thinking about the key questions which need to be answered to develop new policy and program-relevant knowledge that can be used to make more informed decisions. Thus, this article is essentially a primer for administrators, policy makers and others about how to identify the knowledge they need to make decisions about new or existing programs. It covers three related dimensions in evaluation: types of evaluations, key domains of inquiry and generic research questions. The questions are fairly generic but, as will be shown later, can be readily adapted to the evaluation of any new or existing healthcare program. [author abstract] [Healthcare Quarterly, 13(4) 2010: 40-47]
• Evidence and Healthy Public Policy: Insights from Health and Political Sciences
  "This paper focuses on the requirements of healthy public policy, and more importantly the role of evidence, especially scientific evidence in the development of such policies. Simply put, this paper offers a critical account of the extent to which scientific evidence can have an impact on public policy. Drawing on health sciences literature on healthy public policy and political science literature on policy-making, this paper seeks to build a bridge between the worldview of health sciences and the worldview of political (and policy) science in order to offer some insight into how policy gets made and thereby offer some guideposts to those who wish to develop and promote healthy public policy. In particular, this paper focuses on two linked questions. First, in order to provide advice to those who might wish to promote healthy public policies, what do we know about how policy gets made and how and where evidence is most effectively used? Specifically, what are some of the available theories, or absent formal theories, models and frameworks, of the policy process and what role does evidence play in each? Second, building on the contemporary preoccupation with evidence-based decision-making (and, at least in some quarters, evidence-based public policy), in thinking about how public policy is made, what constitutes “evidence” and what is the role of evidence in the policy process?"
• Evidence based guidelines or collectively constructed "mindlines?" Ethnographic study of knowledge management in primary care
  John Gabbay, Wessex Institute for Health Research and Development, Community Clinical Sciences, University of Southampton; Andrée le May, School of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Southampton , BMJ 2004;329:1013 (30 October) - The findings of this study highlight the potential advantage of exploiting existing formal and informal networking as a key to conveying evidence to clinicians.
• Evidence for Social Policy and Practice: Perspectives on how research and evidence can influence decision making
  "From criminal justice, children’s services to poverty reduction, this report contains essays from organisations using different methodologies and approaches to generate evidence and influence policy and practice in a number of service areas. The idea that policy and practice should be underpinned by rigorous evidence is internationally accepted, yet there is recognition that the level of rigour in evaluating ‘what works’ in social policy remains limited. In a time of public service reform and more decentralised decision making, the need for timely, accessible and reliable evidence is becoming ever more important." [Public and Social Innovation, NESTA UK, April 2011]
• Evidence summaries tailored to health policy-makers in low- and middle-income countries
  Objective: To describe how the SUPPORT collaboration developed a short summary format for presenting the results of systematic reviews to policy-makers in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Methods: We carried out 21 user tests in six countries to explore users’ experiences with the summary format. We modified the summaries based on the results and checked our conclusions through 13 follow-up interviews. To solve the problems uncovered by the user testing, we also obtained advisory group feedback and conducted working group workshops. Findings: Policy-makers liked a graded entry format (i.e. short summary with key messages up front). They particularly valued the section on the relevance of the summaries for LMICs, which compensated for the lack of locally-relevant detail in the original review. Some struggled to understand the text and numbers. Three issues made redesigning the summaries particularly challenging: (i) participants had a poor understanding of what a systematic review was; (ii) they expected information not found in the systematic reviews and (iii) they wanted shorter, clearer summaries. Solutions included adding information to help understand the nature of a systematic review, adding more references and making the content clearer and the document quicker to scan. Conclusion: Presenting evidence from systematic reviews to policy-makers in LMICs in the form of short summaries can render the information easier to assimilate and more useful, but summaries must be clear and easy to read or scan quickly. They should also explain the nature of the information provided by systematic reviews and its relevance for policy decisions. [author abstract] [Bull World Health Organ 2011; 89: 54–61]
• For the Public's Health: Revitalizing Law and Policy to Meet New Challenges
  "Laws and policies often require the collection of data and can circumscribe the uses to which the data are put, for example, prohibiting access to personally identifiable health information. Similarly, statutes can affect funding for public health through such mechanisms as program-specific taxes or fees. And laws shape the structure of public health agencies, grant them their authority, and influence policy. In the three reports, the committee will make a case for increased accountability of all sectors that affect health — including the clinical care delivery system, the business sector, academe, nongovernment organizations, communities, and various government agencies — wherever possible, with coordination by the government public health agency leading or coordinating activities and sectors." [US National Academy of Sciences, 2011]
