Showing papers on "International health published in 2008"

Health behavior and health education : theory, research, and practice

Abstract: Health behavior change is our greatest hope for reducing the burden of preventable disease and death around the world. Tobacco use, sedentary lifestyle, unhealthy diet, and alcohol use together account for almost one million deaths each year in the United States alone. Smoking prevalence in the United States has dropped by half since the first Surgeon General’s Report on Smoking and Health was published in 1964, but tobacco use still causes over 400,000 premature deaths each year. The World Health Organization has warned that the worldwide spread of the tobacco epidemic could claim one billion lives by the end of this century. The rising prevalence of childhood obesity could place the United States at risk of raising the first generation of children to live sicker and die younger than their parents, and the spreading epidemic of obesity among children and adults threatens staggering global health and economic tolls. The four leading behavioral risks factors and a great many others (for example, nonadherence to prescribed medical screening and prevention and disease management practices, risky sexual practices, drug use, family and gun violence, worksite and motor vehicle injuries) take disproportionate tolls in low-income and disadvantaged racial and ethnic populations, as well as in low-resource communities across the world. Addressing these behavioral risks and disparities, and the behaviors related to global health threats, such as flu pandemics, water shortages, increasingly harmful sun exposure, and the need to protect the health of the planet itself, will be critical to world health in the twenty-first century. In the past two decades since the publication of the first edition of Health Education and Health Behavior: Theory, Research, and Practice in 1990, there has been extraordinary growth in our knowledge about interventions needed to change health behaviors at both individual and population levels. This progress can be measured in the proliferation of science-based recommendations issued by authoritative evidence review panels, including the U.S. Clinical Preventive Services Task Force, the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control Task Force on Community Preventive Services, and the international Cochrane Collaboration. Today, there are evidence-based clinical practice guidelines for most major behavioral health risks, including tobacco use, unhealthy diet, sedentary lifestyle, risky drinking, and diabetes management. And there are parallel research-based guidelines for the health care system changes and policies needed to assure their delivery and use. New community practice guidelines offer additional evidence-based recommendations for a wide array of population-level school-, worksite-, and community-based programs and public policies to improve vaccination rates and physical activity levels for children and adults, improve diabetes self-management, reduce harmful sun exposure, reduce secondhand smoke exposure, prevent youth tobacco use and help adult smokers quit, reduce workplace and motor vehicle injuries, and curb drunk driving and family and gun violence.

National health surveys and the behavioral model of health services use.

Abstract: National health surveys have played an important role in the development of health services research. They have contributed to the advancement of concepts, methods, and the policy relevance of the field. One product of these surveys was the Behavioral Model of Health Services Use. This article documents a 75-year legacy by reviewing the series of national studies that have given to the form and function of health services research. It further examines the Behavioral Model through 40 years of considerable application and alteration.

Approaching Health Disparities From a Population Perspective: The National Institutes of Health Centers for Population Health and Health Disparities

Abstract: Addressing health disparities has been a national challenge for decades. The National Institutes of Health-sponsored Centers for Population Health and Health Disparities are the first federal initiative to support transdisciplinary multilevel research on the determinants of health disparities. Their novel research approach combines population, clinical, and basic science to elucidate the complex determinants of health disparities. The centers are partnering with community-based, public, and quasi-public organizations to disseminate scientific findings and guide clinical practice in communities. In turn, communities and public health agents are shaping the research. The relationships forged through these complex collaborations increase the likelihood that the centers' scientific findings will be relevant to communities and contribute to reductions in health disparities.

