Health In Poor Countries Research Articles

A cooperative governance network for crop genome editing: The success of governance networks in other areas could help to find common ground for applying genome editing in agriculture.

Emerging biotechnologies, such as genome editing, may revolutionize agricultural development through rapid and precise genetic manipulation of a wide range of crop traits without having to transfer foreign DNA [1]. If so, these new genetic‐engineering (GE) technologies can help to generate crop varieties to address critical challenges in agricultural development, such as climate resilience or nutrient uptake, or diet‐related problems in nutrition and health in poorer countries. However, society must also be protected from potential harmful effects of genetically manipulated crops on the environment, human health, or social welfare. Governance of these crops must therefore balance agricultural developments with risk assessment and prevention of potential harm. > …genome editing is being used to improve the characteristics of major crop plants, but the governance of crop genome editing is poorly defined and developed Presently, genome editing is being used to improve the characteristics of major crop plants, but the governance of crop genome editing is poorly defined and developed. Influential groups concerned with the potential hazards of such crops view this situation with growing alarm, which has created tensions with the academic community and regulatory agencies [2]. Both the USA and the European Commission are currently reviewing the governance of crops produced by genome editing and other new technologies. On the US side, at least, the review process appears unlikely to result in governance approaches that will satisfy parties that are concerned with either over‐ or under‐regulation of such crops, and tension and conflicts about them are likely to heighten. We propose an alternative approach for governance of these crops that may help to defuse tensions and enable exploration of genome editing technologies’ potential while protecting society from harm: a cooperative governance network. Such networks have performed well in …

Considering climate in studies of fertility and reproductive health in poor countries.

Understanding the links between climate and fertility and reproductive health outcomes in poor countries is a major ethical and policy imperative. However, doing so will require researchers in population sciences and in earth and climate sciences to merge their expertise. To this end, the dominant theoretical frameworks and readily available geospatial population data used by social scientists provide a starting point for climate and physical scientists to think about the mechanisms that link climate and weather to fertility and reproductive health, and available climate data and analytic strategies can be used to develop research that considers different scales of influence.

The relevance of the public–private partnership paradigm to the prevention of diet-associated non-communicable diseases in wealthy countries

The public–private partnership (PPP) paradigm emerged as a form of global health governance in the mid-1990s to overcome state and market failures constraining access to essential medicines among populations with limited purchasing power in low- and middle-income countries. PPPs are now ubiquitous across the development spectrum. Yet while the narrative that the private sector must be engaged if complex health challenges are to be overcome is now dominant in development discourse, it does not yet appear to be shaping government approaches to addressing health inequalities within high-income welfare states such as Canada. This is significant as both the actions and inactions of firms factor heavily into why low-income Canadians face a disproportionate risk of developing diet-associated chronic diseases, such as type II diabetes. In the same ways PPPs have been an effective policy tool for strengthening public health in poor countries, this paper illuminates how the PPP model may have utility for mitigating poverty-associated food insecurity giving rise to diet-associated non-communicable diseases within the context of wealthy states.

Income Inequality and Health: Evidence from Developed and Developing Countries

AbstractWe assess the effect of income inequality on life expectancy by performing separate estimations for developed and developing countries. Our empirical analysis challenges the widely held view that inequality matters more for health in richer countries than for health in poorer countries. Employing panel cointegration and conventional panel regressions, we find that income inequality slightly increases life expectancy in developed countries. By contrast, the effect on life expectancy is significantly negative in developing countries. Even though the quantitative effects are small, the contrast between the two country groups proves to be robust to modifications in measurement, specification and methodological choices.

The burden of disease and the IQ of nations

The relationship between the conditions of health of the population and the average intelligence quotients (IQs) was examined in a sample of 138 countries. Health conditions were proxied by DALY rates for infectious and parasitic diseases, perinatal and maternal conditions, and nutritional deficiencies. Results show how the burden of considered diseases – and, particularly, of perinatal and maternal – is strongly and negatively related to national IQs even when income, education, and temperature or latitude are controlled for. The effect of education on national IQs is significant, but lesser than that of health. The burden of disease is a strong predictor of international differences in average cognitive abilities. Investment in health in poor countries, and particularly in maternal and neonatal health, would have long-term economic returns by reducing international inequalities.