• Guide to Develop a Health Promotion Policy and compendium of policies
  "This guide is comprised of six sections: 1. A summary of the standard and substandards of the health promotion policy issued by the International HPH Network; 2. A presentation of types of HPH organizational approaches; 3. Recommendations on the content of a health promotion policy – this section includes a checklist to help institutions ensure their policy is in accordance with the HPH concept; 4. The main benchmarks in the policy development process in terms of ownership by the institution's various departments; 5. A description of the support provided by the Agence as regional coordinator of the member institutions that must develop a health promotion policy; [and] 6. Examples of health promotion policies adopted by member institutions of the HPH network in Montreal and other regions of the world." [Agence de la santé et des services sociaux de Montréal, 2009]
• Health care outside hospitals: Accessing generalist and specialist care in eight countries
  "The delivery of health care is changing. While the acute hospital will always play a key role in the provision of health care...in many countries there is an increasing interest in the scope to transfer some types of care out of hospitals....This policy brief aims to describe a broad spectrum of models by exploring the arrangements that are in place in eight countries. This is intended to provide a basis for a more informed discussion on the future of health care outside the hospital."
• "Health Courts" and Accountability for Patient Safety
  Proposals that medical malpractice claims be removed from the tort system and processed in an alternative system, known as administrative compensation or “health courts,” attract considerable policy interest during malpractice “crises,” including the current one. This article published in the Milbank Quarterly Vol.84, No.3, 2006, describes current proposals for the design of a health court system and the system’s advantages for improving patient safety. Among these advantages are the cultivation of a culture of transparency regarding medical errors and the creation of mechanisms to gather and analyse data on medical injuries.
• Health for all? A critical analysis of public health policies in eight European countries
  “Scientific experts from eight different countries to write about the public health policies in their respective countries with a special emphasis on the equity aspect. The countries chosen represented different parts of Europe: from the northern (Denmark, Finland Norway and Sweden) via the western (England and the Netherlands) to the southern parts (Italy and Spain)”.
• Implementing the Bank's gender mainstreaming policy: second annual monitoring report
  This document outlines the World Bank's progress in implementing its gender mainstreaming strategy. This strategy includes the completion of country gender assessments, increased attention to gender issues in core diagnostic economic and sector work and in country assistance strategies and greatly increased attention to gender issues in project design and supervision.
• Improving the Health of the World's Poorest People
  This Policy Brief highlights the extent of the rich-poor health divide, the factors that play a role in health disparities, and approaches for improving the health of the poor.
• Is Evidence-Based Government Possible?
  This lecture, presented by Phillip Davies of the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit, Cabinet Office, London discusses whether or not evidence based policy and evidence based government is possible or merely rhetorical device. It attempts to define evidence-based policy and considers factors other than evidence that influence policy making and policy implementation.
• Interventions Encouraging the Use of Systematic Reviews by Health Policymakers and Managers: A Systematic Review
  Background: Systematic reviews have the potential to inform decisions made by health policymakers and managers, yet little is known about the impact of interventions to increase the use of systematic reviews by these groups in decision-making. Methods: We systematically reviewed the evidence on the impact of interventions for seeking, appraising, and applying evidence from systematic reviews in decision-making by health policymakers or managers. Medline, EMBASE, CINAHL, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Cochrane Methodology Register, Health Technology Assessment Database, and LISA were searched from the earliest date available until April 2010. Two independent reviewers selected studies for inclusion if the intervention intended to increase seeking, appraising, or applying evidence from systematic reviews by a health policymaker or manager. Minimum inclusion criteria were a description of the study population and availability of extractable data. Results: 11,297 titles and abstracts were reviewed leading to retrieval of 37 full-text articles for assessment; four of these articles met all inclusion criteria. Three articles described one study where five systematic reviews were mailed to public health officials and followed up with surveys at three months and two years. The articles reported from 23% to 63% of respondents declaring they had used systematic reviews in policymaking decisions. One randomised trial indicated that tailored messages combined with access to a registry of systematic reviews had a significant effect on policies made in the area of healthy body weight promotion in health departments. Conclusions: The limited empirical data renders the strength of evidence weak for the effectiveness and the types of interventions that encourage health policymakers and managers to use systematic reviews in decision making. [provisional abstract] [Implementation Science 2011, 6: 43]
• "Knowledge to Policy":” Making the Most of Development Research