Thirty years of national health insurance in South Korea: lessons for achieving universal health care coverage

Abstract: South Korea introduced mandatory social health insurance for industrial workers in large corporations in 1977, and extended it incrementally to the self-employed until it covered the entire population in 1989. Thirty years of national health insurance in Korea can provide valuable lessons on key issues in health care financing policy which now face many low- and middle-income countries aiming to achieve universal health care coverage, such as: tax versus social health insurance; population and benefit coverage; single scheme versus multiple schemes; purchasing and provider payment method; and the role of politics and political commitment. National health insurance in Korea has been successful in mobilizing resources for health care, rapidly extending population coverage, effectively pooling public and private resources to purchase health care for the entire population, and containing health care expenditure. However, there are also challenges posed by the dominance of private providers paid by fee-for-service, the rapid aging of the population, and the public-private mix related to private health insurance.

Intersectionality and the determinants of health: A Canadian perspective.

Abstract: Despite Canada's leadership in the field of population health, there have been few successes in reducing the country's health inequities. There is an increasing recognition that regardless of the progress made to date, significant gaps remain in comprehending fully the root causes of inequities, including the complex ways in which the determinants of health relate, intersect and mutually reinforce one another. Calls are being made to draw on the theoretical insights of critical social science perspectives to rethink the current framing of health determinants. The aim of this paper is to contribute to the theoretical project of population health by exploring the innovative paradigm of intersectionality to better understand and respond to the ‘foundational’ causes of illness and disease, which the health determinants perspective seeks to identify and address. While intersectionality has taken hold among health researchers in the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada, the transformative potential of t...

International encyclopedia of public health

Abstract: This is an authoritative and comprehensive guide to the major issues, challenges, methods, and approaches of global public health. This encyclopedia will cover all dimensions of the field, from details of specific diseases to the organization of social insurance agencies. A significant percentage of the articles will cover public health aspects of diseases and conditions. Other articles will survey aging, diet, injuries, ethical and legal subjects in public health, measurement and modeling, consumerism, anthropology and sociology, economics, the history of public health, and global issues. It is edited and written by a distinguished international group of editors and contributors. It is heavily illustrated and abundantly cross-referenced. Via Science Direct platform, multimedia files will provide an enhanced online experience. It includes 'Further Reading' lists at the end of each article. It is a complete subject index contained in one volume.

A Review of the Evidence for the Medical Home for Children With Special Health Care Needs

Abstract: CONTEXT. The receipt of health care in a medical home is increasingly touted as a fundamental basis for improved care for persons with chronic conditions, yet the evidence for this claim has not been systematically assessed. OBJECTIVE. Our goal was to determine the evidence for the federal Maternal and Child Health Bureau recommendation that children with special health care needs receive ongoing comprehensive care within a medical home. METHODS. We searched the nursing and medical literature, references of selected articles, and requested expert recommendations. Search terms included children with special health care needs, medical home-related interventions, and health-related outcomes. Articles that met defined criteria (eg, children with special health care needs, United States–based, quantitative) were selected. We extracted data, including design, population characteristics, sample size, intervention, and findings from each article. RESULTS. We selected 33 articles that reported on 30 distinct studies, 10 of which were comparison-group studies. None of the studies examined the medical home in its entirety. Although tempered by weak designs, inconsistent definitions and extent of medical home attributes, and inconsistent outcome measures, the preponderance of evidence supported a positive relationship between the medical home and desired outcomes, such as better health status, timeliness of care, family centeredness, and improved family functioning. CONCLUSIONS. The evidence provides moderate support for the hypothesis that medical homes provide improved health-related outcomes for children with special health care needs. Additional studies with comparison groups encompassing all or most of the attributes of the medical home need to be undertaken.

