Exploring the impact of user involvement on health and social care services for cancer in the UK.

This report presents the findings from a study of cancer network partnership groups in the UK. Cancer network partnership groups are regional organisations set up to enable joint working between people affected by cancer and health professionals, with the aim of improving cancer care

Is PEPFAR Funding for Key Populations Aligned with the Epidemiologic Burden?

Key populations (KPs)—gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (MSM); people who inject drugs (PWID), female sex workers (FSW); and transgender people (TG)—are at significantly higher risk for HIV, face a higher burden of disease, have less access to services, are frequently the target of stigma and discrimination, and are criminalized in many countries. Sustaining progress in fighting the epidemic will require focused attention and resources targeting KPs. A research team at amfAR recently evaluated the extent to which funds from the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) were allocated to programs targeting KPs in proportion to their epidemic burden

Bonds and bridges : social and poverty

Using the lens of social capital-especially bridging or cross-cutting ties that cut across social groups and between social groups and government-provides new insights into policy design. Solidarity within social groups creates ties (bonding social capital) that bring people and resources together. In unequal societies, ties that cut across groups (bridging social capital) are essential for social cohesion and for poverty reduction. The nature of interaction between state and society is characterized as complementarity and substitution. When states are functional, the informal and formal work well together-for example, government support or community-based development. When states become dysfunctional, the informal institutions become a substitute and are reduced to serving a defensive or survival function. To move toward economic and social well-being, states must support inclusive development. Investments in the organizational capacity of the poor are critical. Interventions are also required to foster bridging ties across social groups-ethnic, religious, caste, or racial groups. Such interventions can stem from the state, private sector, or civil society and include: Changes in rules to include groups previously excluded from formal systems of finance, education, and governance, at all levels. Political pluralism and citizenship rights. Fairness before the law for all social groups together. Infrastructure that eases communication. Education, media, and public information policies that reinforce norms and values of tolerance and diversity.Social Capital,Public Health Promotion,Education and Society,Decentralization,Community Development and Empowerment,Poverty Assessment,National Governance,Governance Indicators,Social Capital,Community Development and Empowerment

The Paradox of Compacts: final report to the Home Office on monitoring the impact of Compacts

The Compact is an important building block in achieving a better relationship between Government and the voluntary and community sector. We are fully committed to partnership working with the sector and increasing their role in civil society and in the delivery of public s e rvices. The Compact helps us to work better together, so that we can better meet the needs of communities

Measuring social, economic and environmental sustainability at the enterprise level: a case study of an Australian Utility Corporation’s Sustainability Report

The debate on a sustainable future for Australia has focused enterprises on developing triple bottom line or sustainability reports. Enterprises now commonly provide reports to their stakeholders on sustainability. However it is argued in this paper that shortcomings in current reporting practices are limiting the measurement of sustainability. The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), the most commonly applied consistent framework for enterprises, recommends the application of indicators that consider the inter-relations between the economy, society and the environment. However, these recommendations are not generally being translated into practice by firms. The environmental aspects of enterprise sustainability reports tend to be privileged over the social and economic components. Indicators of the social and economic impact of an enterprise generally draw upon productivity and human relation measurements rather than measures directly relevant to the impact of enterprise actions on the community. To illustrate these arguments we offer a case study of the Australian Gas Light Company, (AGL), 2004 Sustainability Report, and a critique of the GRI. AGL is a large Australian energy company. We argue that inter-related indicators tend not to be considered within enterprise sustainability reports. It is argued that social and economic externalities of enterprises have an impact on surrounding communities and hence should be measured and reported in conjunction with environmental factors. Moreover, these reports should to be developed in a manner that enables the context of sustainability to be adequately explored

Healthy Universities: Concept, Model and Framework for Applying the Healthy Settings Approach within Higher Education in England

As part of a Department of Health funded project, the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) – working with Manchester Metropolitan University – was commissioned by the Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH), to: - articulate a model for Healthy Universities whereby the healthy settings approach is applied within the higher education sector - produce recommendations for the development and operationalisation of a National Healthy Universities Framework for England - to ensure effective co-ordination of initiatives and propose next steps for progressing the Healthy Universities agenda. In fulfilment of these objectives, this report provides a background to Healthy Universities, outlines the project implementation process, presents a model, discusses the key dimensions for consideration in formulating a framework, and makes recommendations for taking things forward

Need to Know Review Number two: What Local Government Needs to Know about Public Health

This review of existing research on local government and public health focuses on the leadership role of local government in developing local public health systems that are capable of addressing the wider determinants of health