  "Does research influence public policy and decision-making and, if so, how? This book is the most recent to address this question, investigating the effects of research in the field of international development. It starts from a sophisticated understanding about how research influences public policy and decision-making. It shows how research can contribute to better governance in at least three ways: by encouraging open inquiry and debate; by empowering people with the knowledge to hold governments accountable; and by enlarging the array of policy options and solutions available to the policy process. ‘Knowledge to Policy’ examines the consequences of 23 research projects funded by Canada’s International Development Research Centre. Key findings and case studies from Asia, Africa, and Latin America are presented in a reader-friendly, journalistic style, giving the reader a deeper grasp and understanding of approaches, contexts, relationships, and events."
• Legal Aspects of HIV/AIDS - A Guide for Policy and Law Reform
  This report, by Lance Gable, Katharina Gamharter, Lawrence O. Gostin, James G. Hodge, Jr., Rudolf V. Van Puymbroeck, states that "...Dealing successfully with HIV/AIDS cuts across almost all areas of government responsibility, and as the breadth of the 65 topics included in the Guide shows, there are many ways in which laws and regulations can either underpin or undermine good public health programs and responsible personal behaviors. The Guide indicates that statutes relating to many areas of human endeavor — from intimate private conduct to international travel — can contribute to stigma, discrimination, and exclusion or, contrariwise, can avoid and help remedy these inequities. Thus, in order to create a supportive legal framework it is important that governments identify and address effectively any gaps or other problematic aspects of their legislation and regulatory systems...".
• Life Course Health Development: An Integrated Framework for Developing Health, Policy, and Research
  Neal Halfon and Miles Hochstein, University of California, Los Angeles; National Center for Infancy and Early Childhood Health Policy - “This article describes the Life Course Health Development (LCHD) framework, which was created to explain how health trajectories develop over an individual’s lifetime and how this knowledge can guide new approaches to policy and research.”
• Magenta Book
  Government Chief Social Researcher’s Office, UK Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit - Cabinet Office –London, 2003. The Magenta Book is a set of guidance notes for policy evaluators and analysts, and people who use and commission policy evaluation.
• Mental health and development: targeting people with mental health conditions as a vulnerable group
  The new WHO report on mental health and development is a call to action to all development stakeholders – governments, civil society, multilateral agencies, bilateral agencies, global partnerships, private foundations, academic and research institutions – to focus their attention on mental health. The report presents compelling evidence that persons with mental and psychosocial disabilities are a vulnerable group but continue to be marginalized in terms of development aid and government attention. It makes the case for reaching out to this group through the design and implementation of appropriate policies and programmes and through the inclusion of mental health interventions into broader poverty reduction and development strategies. The report also describes a number of key interventions which can provide a starting point for these efforts. By investing in persons with mental and psychosocial disabilities, development outcomes can be improved. [publisher overview] [World Health Organization, 2010]
• Performance measurement for health system improvement: experiences, challenges and prospects (Summary)
  "Performance measurement offers policy-makers a major opportunity to secure health system improvement and accountability. Its role is to improve the quality of decisions made by all actors within the health system, including patients, practitioners, managers, governments at all levels, insurers and other payers, politicians, and citizens as financial supporters. Recent major advances in information technology and increasing demands for health system accountability and patient choice have driven rapid advances in health system performance measurement. Health systems, however, are still in the relatively early stages of performance measurement, and major improvements are still needed in data collection, analytical methodologies, and policy development and implementation. Health system performance has a number of aspects – including population health, health outcomes from treatment, clinical quality and the appropriateness of care, responsiveness, equity and productivity – and progress is varied in the development of performance measures and data collection techniques for these different aspects. Securing improved performance measurement is an important stewardship task of government, as many of the benefits of performance measurement cannot be realized without the active leadership of government, whether through law, regulation, coordination or persuasion... Stewardship responsibilities associated with performance measurement can be summarized under the following headings: 1. development of a clear conceptual framework and a clear vision of the purpose of the performance measurement system; 2. design of data collection mechanisms; 3. information governance; 4. development of analytical devices and capacity to help understand the data; 5. development of appropriate data aggregation and presentational methods; 6. design of incentives to act on performance measures; 7. proper evaluation of performance-measurement instruments; and 8. managing the political process."
• Policies and incentives for promoting innovation in antibiotic research