Handbook of health communication

Abstract: Contents: Preface. T.L. Thompson, Introduction. Part I: Introduction. (Edited and With Introduction by K.I. Miller). B.F. Sharf, M.L. Vanderford, Illness Narratives and the Social Construction of Health. A.S. Babrow, M. Mattson, Theorizing About Health Communication. R.L. Street, Jr., Communication in Medical Encounters: An Ecological Perspective. Part II: Provider-Patient Interaction Issues (Edited and With Introduction by T.L. Thompson). D.J. Cegala, S.L. Broz, Provider and Patient Communication Skills Training. D. Roter, K.S. McNeilis, The Nature of the Therapeutic Relationship and the Assessment of Its Discourse in Routine Medical Visits. J.B. Brown, M. Stewart, B.L. Ryan, Outcomes of Patient-Provider Interaction. C.M. Gillotti, Medical Disclosure and Decision-Making: Excavating the Complexities of Physician-Patient Information Exchange. J.F. Nussbaum, S. Reagan, B. Whaley, Children, Older Adults, and Women: Impact on Provider-Patient Interaction. Part III: Social and Community Health Issues (Edited and With Introduction by A. Dorsey). J.W. Dearing, The State of the Art and the State of the Science of Community Organizing. C.W. Scherer, N.K. Juanillo, Jr., The Continuing Challenge of Community Health Risk Management and Communication. L.A. Ford, G.A. Yep, Working Along the Margins: Developing Community-Based Strategies for Communicating About Health With Marginalized Groups. T.L. Albrecht, D.J. Goldsmith, Social Support, Social Networks, and Health. R.J.W. Cline, Everyday Interpersonal Communication and Health. Part IV: Organizational Issues (Edited and With Introduction by K.I. Miller). J.C. Lammers, A.P. Duggan, J.B. Barbour, Organizational Forms and the Provision of Health Care. J. Apker, E.B. Ray, Stress and Social Support in Health Care Organizations. M.S. Poole, K. Real, Groups and Teams in Health Care: Communication and Effectiveness. C. Conrad, H.G. McIntush, Organizational Rhetoric and Healthcare Policymaking. P. Geist-Martin, K. Horsley, A. Farrell, Working Well: Communicating Individual and Collective Wellness Initiatives. Part V: Media Issues. (Edited and With Introduction by R. Parrott). C. Salmon, C. Atkins, Using Media Campaigns for Health Promotion. L. Murray-Johnson, K. Witte, Looking Toward the Future: Health Message Design Strategies. R.N. Rimal, A.D. Adkins, Using Computers to Narrowcast Health Messages: The Role of Audience Segmentation, Targeting, and Tailoring in Health Promotion. J.W. Turner, Telemedicine: Expanding Health Care Into Virtual Environments. J.K. Springston, R.A.W. Lariscy, Health as Profit: Public Relations in Health Communication. K.N. Kline, Popular Media and Health: Images, Effects, and Institutions. J.M. Bernhardt, K.A. Cameron, Accessing, Understanding, and Applying Health Communication Messages: The Challenge of Health Literacy. Part VI: Lessons and Challenges From the Field. (Edited and With Introduction by A. Dorsey). G.L. Kreps, Opportunities for Health Communication Scholarship to Shape Public Health Policy and Practice: Examples From the National Cancer Institute. T. Edgar, V. Freimuth, S.L. Hammond, Lessons Learned From the Field on Prevention and Health Campaigns. R. Parrott, C. Steiner, Lessons Learned About Academic and Public Health Collaborations in the Conduct of Community-Based Research. N. Guttman, Ethics in Health Communication Interventions.

The 'diagonal' approach to Global Fund financing: a cure for the broader malaise of health systems?

Abstract: The potentially destructive polarisation between 'vertical' financing (aiming for disease-specific results) and 'horizontal' financing (aiming for improved health systems) of health services in developing countries has found its way to the pages of Foreign Affairs and the Financial Times The opportunity offered by 'diagonal' financing (aiming for disease-specific results through improved health systems) seems to be obscured in this polarisation In April 2007, the board of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria agreed to consider comprehensive country health programmes for financing The new International Health Partnership Plus, launched in September 2007, will help low-income countries to develop such programmes The combination could lead the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria to a much broader financing scope This evolution might be critical for the future of AIDS treatment in low-income countries, yet it is proposed at a time when the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is starved for resources It might be unable to meet the needs of much broader and more expensive proposals Furthermore, it might lose some of its exceptional features in the process: its aim for international sustainability, rather than in-country sustainability, and its capacity to circumvent spending restrictions imposed by the International Monetary Fund The authors believe that a transformation of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria into a Global Health Fund is feasible, but only if accompanied by a substantial increase of donor commitments to the Global Fund The transformation of the Global Fund into a 'diagonal' and ultimately perhaps 'horizontal' financing approach should happen gradually and carefully, and be accompanied by measures to safeguard its exceptional features

