Tuesday, October 12, 2010

[EQ] Framing Health and Foreign Policy: Lessons for Global Health Diplomacy

Framing Health and Foreign Policy: Lessons for Global Health Diplomacy

 

Ronald Labonté, Department of Epidemiology and Community Medicine, Canada Research Chair,
Globalization and Health Equity, Institute of Population Health, University of Ottawa,  Ontario, Canada

Michelle L Gagnon, Institute of Population Health, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Globalization and Health 6:14:1-22, 2010 – August 2010

Available online at: http://bit.ly/9xZopy

 

“……..Global health financing has increased dramatically in recent years, indicative of a rise in health as a foreign policy issue. Several governments have issued specific foreign policy statements on global health and a new term, global health diplomacy, has been coined to describe the processes by which state and non-state actors engage to position health issues more prominently in foreign policy decision-making. Their ability to do so is important to advancing international cooperation in health.

 

In this paper we review the arguments for health in foreign policy that inform global health diplomacy. These are organized into six policy frames: security, development, global public goods, trade, human rights and ethical/moral reasoning. Each of these frames has implications for how global health as a foreign policy issue is conceptualized. Differing arguments within and between these policy frames, while overlapping, can also be contradictory. This raises an important question about which arguments prevail in actual state decision-making.

 

This question is addressed through an analysis of policy or policy-related documents and academic literature pertinent to each policy framing with some assessment of policy practice. The reference point for this analysis is the explicit goal of improving global health equity.

 

This goal has increasing national traction within national public health discourse and decision-making and, through the Millennium Development Goals and other multilateral reports and declarations, is entering global health policy discussion. Initial findings support conventional international relations theory that most states, even when committed to health as a foreign policy goal, still make decisions primarily on the basis of the 'high politics' of national security and economic material interests. Development, human rights and ethical/moral arguments for global health assistance, the traditional 'low politics' of foreign policy, are present in discourse but do not appear to dominate practice. While political momentum for health as a foreign policy goal persists, the framing of this goal remains a contested issue….”

 

Related Material:

Labonté, R., Schrecker, T., Packer, C., Runnels, V. (eds).
Globalization and Health: Pathways, Evidence and Policy, London: Routledge. 2009.

The following chapters are now freely available on-line as per an agreement with the publisher:

Chapter 1: Globalization’s Challenges to People’s Health RONALD LABONTÉ AND TED SCHRECKER

Chapter 4: Labor Markets, Equity, and Social Determinants of Health  TED SCHRECKER

Chapter 5: Globalization and Policy Space for Health and Social Determinants of Health MERI KOIVUSALO, TED SCHRECKER, AND RONALD LABONTÉ

Chapter 9: Globalization and the Cross-Border Flow of Health Workers CORINNE PACKER, RONALD LABONTÉ, AND VIVIEN RUNNELS

Chapter 10: Globalization, Trade, and the Nutrition Transition CORINNA HAWKES, MICKEY CHOPRA, AND SHARON FRIEL

Chapter 11: Intellectual Property Rigths and the Inequalities in Health Outcomes CARLOS M. CORREA

Chapter 13: Rights, Redistribution, and Regulation RONALD LABONTÉ AND TED SCHRECKER

 

All can be downloaded from URL:

http://www.globalhealthequity.ca/electronic%20library/template%20for%20text%20pages.html

 

Mohindra, K. and Labonté, R.
“What works in meeting the health needs of Scheduled Tribes in India?
A systematic review of the literature”, BMC Medicine 2010, 10(438):1-10.

http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1471-2458-10-438.pdf

 

Mohindra, K. and Labonté, R.
“Making sense of the global economy: ten resources for health promoters”,
Health Promotion International 25(3): 355-62, 2010.

http://heapro.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2007/03/13/heapro.dam008.short

 

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[EQ] Restructuring Regional Health Systems In Russia

WB Knowledge Briefs:

Restructuring Regional Health Systems In Russia

Patricio V. Marquez, Lead Health Specialist, Human Development Sector Unit of the Europe and Central Asia Region of the World Bank.
Nadezdha Lebedeva, Former HRIP Project Director, Russian Health Care Foundation.
October 2010

Available online at : http://bit.ly/cpOQ6d

"…..The delivery of health services in Russia is a federal, regional and municipal responsibility, carried out in accordance with federal and regional regulations and funded through multiple sources (for example, the federal budget and transfers, regional budgets, and health insurance). The reform of regional health systems is a major challenge for the country.

