Thursday, January 14, 2010

[EQ] State of the World's Indigenous Peoples

State of the World’s Indigenous Peoples


Department of Economic and Social Affairs - Division for Social Policy and Development

UN Secretariat of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues – January 14, 2010

Available online as PDF file [250p.] at

http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/documents/SOWIP_web.pdf

Indigenous peoples make up one-third of the world’s poorest and suffer alarming conditions in all countries

Indigenous peoples all over the world continue to suffer from disproportionally high rates of poverty, health problems, crime and human rights abuses.

·          In the United States, a Native American is 600 times more likely to contract tuberculosis and 62 per cent more likely to commit suicide than the general population.

·          - In Australia, an indigenous child can expect to die 20 years earlier than his non-native compatriot. The life expectancy gap is also 20 years in Nepal, while in Guatemala it is 13 years and in New Zealand it is 11.

·          - In parts of Ecuador, indigenous people have 30 times greater risk of throat cancer than the national average.

·          -And worldwide, more than 50 per cent of indigenous adults suffer from Type 2 diabetes – a number predicted to rise.

“…….Indigenous peoples contribute extensibly to humanity's cultural diversity, enriching it with more than two thirds of its languages and an extraordinary amount of its traditional knowledge.

There are over 370 million indigenous people in some 90 countries, living in all regions of the world. The situation of indigenous peoples in many parts of the world is critical today. Poverty rates are significantly higher among indigenous peoples compared to other groups. While they constitute 5 per cent of the world's population, they are 15 per cent of the world's poor. Most indicators of well-being show that indigenous peoples suffer disproportionately compared to non-indigenous peoples. Indigenous peoples face systemic discrimination and exclusion from political and economic power; they continue to be over-represented among the poorest, the illiterate, the destitute; they are displaced by wars and environmental disasters; indigenous peoples are dispossessed of their ancestral lands and deprived of their resources for survival, both physical and cultural; they are even robbed of their very right to life.

In more modern versions of market exploitation, indigenous peoples see their traditional knowledge and cultural expressions marketed and patented without their consent or participation.

Of the some 7,000 languages today, it is estimated that more than 4,000 are spoken by indigenous peoples. Language specialists predict that up to 90 per cent of the world’s languages are likely to become extinct or threatened with extinction by the end of the century.

Although the state of the world's indigenous peoples is alarming, there is some cause for optimism. The international community increasingly recognizes indigenous peoples' human rights, most prominently evidenced by the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Indigenous peoples themselves continue to organize for the promotion of their rights. They are the stewards of some of the world's most biologically diverse areas and their traditional knowledge about the biodiversity of these areas is invaluable. As the effects of climate change are becoming clearer, it is increasingly evident that indigenous peoples must play a central role in developing adaptation and mitigation efforts to this global challenge…..”
 

Contents:

Foreword by Mr. Sha Zukang Under-Secretary General for Economic and Social Affairs

Introduction by the Secretariat of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues

Chapter I: Poverty and Well Being by Joji Carino

Chapter II: Culture by Naomi Kipuri

Chapter III: Environment by Neva Collings

Chapter IV: Contemporary Education by Duane Champagne

Chapter V: Health by Myrna Cunningham

Chapter VI: Human Rights by Dalee Sambo Dorough

Chapter VII: Emerging Issues by Mililani Trask

 



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[EQ] Economic Arguments for addressing the social determinants of health inequalities

Economic Arguments for addressing the social determinants of health inequalities

Working Document No.4 - 2009
DETERMINE - EU Consortium for Action on the Socioeconomic Determinants of Health (SDH).

Available online PDF [31p.] at: http://www.health-inequalities.eu/pdf.php?id=25d4fa63460c83d64115e80cd65980d3

“………….an overview of how the framework for identifying and exploring economic arguments for addressing social determinants of health inequalities was developed. It also describes how the data was collected and provides general comments on responses received.

 

This chapter presents the findings of a literature review conducted in June 2008 together with further research in April 2009. The review was undertaken to help inform and shape further data collection by establishing the main economic arguments for addressing social determinants of health inequalities.


Health can be considered in economic terms as both a capital and a consumption good. In the case of health as a capital good, people in good health attract a higher value than those in poor health due to their greater ability to be economically productive. Health as a consumption good is concerned with the contribution that good health makes to an individual’s wellbeing, happiness or satisfaction.