  "Bacterial resistance to currently available antibiotics is becoming increasingly frequent in both hospital and community settings. We are even starting to see resistance to entire antibiotic classes such as beta-lactams, quinolones, tetracyclines, glycopeptides and macrolides. Resistance to antibiotics presents a major challenge in health care as resistant bacteria dramatically decrease the chances of treating infections effectively and increase the risk of complications and death. Within the European Union (EU) alone it is estimated that 2 million patients acquire nosocomial infections each year, over half of which are drug resistant. Coupled with the lack of investment to discover new antibiotics, we are facing a potential health crisis. In response to this growing threat, in December 2009 the Council of the European Union called upon the European Commission (EC) to: ‘within 24 months, develop a comprehensive action-plan, with concrete proposals concerning incentives to develop new effective antibiotics, including ways to secure their rational use; and ensure that these proposals take account of the economic impact on the financial sustainability of healthcare systems.’ Around the same time the United States joined forces with the EU to help tackle the issue through the formation of a transatlantic taskforce on antimicrobial resistance. This book is intended to help shed light on some of the key policies and incentives proposed to tackle this problem." [World Health Organization 2010, on behalf of the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies]
• Policies and practices for mental health in Europe: Meeting the challenges
  "[This] report by the WHO Regional Office for Europe, co-funded by the European Commission… provides data not hitherto available on mental health policy and practice across the WHO European Region. It also highlights important information gaps. Policies and Practices for Mental Heath in Europe allows for country-to-country comparisons on indicators such as numbers of psychiatrists, financing, community services, training of workforce, prescription of antidepressants, and representation of users and carers.…The data were obtained from the ministries of health of 42 European Member States. Over 150 figures and tables in the report demonstrate the diversity across the European Region, and allow country to country comparisons of indicators such as numbers of psychiatrists, financing, community services, training of the workforce, the prescription of anti-depressants and representation of users and carers."
• Public Policies on Nutrition Labelling: Effects and Implementation Issues: A Knowledge Synthesis
  Following a brief discussion of the targeted problem, namely, obesity in Canada, this document defines the subject of the present knowledge synthesis: nutrition labelling, whose effectiveness we attempt to document, along with its unintended effects, equity, cost, feasibility and acceptability. Next follows a description of the method used to study public policies on nutrition labelling: explication of their logic model; review of the scientific and grey literatures; and organization of deliberative processes that bring together Canadian actors involved in addressing obesity. This document next describes the logic model for nutrition labelling. It then synthesizes the data gathered from the literature on the status of nutrition-labelling policies in industrialized countries, on the effectiveness of nutrition labelling, and on its unintended effects, equity, cost, feasibility and acceptability. Then, the data on these same topics gathered through deliberative processes are presented. The document concludes with a summary of the key points to note regarding the effects and implementation of public policies on nutrition labelling. [publication forward] [Institut national de santé publique du Québec, National Collaborating Centre for Healthy Public Policy - NCCHPP– Canada, 2011]
• Revision of World Health Organisation's Health Regulations
  This document By David P Fidler, 2004 describes WHO's interim draft of the revised International Health Regulations which are the result of heightened efforts to combat global infectious disease particularly in the light of recent SARS and AVIAN flu outbreaks.
• Screening for Disease
  "The practice of screening in health care – that is, actively seeking to identify a disease or predisease condition in people who are presumed and presume themselves to be healthy – is one that has grown rapidly in recent years and now has wide acceptance in our societies. Originally, screening was introduced as a public health measure to detect conditions such as tuberculosis which might be a health hazard to the community. Since then demand for screening has greatly increased. It is now considered applicable to the prevention of disease and is considered to be a logical extension of medical practice. However, it has become apparent that there are also disadvantages, and as with all medical procedures, certain principles have to be satisfied before screening programmes are started."
• Sociology and policy science: just in time?
  This article by Philip Davies provides a broad overview of the relation between sociology and the skills and competencies required of policy analysts and social researchers.
• Sound Choices: Enhancing Capacity for Evidence-Informed Health Policy
  "…While health systems constraints are increasingly recognized as primary barriers to the scaling up of health services and achievement of health goals, knowledge regarding how to improve health systems is often weak and frequently not well-utilized in policy-making. The Review addresses how capacity constraints at the country level impede progress in generating policy-relevant health systems knowledge and employing such evidence in the policy process. Capacity constraints related to four main functions: (a) research priority-setting; (b) generating and disseminating knowledge; (c) knowledge amplification and filtration; and (d) finally applying evidence to policy process - are explored and illustrated using country examples. The Review concludes with practical lessons for different groups of stakeholders including national health leaders, research institutions and international funding and development agencies…".
• Strengthening Health Systems: The Role and Promise of Policy and Systems Research
  Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research, Global Forum for Health Research, Geneva, November 2004 - "The central concern of this book is how knowledge of health systems can be significantly increased and effectively applied to improve the health of the worst-off of the world's population."
• Support Tools for evidence-informed health Policymaking (STP)
  This book is based on a series of articles published in Health Research Policy and Systems. It is written for people responsible for making decisions about health policies and programmes and for those who support these decision makers. The book is intended to help such people ensure that their decisions are well-informed by the best available research evidence. The SUPPORT tools and the ways in which they can be used are described in more detail in the Introduction. A glossary can be found at the end of the book. Links to Spanish, Portuguese, French and Chinese translations can be found on the SUPPORT website. [publisher summary] [Report from Norwegian Knowledge Centre for the Health Services, Oslo, Norway (Nasjonalt kunnskapssenter for helsetjenesten): No 4–2010]
• The growing danger of non-communicable diseases: acting now to reverse course
  "The aim of this note is to support policy makers in lower- and middle-income countries, as well as the development community, in taking action across sectors to effectively address the growing crisis of NCDs amongst other national and global priorities. The World Bank’s support to policy makers in addressing the NCD challenge builds on its work in strengthening development and improving health outcomes in middle- and lower-income countries. This work complements the World Bank’s strong commitment to supporting the MDG agenda. The Bank stands ready to help countries, particularly those dealing with a ‘double burden’ of disease, to shape strategies to achieve their MDG targets, and build the evidence, for both middle and lower income countries, to effectively respond to the NCD challenge, while resolving the inevitable tradeoffs that policymakers will face in allocating national health budgets." [The World Bank, Human Development Network, Conference Edition, September 2011]
• The utilisation of health research in policy-making: concepts, examples and methods of assessment
  Stephen R Hanney, Martin J Buxton and Maurice Kogan, Health Research Policy and Systems 2003, 1:2 - This article concludes that health research utilisation can be better understood and enhanced by developing assessment methods informed by conceptual analysis and review of previous studies.
• To serve the community or oneself - the public servants dilemma
  This World Bank Report deals with the problem of embezzlement in public service delivery in the developing world. The authors investigate the determinants of corrupt behaviour by focusing on three aspects; embezzling by public servants, monitoring efforts by designated monitors and voting by members when provided with an opportunity to select a monitor.
• Towards better use of evidence in policy formation: a discussion paper
  "Many policies developed in isolation from the available evidence, or initiated and continued in the absence of monitoring and formal evaluation of impact and effectiveness, may well be ineffective in meeting their primary or secondary policy objectives and in some cases may even have unknown and unexpected adverse consequences. Accordingly, evidence-based approaches must also lead to greater efficiency in the provision of public services. One suspects that there are many Government-funded programmes now in place that when properly assessed would not meet objective tests of effectiveness; such evidence of non-performance would allow both the public and politicians to accept, and indeed require, redirection of effort. It is also important to note that there are limits to scientific knowledge and to the scientific approach; governments and their advisors must be aware of such limitations, otherwise science can be misused to justify decisions that should legitimately be made on the basis of other considerations. Conversely, this limitation cannot be used as a reason to avoid the application of scientific findings where such knowledge can help define or resolve the range of options for the policy maker." [Office of the Prime Minister’s Science Advisory Committee, Auckland, New Zealand, April 2011]
• Use of Science in UK International Development Policy
  House of Commons - The Science and Technology Committee, UK Parliament , October 2004 - “This inquiry examines how science and technology are informing decisions on the spending of the aid budget, how research is being used to underpin policy making in international development, and how the UK is supporting science and technology in developing countries.”
• Using Health Research in Policy and Practice: Case Studies from Nine Countries
  Ray Moynihan, AcademyHealth, The Milbank Memorial Fund - 2004 -This study examines the application of an evidence based approach to health care by describing case studies in nine countries. It looks at the relationship between researcher and practitioner as well the difficulties of ensuring that knowledge gained from the best evidence is actually used in practice.
• Where are the patients in decision-making about their own care?
  "Patients can play a distinct role in protecting their health, choosing appropriate treatments for episodes of ill health and managing chronic disease. Considerable evidence suggests that patient engagement can improve their experience and satisfaction and also can be effective clinically and economically. This policy brief outlines what the research evidence tells us about the effects of engaging patients in their clinical care, and it reviews policy interventions that have been (or could be) implemented in different health care systems across Europe. In particular, it focuses on strategies to improve: health literacy; treatment decision-making; and self-management of chronic conditions."
• WHO Program "Health for All in the 21st Century"
  This is an introduction to the health policy for all framework for the WHO European Region which addresses the World Health Declaration adopted by the world health community at the 51st Health Assembly, May 1998.

