Friday, March 27, 2009

[EQ] Live Webcast: Health in times of global economic crisis

-----Original Message-----
From:  David McDaid LSE Health and Social Care

Sent: Friday, March 27, 2009


May be of interest to some of you.

 

There will be a live webcast of the WHO/ Norwegian Ministry of Health and Care services organised meeting on the implications of the global recession on health in the WHO European region  that is taking place in Oslo next week on April 1 and April 2

 

Links to materials, conference programme and the webcast can be found at

url:

http://www.euro.who.int/healthsystems/econcrisis/20090316_1

 

 

Global economic crisis

 

Oslo, Norway, 1-2 April 2009


The global economic downturn occurs as the world is also confronted with the consequences of major demographic changes and global environmental and energy problems. The crisis therefore represents a major threat for both health and health and social protection systems.

 

 

The objectives of the meeting are: 

 

- to review the situation in the WHO European Region by identifying the main risks for health and health systems and the main opportunities for action;

- to discuss policy options for responding to the negative impacts of the economic crisis on health systems and
  health outcomes in low-, middle- and high-income Member States in the European Region;

- to identify health- and health systems- related measures that could be used in the short and medium terms
  to counter the economic downturn and, in the longer term, to help address (some) structural issues confronting our societies.

 

PROVISIONAL PROGRAMME

 

Wednesday, 1 April 2009

 

13:00 – 13:15 Welcome and opening

Objectives and scope of the meeting

Mr Bjarne Håkon Hanssen, Minister of Health and Care Services

Dr Marc Danzon, WHO Regional Director for Europe

Message from the WHO Director-general Dr Margaret Chan

 

Session 1: Impact of the economic downturn on health systems and health outcomes in the Member States in the WHO European Region

The ongoing financial and economic crisis: main effects on society and on health systems

Chair: Dr Marc Danzon, WHO Regional Director for Europe

Opening speech by Mr Jonas Gahr Støre, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Norway

Keynote speakers:

Prof Alan Maynard, Professor of Health Economics, University of York

Prof Guillem López-Casasnovas, Professor in Economics at Universitat Pompeu Fabra

and Member of the Board of the Bank of Spain

Prof Tomica Milosavljevic, Minister of Health of Serbia

 

Chair: Dr Bjørn-Inge Larsen, Director-General, Norwegian Directorate of Health

Keynote speaker:

Prof Sir Michael Marmot, Director, International Institute for Society and Health and MRC

Research Professor, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College

London, United Kingdom

 

Thursday, 2 April 2009

 

Session 2: Strengthening health and health systems in the context of the crisis

The Millennium Development Goals in the light of the ongoing economic crisis

Message from Mr Jens Stoltenberg, Prime Minister of Norway

Financial and human resource aspects of the crisis; effects on the migration of health personnel

Chair: Prof Elias Mossialos, Director, LSE Health, London School of Economics and Political Science, United Kingdom

 

Keynote speakers:

Mr Philippe Douste-Blazy, Chair of the Executive Board of UNITAID

Mrs Mary Robinson, President, Realizing Rights: the Ethical Globalization Initiative and Co-chair, Health Workers Global Policy Advisory Council

09:50-10:30 Panel with representatives of Member States

10:30-11:00 Debate and conclusions moderated by Prof Elias Mossialos

11:30-11:50 Protecting public health through strengthened health systems in the European Region

Chair: Dr Bjørn-Inge Larsen, Director-General, Norwegian Directorate of Health

 

Keynote speaker:

Prof Martin McKee, Research Director, European Centre on Health of Societies in

Transition, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, United Kingdom

 

Session 3: Strategies to overcome health consequences of crisis

14:15-14:35 Chair: Dr Nata Menabde, Deputy Regional Director, WHO Regional Office for Europe

 

Keynote speaker:

Mr Bjarne Håkon Hanssen, Minister of Health and Care Services

14:35-15:20 Panel with partners’ representatives

15:20-16:00 Recommendations of the meeting. Final remarks and closure

Dr Bjørn-Inge Larsen, Director-General, Norwegian Directorate of Health

Dr Marc Danzon, WHO Regional Director for Europe

 

Webcast

The meeting will be webcast live from Holmenkollen Park Hotel in Oslo, Norway.