Knowing What Works in Health Care: A Roadmap for the Nation

Abstract: There is currently heightened interest in optimizing health care through the generation of new knowledge on the effectiveness of health care services. The United States must sustantially strengthen its capacity for assessing evidence on what is known and not known about "what works" in health care. Even the most sophisticated clinicians and consumers struggle to learn which care is appropriate and under what circumstances. Knowing What Works in Health Care looks at the three fundamental health care issues in the United States--setting priorities for evidence assessment, assessing evidence (systematic review), and developing evidence-based clinical practice guidelines--and how each of these contributes to the end goal of effective, practical health care systems. This book provides an overall vision and roadmap for improving how the nation uses scientific evidence to identify the most effective clinical services. Knowing What Works in Health Care gives private and public sector firms, consumers, health care professionals, benefit administrators, and others the authoritative, independent information required for making essential informed health care decisions.

Ethical Considerations for Short-term Experiences by Trainees in Global Health

Abstract: Academic Global Health Programs are Burgeon-ing.1 According to a recent review of the Web sites of 129 accredited MD-granting US medical schools2 and their parent universities, almost half (60; 47%) have established initiatives, institutes, centers, or offices for global health. These programs announce goals that include reducing disparities in global health through a combination of research, education, and service. In part responding to student demand and enthusiasm,3 many programs provide short-term training and service experiences in resource-limited settings. Nevertheless, there are important ethical considerations inherent to sending individuals from resource-replete settings for training and service experiences in resource-limited settings. However, unlike clinical research conducted across international borders, which has attracted considerable attention in the lay and scholarly literature,4,5 much less attention has been given to ethical issues associated with education and service initiatives of global health programs.6–8 We describe some of these issues so they can be addressed explicitly by those engaged in global health education and service initiatives to facilitate the goals of providing medical students, residents, and other trainees in disciplines related to global health the opportunity for international experience while minimizing unintended adverse consequences.

The World Health Organization (Who)

Abstract: Introduction 1. Creation of the World Health Organization 2. Structure and functions 3. Global campaigns against disease 4. Tackling the broad determinants of health 5. From international to global health

Health Insurance and Access to Health Care in the United States

Abstract: Health insurance, poverty, and health are all interconnected in the United States. This article synthesizes a large and compelling body of health services research, finding a strong association between health insurance coverage and access to primary and preventive care, the treatment of acute and traumatic conditions, and the medical management of chronic illness. Moreover, by improving access to care, health insurance coverage is also fundamentally important to better health care and health outcomes. Research connects being uninsured with adverse health outcomes, including declines in health and function, preventable health problems, severe disease at the time of diagnosis, and premature mortality.

In the name of global health: trends in academic institutions.

Abstract: This paper describes accelerating development of programs in global health, particularly in North American academic institutions, and sets this phenomenon in the context of earlier programs in tropical medicine and international health that originated predominantly in Europe. Like these earlier programs, the major focus of the new global health programs is on the health needs of developing countries, and perhaps for this reason, few similar programs have emerged in academic institutions in the developing countries themselves. If global health is about the improvement of health worldwide, the reduction of disparities, and protection of societies against global threats that disregard national borders, it is essential that academic institutions reach across geographic, cultural, economic, gender, and linguistic boundaries to develop mutual understanding of the scope of global health and to create collaborative education and research programs. One indication of success would be emergence of a new generation of truly global leaders working on a shared and well-defined agenda--and doing so on equal footing.

