Making Health Policy, a new book by PRN member Kent Buse
Surprisingly little guidance is available to public health practitioners who wish to understand how issues get onto policy agendas, how policy makers treat evidence and why some policy initiatives are implemented while others languish. Making Health Policy views power and process as integral to understanding policy and focuses on the three key elements in policy making: the context, the actors and the processes. It is a guide for those who wish to improve their skills in navigating and managing the health policy process, irrespective of the health issue or setting.
Global Public Health - a new journal
Global Public Health is an essential peer-reviewed journal that energetically engages with key public health issues that have come to the fore in the global environment - mounting inequalities between rich and poor; the globalization of trade; new patterns of travel and migration; epidemics of newly-emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases; the HIV/AIDS pandemic; the increase in chronic illnesses; escalating pressure on public health infrastructures around the world; and the growing range and scale of conflict situations, terrorist threats, environmental pressures, natural and human-made disasters.
New Congressional Global Health Caucus
Congresswoman Betty McCollum (D-MN), a member of the House International Relations Committee, led the formation of the bipartisan Congressional Global Health Caucus launched in late 2005. The mission of the new caucus is to provide a forum for Members of Congress, congressional staff and the global health community to share information and enhance understanding how U.S. leadership can meet existing and emerging global health challenges. It has recently taken on issues such as avian flu and reproductive health. For more information, contact Emily Lawrence at (202) 225-6631 or [email protected].
Analysis of the World Health Survey Data - Request for Applications
An initiative of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research-Institute of Population and Public Health, the World Health Organization, and Statistics Canada is offering up to $40,000 per annum for up to one year for expert analysis of the World Health Survey (WHS) data by Canadian researchers, together with international research collaborators. The WHS (http://www.who.int/healthinfo/survey/en/) provides comprehensive baseline information on the health of populations and on the outcomes associated with the investment in health systems and their functioning. Contact Marie-Lynne Boudreau, Program Delivery Officer, for more information at [email protected] or (613) 941-0861.
Comment on a Draft Report on Developing the Health Systems Action Network (HSAN)
Conceived of at a WHO-sponsored meeting in Montreux in April 2005, the Health Systems Action Network (HSAN) is an effort to focus global energies on health systems issues and broaden the range of participants in health systems strengthening. Sara Bennett and Rena Eichler are currently seeking comments on their draft report (pdf), which presents findings of a structured and systematic consultative process that aimed to document what stakeholders at the country and global level believe a Health Systems Action Network should do.
Global Health Council Launches Report on Health Resources
The Global Health Opportunities report is a new resource from the Global Health Council that examines the areas of child health, women’s health, HIV/AIDS, infectious diseases, and food as a health intervention to highlight priorities for improving health in poor communities based on objective analyses; to identify best buys for addressing priorities effectively; to review global resources needed; and to identify concrete investments that the US can make.
Health Affairs Launches Its Global Health Policy Initiative
Health Affairs, a bimonthly peer-reviewed journal published by Project HOPE, launched its global health policy initiative with the release of its March/April issue to include seven feature papers on pressing topics in global health policy. CGD's Owen Barder spoke at the launch, watch a video of the event. Supported by a five-year grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Health Affairs is building upon high-quality coverage of domestic health policy and a long-standing concern about health issues worldwide with its new focus on global health policy.
Disease Control Priorities Project, 2nd Edition to be launched in April
The InterAcademy Medical Panel (IAMP) 2nd Global Meeting, scheduled to take place 2-6 April 2006 in Beijing, China, will serve as the launch of the Disease Control Priorities Project's (DCPP) three flagship publications: Disease Control Priorities Project, 2nd Edition, a state of the art compendium on international health with a focus on cost-effectiveness analysis; Global Burden of Disease and Risk Factors, a compendium of worldwide deaths by cause, burden of disease, and risk factor data; and Priorities in Health, a distillation of DCP2 for policymakers that will be translated into six languages. At this meeting, DCPP will also unveil an interactive website (www.dcp2.org).
New Website on Global Health Facts
www.GlobalHealthFacts.org is a new and freely available website with the latest country and region-specific data on HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and other key health indicators launched by the Kaiser Family Foundation in January 2006.