Educational resources

• Conflict sensitive approaches to development, humanitarian assistance, and peace building (FEWER)
  This two-year programme was designed to help integrate conflict-sensitive practice into development, humanitarian assistance and peacebuilding, and to help people working in these fields to contribute more effectively to conflict prevention.
• Fatal Indifference: The G8, Africa, and Global Health
  Ronald Labonte, Ted Schrecker, David Sanders, and Wilma Meeus - This book examines the aid, trade and investment practices of G8 member nations, providing a 'report card' of commitments over the three G8 summits form 1999-2000 and a preliminary assessment of the most recent summit in 2002.
• Health Impact Assessment: A Practical Guide
  “In NSW for the past five years, NSW Health and the Centre for Health Equity Training Research and Evaluation (part of the UNSW Research Centre for Primary Health Care and Equity) have been working together to build capacity to undertake Health Impact Assessment. This program of ‘learning by doing’ Health Impact Assessment is unique in its approach, and has resulted in a strong understanding of Health Impact Assessment grounded in practical experience. This guide is a direct result of that investment and experience.” [August 2007]
• Medical and Public Health Law Site
  This site is presented by Edward P Richards, Harvey A Pelter Professor of Law & Director Program in Law, Science and Public Health Louisiana State University.
• Moving Ideas Health policy page
  Moving Ideas is a US based information source of progressive policy information aiming to engage citizens in activism via the internet. This site includes information on a range of issues and organisations involved in progressive activism.
• PharmWeb
  PharmWeb is a portal to an extensive range of pharmaceutical and health care related internet resources. It includes links to conferences and meetings, worldwide pharmacy colleges, departments and schools, discussion forums and chat sessions, job vacancies, statistics and government bodies.
• Public Attitudes to Public Health Policy, 2004
  This report examines the public attitude to public health policy in the UK. It explores four main themes; people's health expectations, individual responsibility and control, the role of government and the role of the National Health Service.
• Q-Web
  Q Web is an interactive global resource-base and platform for knowledge-sharing between organisations, students, researchers and individuals who are interested in, working with or researching the field of Gender Equality, Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights as well as Empowerment.

Organisations and Networks

UN and multinational

• Health Action International
  HAI is an non-profit, global network of health, development, consumer and other public interest groups throughout Europe working for a more rational use of medicinal drugs. It represents the interests of consumers in drug policy and believes that all drugs marketed should be safe, effective, affordable and meet real medical needs.