‘Race’ matters: racialization and egalitarian discourses involving Aboriginal people in the Canadian health care context

Abstract: The major purpose of this paper is to examine how ‘race’ and racialization operate in health care. To do so, we draw upon data from an ethnographic study that examines the complex issues surrounding health care access for Aboriginal people in an urban center in Canada. In our analysis, we strategically locate our critical examination of racialization in the ‘tension of difference’ between two emerging themes, namely the health care rhetoric of ‘treating everyone the same,’ and the perception among many Aboriginal patients that they were ‘being treated differently’ by health care providers because of their identity as Aboriginal people, and because of their low socio-economic status. Contrary to the prevailing discourse of egalitarianism that paints health care and other major institutions as discrimination-free, we argue that ‘race’ matters in health care as it intersects with other social categories including class, substance use, and history to organize inequitable access to health and health care for m...

A tale of two health literacies: public health and clinical approaches to health literacy

Abstract: SUMMARY Public health concerns underlie a considerable portion of the global burden of disease, increasing the utility and need for promoting and assessing the knowledge about public health issues. Health literacy is generally agreed upon as a means to find, understand, analyze and use information to make better decisions about health and to ultimately reduce inequities in health. A public health literacy knowledge scale was tested in China, Mexico, Ghana and India. A somewhat unexpected finding, which was that experts ‘scored’ less on the scale than the general public, led to consideration of differences between clinical and public health approaches to health literacy and their implications. These differences in perspective, for instance consideration of single case effects versus impacts at the societal level, pose significant challenges to developing and assessing health literacy. We suggest that a comprehensive approach to health literacy will include both clinical and public health approaches.

Inequalities in Young People's Health: Health Behaviour in School-aged Children International Report from the 2005/2006 Survey

Abstract: This international report from the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) World Health Organization collaborative cross-national study is the most comprehensive to date. It presents the key findings on patterns of health among young people in 41 countries and regions across Europe and North America. The document presents a status report on health, health-related behaviour and the social contexts of young people?s health in 2005/2006 and provides the latest evidence from a unique cross-national study on the well-being of young people in industrialized nations. It is the fourth in a series of international reports from the HBSC study published by the WHO Regional Office for Europe in the 'Health policy for children and adolescents' (HEPCA) series. In addition to presenting key statistics on young people's health, each report has a particular theme. In this report, the theme is health inequalities, encompassing gender, age and geographic and socioeconomic dimensions of health differentials. While previous reports have described patterns of health and behaviour with respect to these dimensions, this one takes a systematic approach to quantifying inequalities. The aim of the report is to highlight where inequalities exist in aspects of young people?s health and well-being to inform and influence policy and practice and to contribute to health improvement for all young people. This fits with the agenda of HBSC?s partner, the World Health Organization, and in particular with the aims of the WHO/HBSC Forum. The forum is designed to address the socioeconomic determinants of health among adolescents and the development of an equity-oriented strategy for child and adolescent health, as expressed in the WHO European strategy for child and adolescent health and development.