The direct link to the webcast will be available here when the meeting is taking place.

If you would like to show the webcast live via your own web pages then please choose one of  the following options:

1) If you have a webTV player where you would like to send the webcast, publishing points will be established by the webcast provider, Smartcom:TV.
Please contact Vegard Günther at Smartcom:tv, +47 92 89 10 11, Veegard.gunther@smartcomtv.no for further information.

2) If you do not have webTV player but would like to publish the link to the webcast on your web pages,
please contact Vegard Günther at Smartcom:tv, +47 92 89 10 11, Veegard.gunther@smartcomtv.no for further information.
You will then receive the correct link to the live, on demand webcast.

 

*      *     *

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/ KMC 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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[EQ] Targeting Social Transfers to the Poor in Mexico

Targeting Social Transfers to the Poor in Mexico



Coady, David ; Parker, Susan

Working Paper No. 09/60: March 2009

IMF International Monetary Fund

 

            Available online as PDF [30p.] at: http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/wp/2009/wp0960.pdf

 

“…….Mexico's main social support program, Oportunidades, combines two methods to target cash to poor households: an initial self-selection by households who acquire knowledge about the program and apply for benefits, followed by an administrative determination of eligibility based on a means test.

Self-selection improves targeting by excluding high-income households, while administrative targeting does so mainly by excluding middle-income households.

 

The two methods are complementary: expanding program knowledge across households substantially increases applications from non-poor households, thus reinforcing the importance of administrative targeting.

 

The paper shows that targeting can be further improved through redesigning the means test and differentiating transfers according to demographic characteristics…..”

 

“……There is a growing recognition in the development community that many existing safety net programs in developing countries are very badly targeted with a large proportion of program benefits leaking to higher income households and a substantial proportion of poor households being excluded. A recent review of the targeting performance of such programs by Coady, Grosh, and Hoddinott (2004a) found a wide variation in targeting performance and also a strong positive correlation between the number of targeting methods used in a program and targeting performance. However, the data used in the analysis did not permit a deeper

evaluation of the relationship between each targeting method and targeting performance. This paper provides new evidence on this issue by comparing the implications of two targeting methods that are commonly combined in practice, namely, self-selection by households and administrative selection of households by program officials…..”

 

 

Contents

I. Introduction

II. Program and Data Description

III. Methodology

IV. Results

Targeting Performance Across Participation Stages

Policy Reform Simulations

V. Summary

References

 

 

*      *     *

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/ KMC 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”.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PAHO/WHO Website

Equity List - Archives - Join/remove: http://listserv.paho.org/Archives/equidad.html

 

 

    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.  

[EQ] Social Security Reforms in Colombia

Social Security Reforms in Colombia: Striking Demographic and Fiscal Balances

 

Clavijo, Sergio, Executive director of ANIF (Asociación Nacional de Instituciones Financieras - Colombia)

Working Paper No. 09/58: IMF International Monetary Fund, March 2009

 

Available online PDF [33p.] at: http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/wp/2009/wp0958.pdf

 

“……This paper analyzes the economic rationale for adopting parametric pension reforms and reforms broadening the coverage of public health care in Colombia during 1993-2008. Parametric pension reforms have focused on increasing the retirement age and moderating replacement rates. The health system reforms aimed at reaching universal coverage by 2012, while providing a more homogenous level of services.

 

Our results indicate that the Net Present Value of the debt of the social security system in Colombia is roughly 160 percent of GDP for pensions and about 97 percent of GDP for the health system.  ….”

 

Contents

I. Introduction

II. Pension Reforms in Colombia

A. Retirement Age

B. Replacement Rates

C. Coverage and Labor Informality

D. Fiscal Impact of Pension Reforms

III. Health Reforms in Colombia

A. Improving Coverage and Subsidies Allocation: Law 100 of 1993

B. Health Care Results

C. Fiscal Impact of Health Care Reforms

IV. Conclusions

References

 

*      *     *

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/ KMC 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”.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PAHO/WHO Website

Equity List - Archives - Join/remove: http://listserv.paho.org/Archives/equidad.html

 

    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.