209 research outputs found
The COVID-19 Pandemic as a Tipping Point: What Future for the Right to Health?
âBuilding back betterâ post-pandemic, as advocated by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, could advance the realization of health as a human right. However, the COVID-19 pandemic is more likely to represent a tipping point into a new and even more unequal normal, nationally and internationally, that represents a hostile environment for building back better. This paper begins with a brief explanation of the tipping point concept. It goes on to describe the mechanisms by which the pandemic and many responses to it have increased inequality, and then identifies three political dynamics that are inimical to realizing health as a human right even in formal democracies, two of them material (related to the unequal distribution of resources within societies and in the global economy) and one ideational (the continued hegemony of neoliberal ideas about the proper limits of public policy). Observations about the unequal future and what it means for health conclude the paper
Globalization, Global Governance and the Social Determinants of Health: A review of the linkages and agenda for action
The Globalization Knowledge Network (GKN) was
formed in 2005 with the purpose of examining how
contemporary globalization was influencing social
determinants of health. It was one of nine Knowledge
Networks providing evidence-informed guidance
to the work of the World Health Organizationâs
Commission on Social Determinants of Health
(2005-2008): like most of the Knowledge Networks,
its operations were financed by an external funder
(in this case, the International Affairs Directorate
of Health Canada, Canadaâs national ministry of
health). The GKN conducted two face-to-face
meetings to debate, discuss, outline and review its
work, and produced thirteen background papers
and a Final Report. These papers and the Final
Report underwent extensive internal and external
peer review to ensure that their findings and policy
inferences accurately reflected available evidence
and scholarship.
This GKN publication series was prepared under
the general editorship of Ronald Labonté, with
assistance from Vivien Runnels and copy-editing
provided by Wayne Harding. All views expressed
are exclusively those of the authors. A complete
list of titles in the publication series appears on the
inside back cover of this monograph
Should Research Ethics Encourage the Production of Cost-Effective Interventions?
This project considers whether and how research ethics can contribute to the provision of cost-effective medical interventions. Clinical research ethics represents an underexplored context for the promotion of cost-effectiveness. In particular, although scholars have recently argued that research on less-expensive, less-effective interventions can be ethical, there has been little or no discussion of whether ethical considerations justify curtailing research on more expensive, more effective interventions. Yet considering cost-effectiveness at the research stage can help ensure that scarce resources such as tissue samples or limited subject popula- tions are employed where they do the most good; can support parallel efforts by providers and insurers to promote cost-effectiveness; and can ensure that research has social value and benefits subjects. I discuss and rebut potential objections to the consideration of cost-effectiveness in research, including the difficulty of predicting effectiveness and cost at the research stage, concerns about limitations in cost-effectiveness analysis, and worries about overly limiting researchersâ freedom. I then consider the advantages and disadvantages of having certain participants in the research enterprise, including IRBs, advisory committees, sponsors, investigators, and subjects, consider cost-effectiveness. The project concludes by qualifiedly endorsing the consideration of cost-effectiveness at the research stage. While incorporating cost-effectiveness considerations into the ethical evaluation of human subjects research will not on its own ensure that the health care system realizes cost-effectiveness goals, doing so nonetheless represents an important part of a broader effort to control rising medical costs
Toward a Consensus on Guiding Principles for Health Systems Strengthening
Based upon a review of the literature, Robert Chad Swanson and colleagues present a set of guiding principles for health systems strengthening
A question of confidence. Is tourism as vulnerable to civil unrest as we think? A comparative analysis of the impact of Arab Spring on total reserves and tourism
This paper uses monthly data to compare how international tourism receipts and the overall economy responded to the Arab Spring Total Reserves were used as an indicator of the economy overall, because they reflect confidence in the economy through such factors as Foreign Direct Investment and the effects of capital flight. To examine the response, interrupted time series was employed, using the outbreak of Arab Spring as the key interruption. To separate the impact of Arab Spring from other events, two treated and two untreated cases were selected. The results show that tourist spending recovered faster than the overall economy
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