Anthropology and Public Health: Bridging Differences in Culture and Society

Abstract: PART I: ANTHROPOLOGICAL UNDERSTANDING OF PUBLIC HEALTH PROBLEMS 1. The Anthropology of Childhood Malaria in Tanzania 2. Diagnosis and Management of Asthma in the Medical Marketplace of India: Implications for Effort to Improve Global Respiratory Health 3. Situating Stress: Lessons from Lay Discourses on Diabetes 4. Undersatnding Prgnancy in a Population of Inner-City Women in New Orleans- Results of Qualitative Research 5. The Limits of "Heterosexual AIDS:" Ethnographic Research on Tourism and Male Sexual Labor in the Dominican Republic 6. Male Infertility and Consanguinity in Lebanon: the Power of Ethnogrpahic Epidemiology 7. Structural Violence, Political Violence, and the Health Costs of Civil Conflict: A Case Study from Peru PART II: ANTHROPOLOGICAL DESIGN OF PUBLIC HEALTH INTERVENTIONS 8. Bridges between Mental Health Care and Religious Healing in Puerto Rico: The Outcome of an Early Experiment 9. Indigenization of Illness Support Groups for Lymphatic Filariasis in Haiti 10. Using Formative Research to Explore and Address Elder Health and Care in Chiapas, Mexico 11. Anthropological Contributions to the Development of Culturally Appropriate Tobacco Cessation Programs: A Global Health Priority 12. From Street Research to Public Health Intervetnion: The Hartford Drug Monitoring Project 13. Sexual Risk Reduction Among Married Men and Women in Urban India: An Anthropological Intervention PART III: ANTHROPOLOGICAL EVALUATIONS OF PUBLIC HEALTH INITIATIVES 14. Honorable Mutilation? Changing Responses to Female Genital Cutting in Sudan 15. Making Pregnancy Safer for Women around the World: The Example of Safe Motherhood and Maternal Death in Guatemala 16. Counting on Mother's Love 17. The Brazilian Response to AIDS and the Pharmaceuticalization of Global Health 18. Anthropological and Public Health Perspectives on the Polio Eradication Initiative in Northern Nigeria PART IV: ANTHROPOLOGICAL CRITIQUES OF PUBLIC HEALTH POLICY 19. "Sanitary Makeshifts" and the Perpetuation of Health Stratification in Indonesia 20. Global Panic, Local Repercussions: The Economic and Nutritional Effects of Bird Flu in Vietnam 21. Neoliberal Infections and the Politics of Health: Resurgent Tuberculosis Epidemics in New York City and Lima, Peru 22. Biological Citizenship After Chernobyl 23. An Ethnographic Evaluation of Post-Alma Ata Health System Reforms in Mongolia: Lessons for Addressing Health Inequities in Poor Communities 24. Bureaucratic Aspects of International Health Programs

Public health ethics. Public justification and public trust.

Abstract: Viewing public health as a political and social undertaking as well as a goal of this activity, the authors develop some key elements in a framework for public health ethics, with particular attention to the formation of public health policies and to decisions by public health officials that are not fully determined by established public policies. They concentrate on ways to approach ethical conflicts about public health interventions. These conflicts arise because, in addition to the value of public health, societies have a wide range of other values that sometimes constrain the selection of means to achieve public health goals. The authors analyze three approaches for resolving these conflicts (absolutist, contextualist, and presumptivist), argue for the superiority of the presumptivist approach, and briefly explicate five conditions for rebutting presumptions in a process of public justification. In a liberal, pluralistic, democratic society, a presumptivist approach that engages the public in the context of a variety of relationships can provide a foundation for public trust, which is essential to public health as a political and social practice as well as to achieving public health goals.

Health security as a public health concept: a critical analysis.

Abstract: There is growing acceptance of the concept of health security. However, there are various and incompatible definitions, incomplete elaboration of the concept of health security in public health operational terms, and insufficient reconciliation of the health security concept with community-based primary health care. More important, there are major differences in understanding and use of the concept in different settings. Policymakers in industrialized countries emphasize protection of their populations especially against external threats, for example terrorism and pandemics; while health workers and policymakers in developing countries and within the United Nations system understand the term in a broader public health context. Indeed, the concept is used inconsistently within the UN agencies themselves, for example the World Health Organization's restrictive use of the term 'global health security'. Divergent understandings of 'health security' by WHO's member states, coupled with fears of hidden national security agendas, are leading to a breakdown of mechanisms for global cooperation such as the International Health Regulations. Some developing countries are beginning to doubt that internationally shared health surveillance data is used in their best interests. Resolution of these incompatible understandings is a global priority. Language: en