Government

Non Government

• Committee on Health Politics (USA)
  The Committee on Health Politics is an unaffiliated group of The American Political Science Association consisting of social scientists with a strong professional interest in health policy.
• EssentialDrugs.org
  An electronic conference to allow health professionals, particularly in developing countries where access to telephone and facsimile may be prohibitively expensive and postal services can be unreliable to share information in the field of essential drugs.
• HandsNet: Linking the Human Services Community Online (USA)
  A national, non-profit organization that promotes information sharing, cross-sector collaboration and advocacy among individuals and organizations working on a broad range of public interest issues.
• Institute for Safe Medication Practices (USA)
  "A nonprofit organization that works closely with healthcare practitioners and institutions, regulatory agencies, professional organizations and the pharmaceutical industry to provide education about adverse drug events and their prevention. The Institute provides an independent review of medication errors that have been voluntarily submitted by practitioners to a national Medication Errors Reporting Program (MERP) operated by the United States Pharmacopeia (USP) in the USA."
• International Society for Pharmacoepidemiology
  "A non-profit international professional membership organization dedicated to promoting pharmacoepidemiology, the science which applies epidemiologic approaches to studying the use, effectiveness, value and safety of pharmaceuticals"
• Lister Hill Center for Health Policy
  Located at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, the center fosters research through the work of its scholars whose primary research interests are: health care markets and managed care; maternal and child health; management in public health organisation; and clinical health services research.
• Manitoba Centre for Health Policy
  "This centre undertakes population-based health services research and policy analyses using the unique Manitoba Health Research Data Base to describe and explain patterns of care and profiles of health and illness"
• Quality Use of Medicines (Australia)
  "The aim of Australia's Quality Use of Medicines policy is to improve the way medicines are prescribed and used, to ensure better health outcomes for all Australians. The policy focuses on an evidence based approach, with an emphasis on appropriate, safe and efficacious use.

Academic Institutions with particular focus in this area

• Centre for Health Economics and Policy Analysis (CHEPA)
  An interdisciplinary research centre based at McMaster University committed to producing high quality, original socially relevant research in health policy analysis and economics, and to disseminating research evidence to decision makers in the health sector. Its research spans a broad range of topics including organisation, funding, and delivery of healthcare, the evaluation of healthcare programs and technologies, the measurement of health at the individual and population level, the determinants of population health, and the process of health policy making.
• Centre for Health Services and Policy Research
  Located at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver (Canada), the Centre's overall mission is to stimulate scientific inquiry into issues of health in population groups, and ways in which health services can best be organised, funded and delivered. Its client base includes researchers, health care policy-makers, health care providers, graduate students and the public.
• School of Public Health and Community Medicine, UNSW
• School of Public Health and Community Medicine, UNSW - Research

Key Conferences, conference and workshop reports

Coming conferences

Conference reports

• Health and Foreign Policy Forum, Academy Health
  This conference, held in Washington in February 2005 provided an overview of the issues that have emerged at the intersection of health and foreign policy, emphasizing the different professional and political perspectives that currently compose public policy debates. Video and transcripts of conference presentations are available from this site.
• Expert Workshop on the Measurement of Social Capital for Public Policy
  June 8, 2004, PRI Project, Social Capital as a Public Policy Tool In collaboration with Statistics Canada - "This workshop was organized by the Policy Research Initiative (PRI) as part of its interdepartmental project “Social Capital as a Public Policy Tool”, in partnership with the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) and in collaboration with Statistics Canada."
• OECD World Forum: Statistics, Knowledge and Policy
  This conference, held in Palermo, Italy 2004 discussed the issue of assessing the current situations of economies and societies. It brought together policy makers, academics, statisticians, media experts and civil society representatives to compare national experiences and strategies and to identify challenges for future development and evaluating how the OECD can work to improve the present understanding of economic, social and environmental trends.

Journals, Newsletters, Forums

• Take Back Healthcare
  Take Back Healthcare provides news and analysis about the uninsured, single-payer, employee health benefits, medical insurance, medical tourism, Medicare, Medicaid, health costs, drug costs, the Canadian and other foreign plans, and more.

Bibliographies, Libraries

Public health bookshops

• Public Health bookshop