From 2003-2008, the World Bank supported the MOHSD's Health Reform Implementation Project (HRIP) which restructured the health systems in two pilot regions southeast of Moscow: the Chuvash Republic and Voronezh (with 1.28 and 2.27 million population, respectively), at a total cost of US$ 41 million. The Chuvash Ministry of Health and the Voronezh Department of Health managed the implementation of the reforms…."

"….A crititical lesson from the experience is that successful reforms require holistic and well-sequenced approaches, based on detailed plans for investment in institutional and human resource development. Partial reforms produce imbalances. In both regions, reducing the numbers of hospital beds made it necessary to increase service delivery capacity at the primary care, specialized ambulatory, and long term care facility levels by redesigning the process of care through adoption of new disease management protocols, introduction of modern medical equipment to improve the diagnosis and treatment of patients, development of information systems to coordinate the flow of data and information across levels of care and within facilities, training of personnel, and resource allocation mechanisms that link payments to performance.



Battle Against Tuberculosis: Some Gains in Russia

Patricio V. Marquez, Lead Health Specialist, Human Development Sector Unit of the Europe and Central Asia Region of the World Bank.
Wieslaw Jakubowiak, Former Coordinator, WHO Stop TB Program in Russia.
Dmitry D.Pashkevich, Acting Coordinator, WHO Stop TB Program in Russia.
Vladimir A. Grechukha, Former Project Director, Russian Health Care Foundation.
October 2010

Available online: http://bit.ly/aa1zby

Lessons learned:
The establishment of high level and thematic working groups for policy setting and coordination and the participation of key stakeholders in the implementation of project activities were crucial to securing ownership of new approaches and sustaining activities and gains.
A clear division of responsibilities among international agencies helped harmonize cooperation and maximize their impact in supporting the implementation of the national program.
Modernization of the public health laboratory network and improved knowledge and skills of health personnel were essential to facilitate adoption of new guidelines for TB and HIV control, and scale up treatment.
The spread of drug-resistant TB (about 15% of new cases in 2009) and HIV/AIDS are a serious challenge to effective TB control in Russia. The provision of social support services (for example, free transportation between the home of the patient and the health center, food supplementation, etc.) and compliance by patients to the treatment regime is needed to prevent treatment interruptions and defaults during ambulatory treatment, particularly among the unemployed, homeless, alcoholics, and former prisoners. TB/HIV co-infection is also a growing problem among vulnerable population groups (for example, injecting drug users), demanding improved prevention and treatment efforts.
The strengthening of case registration and reporting systems, and improved technical capacity at different levels of the health system to monitor and evaluate TB detection and treatment outcomes using cohort data, are key institutional building blocks for improving program management and policy formulation.

 

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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;
Information Technology - Virtual libraries; Research & Science issues.  [DD/ KMC Area]

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[EQ] Youth-friendly health policies and services in the European Region

Youth-friendly health policies and services in the European Region

Valentina Baltag and Alex Mathieson

WHO Regional Office for Europe - Copenhagen, Denmark 2010

Available online PDF [270p] at http://bit.ly/c7728e

This publication presents experiences of how health systems in Member States of the WHO European Region respond to the challenge of meeting the health and developmental needs of young people. The main aim is to facilitate experience-sharing and stimulate actions in countries.

The first part presents a summary of the proceedings of the Meeting on Youth-friendly Health Policies and Services held in Edinburgh, United Kingdom (Scotland), 21–23 September 2009, with suggestions to inform decision-makers' actions on creating and developing youth-friendly health policies and services in their own countries and internationally.

 

Then follows a series of 12 case studies from nine countries with differing socioeconomic contexts that recently put in place youth health services initiatives.

 

The case studies are presented within a health system framework which recognizes that for service delivery to achieve its aims, sustainable financing, adequate human resource development strategies and responsible leadership are necessary.

 

Content
Introduction

Meeting on Youth-friendly Health Policies and Services

Supportive policies

Addressing inequalities

Financing and health care workforce capacity

Youth-friendly health service delivery

Partnerships

Leadership

Country case studies

Georgia: youth-friendly health services and policies

Portugal: youth-friendly health services and policies

The Republic of Moldova: evolution of health care services in schools

The Republic of Moldova: youth-friendly health services in 2009

Russian Federation: youth-friendly health services

Sweden: promoting youth health through promoting the Convention on the Rights of the Child

Switzerland: certifying an adolescent friendly unit −is there an added value?
The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia

Ukraine: development of youth-friendly health services

United Kingdom (England): getting health services right for young people

United Kingdom (Scotland): a review of youth health service provision in Glasgow City − cross-cutting issues

 

Appendix 1. Young people's health services-research and good practice: a note on evidence

References

 

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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;
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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