Ancillary human health benefits of improved air quality resulting from climate change mitigation

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation policies can provide ancillary benefits in terms of short-term improvements in air quality and associated health benefits. Several studies have analyzed the ancillary impacts of GHG policies for a variety of locations, pollutants, and policies. In this paper we review the existing evidence on ancillary health benefits relating to air pollution from various GHG strategies and provide a framework for such analysis.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We evaluate techniques used in different stages of such research for estimation of: (1) changes in air pollutant concentrations; (2) avoided adverse health endpoints; and (3) economic valuation of health consequences. The limitations and merits of various methods are examined. Finally, we conclude with recommendations for ancillary benefits analysis and related research gaps in the relevant disciplines.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We found that to date most assessments have focused their analysis more heavily on one aspect of the framework (e.g., economic analysis). While a wide range of methods was applied to various policies and regions, results from multiple studies provide strong evidence that the short-term public health and economic benefits of ancillary benefits related to GHG mitigation strategies are substantial. Further, results of these analyses are likely to be underestimates because there are a number of important unquantified health and economic endpoints.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Remaining challenges include integrating the understanding of the relative toxicity of particulate matter by components or sources, developing better estimates of public health and environmental impacts on selected sub-populations, and devising new methods for evaluating heretofore unquantified and non-monetized benefits.</p

Prescription Drug Expenditures and Population Demographics

OBJECTIVE: To provide detailed demographic profiles of prescription drug utilization and expenditures in order to isolate the impact of demographic change from other factors that affect drug expenditure trends. DATA SOURCES/STUDY SETTING: Demographic information and drug utilization data were extracted for virtually the entire British Columbia (BC) population of 1996 and 2002. All residents had public medical and hospital insurance; however their drug coverage resembled the mix of private and public insurance in the United States. STUDY DESIGN: A series of research variables were constructed to illustrate profiles of drug expenditures and drug utilization across 96 age/sex strata. DATA COLLECTION/EXTRACTION METHODS: Drug use and expenditure information was extracted from the BC PharmaNet, a computer network connecting all pharmacies in the province. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Per capita drug expenditures increased at an average annual rate of 10.8 percent between 1996 and 2002. Population aging explained 1.0 points of this annual rate of expenditure growth; the balance was attributable to rising age/sex-specific drug expenditures. CONCLUSIONS: Relatively little of the observed increase in drug expenditures in BC could be attributed to demographic change. Most of the expenditure increase stemmed from the age/sex-specific quantity and type of drugs purchased. The sustainability of drug spending therefore depends not on outside forces but on decisions made by policy makers, prescribers, and patients

From theory to policy: reducing harms associated with the weight-centered health paradigm

This article provides an overview of harms associated with public policy promotion of the weight-centered health paradigm and suggests that a shift away from weight-centered health policies is required. Given the evidence about the negative health implications of weight-centric health policies, the objectives are to explore why public policy officials uncritically rely on and promote the weight-centered health paradigm and to propose policy alternatives. Based on findings from discourse analysis of “obesity”-related policy documents, public health policy solutions to the weight-centered health paradigm are proposed and analyzed, drawing from ten key informant interviews with stakeholders working within the policy, academic, and medical contexts