Targeted investment to address health inequalities by action on social determinants of health is more cost effective than paying later for the consequences of these inequalities. It follows then that addressing health inequalities is not only a matter of social justice but also contributes to economic growth.


The aim of this task was to better understand if and how economic arguments are being used to address social determinants of health inequalities within selected member states and by the institutions of the European Union. It is intended to use findings from this task to achieve more widespread adoption of effective and proven approaches to tackling health inequalities.

The objectives of the task were:

• To explore opportunities and challenges to using economic arguments to address social determinants of health inequalities.

• To identify examples of relevant economic evaluations that consider outcomes in terms of health and health inequalities.

 

 

Contents

Summary

Introduction

1. Instrument design and data collection

2. Making the case: Establishing economic arguments

3. Opportunities and challenges to using economic arguments

4. Examples of economic evaluations that consider health outcomes

5. Conclusion and recommendations

References

Appendix 1: Glossary of frequently used terms

Appendix 2: Task timeline & questionnaire

 

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This message from the Pan American Health Organization, PAHO/WHO, is part of an effort to disseminate
information Related to: Equity; Health inequality; Socioeconomic inequality in health; Socioeconomic
health differentials; Gender; Violence; Poverty; Health Economics; Health Legislation; Ethnicity; Ethics;
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and interpretations included in the Materials are those of the authors and not necessarily of The Pan American
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[EQ] The EXODUS of Public Health What History Can Tell Us About the Future

The EXODUS of Public Health What History Can Tell Us About the Future

Amy L. Fairchild,  David Rosner,  James Colgrove,  Ronald Bayer, and Linda P. Fried

All of the authors are with the Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY.
January 2010, Vol 100, No. 1 | American Journal of Public Health 54-63

Abstract at: http://ajph.aphapublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/100/1/54  [Requires subscription]

 

“…..We trace the shifting definitions of the American public health profession's mission as a social reform and science-based endeavor. Its authority coalesced in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as public health identified itself with housing, sanitation, and labor reform efforts.

 

The field ceded that authority to medicine and other professions as it jettisoned its social mission in favor of a science-based identity. Understanding the potential for achieving progressive social change as it moves forward will require careful consideration of the industrial, structural, and intellectual forces that oppose radical reform and the identification of constituencies with which professionals can align to bring science to bear on the most pressing challenges of the day……”

 


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This message from the Pan American Health Organization, PAHO/WHO, is part of an effort to disseminate
information Related to: Equity; Health inequality; Socioeconomic inequality in health; Socioeconomic
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[EQ] The Global Health System: Actors, Norms, and Expectations in Transition

The Global Health System: Actors, Norms, and Expectations in Transition


Nicole A. Szleza´k1*, Barry R. Bloom2, Dean T. Jamison3, Gerald T. Keusch4, Catherine M. Michaud5, Suerie

Moon1, William C. Clark1

1 Sustainability Science Program, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America
2 Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
3 Department of Global Health, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States of America

4 Global Health Initiative, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America
5 Harvard Initiative for Global Health, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America
PLoS Medicine | www.plosmedicine.org 1 January 2010 | Volume 7 | Issue 1 | e1000183

 

Available online http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info:doi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.1000183

 

This is the first in a series of four articles that highlight the changing nature of global health institutions.


“…..The Global Health System: A Time of Transition

The global health system that evolved through the latter half of the 20th century achieved extraordinary success in controlling infectious diseases and reducing child mortality. Life expectancy in low- and middle-income countries increased at a rate of about 5 years every decade for the past 40 years [1]. Today, however, that system is in a state of profound transition.


The need has rarely been greater to rethink how we endeavor to meet global health needs. We present here a series of four papers on one dimension of the global health transition: its changing institutional arrangements. We define institutional arrangements broadly to include both the actors (individuals and/or organizations) that exert influence in global health and the norms and expectations that govern the relationships among them
see Box 1 for definitions of the terms used in this article.


The traditional actors on the global health stage—most notably national health ministries and the World Health Organization (WHO)—are now being joined (and sometimes challenged) by an ever-greater variety of civil society and nongovernmental organizations, private firms, and private philanthropists….”

 

 

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This message from the Pan American Health Organization, PAHO/WHO, is part of an effort to disseminate
information Related to: Equity; Health inequality; Socioeconomic inequality in health; Socioeconomic
health differentials; Gender; Violence; Poverty; Health Economics; Health Legislation; Ethnicity; Ethics;
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and interpretations included in the Materials are those of the authors and not necessarily of The Pan American
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