Malnutrition Determinants in Young Children from Burkina Faso

Childhood malnutrition remains a major challenge to public health in poor countries. Data on malnutrition determinants in African children are scarce. A cross-sectional survey was performed in eight villages of Burkina Faso in June 2009, including 460 children aged 6-31 months. Demographic, socioeconomic, parasitological, clinical and anthropometric characteristics were collected. The main outcome variable was weight-for-length (WFL) z-score (i.e. wasting). A multiple regression model identified village, age group, religion and the presence of younger siblings as significantly associated with wasting. Villages differed in their mean WFL z-score by up to one unit. Compared with younger children, the mean WFL z-score of children aged 24-35 months was 0.63 units higher than the WFL z-score in younger children. This study confirms the still unacceptable high level of malnutrition in young children of rural West Africa and supports the fact that childhood malnutrition is a complex phenomenon highly influenced by contextual variables.

Only an integrated approach across academia, enterprise, governments, and global agencies can tackle the public health impact of climate change

BackgroundDespite considerable global attention to the issues of climate change, relatively little priority has been given to the likely effects on human health of current and future changes in the global climate. We identify three major societal determinants that influence the impact of climate change on human health, namely the application of scholarship and knowledge; economic and commercial considerations; and actions of governments and global agencies.DiscussionThe three major areas are each discussed in terms of the ways in which they facilitate and frustrate attempts to protect human health from the effects of climate change. Academia still pays very little attention to the effects of climate on health in poorer countries. Enterprise is starting to recognise that healthy commerce depends on healthy people, and so climate change presents long-term threats if it compromises health. Governments and international agencies are very active, but often face immovable vested interests in other sectors. Overall, there tends to be too little interaction between the three areas, and this means that potential synergies and co-benefits are not always realised.ConclusionMore attention from academia, enterprise, and international agencies needs to be given to the potential threats the climate change presents to human health. However, there needs to also be much closer collaboration between all three areas in order to capitalise on possible synergies that can be achieved between them.

The challenges of incorporating scientific evidence into policy making. In this issue.

The challenges of incorporating scientific evidence into policy making. In this issue.

Gill Samuels

A pharmaceutical industry stalwart isn't the obvious choice for a leading role in a foundation that campaigns for health research for the poor. Over lunch in central London, Gill Samuels, who until 2 years ago headed science policy at Pfizer, confesses she herself was surprised and delighted by her recent appointment as Chair of the Foundation Council of the Global Forum for Health Research. Her career looks outwardly corporate: a Shell postdoctoral toxicologist post, 7 years at ICI Pharmaceutical, and then Pfizer where she spent the next 27 years. But she has collaborated on projects outside of industry—the UK government commissions on human genetics and intellectual property rights, and working with WHO on global health. “Working in a corporation is not as limiting as people might think; they are not the great monoliths that they probably look like”, she says. Being a female scientist can be limiting too, but Samuels insists she has never been aware of a glass ceiling. Her interest in science was instinctive and she took to early school science projects with gusto. Later, a desire to usefully apply science led her to health research. She is aware that for some people “science is a foreign country” with its own jargon. To make scientists more “user friendly”, she chairs the UK's Cheltenham Festival of Science, which promotes science communication. So how does this relate to health in poor countries? Well public pressure can influence government spending, but it requires direct engagement with science and technology. The Global Forum is now 10 years old, and Samuels will oversee the implementation of a new 10-year strategy. The plan will focus more heavily on health systems and infrastructure, resource flows, and managing research. Perhaps influenced by Samuels' industry background, a buzz word for the strategy is “innovation”, not just in research but in challenging a “one size fits all” approach. While no-one could argue with the Forum's aims, it is known for its conservative approach. Samuels wants the Forum to be more ambitious, “influencing the influencers”, rather than merely didactic and producing reports. Only the next few years will tell, but having Samuels at the helm may be no bad thing.

Health in an Age of Globalization

When economists write about globalization, they focus on the movement of goods, people, information, and ideas, and they look at the effects on economic growth, poverty, and inequality. Health is not a primary focus of their attention. By contrast, much of the literature in public health views globalization as a threat to international health. On the relatively few occasions when economists have addressed health, they focus on the indirect effects, arguing that the economic benefits of globalization are good for health—because poverty is the major determinant of health in poor countries—and that if there are unwelcome side effects on health, they can best be dealt with by suitable public health measures, not by policies that slow the globalization process. Both sides of this (mostly non-) argument have substance, and one aim of this paper is to present some of the arguments from the public health literature as seen through the eyes of at least one economist. There is also much to be learned from looking at previous episodes of globalization and at the history of trade and health, and it is with this that I begin. If it is true that income is the primary determinant of health—at least in poor countries—then the consequences of globalization for public health depend on its well-researched (although still disputed) consequences for economic growth, particularly for the poorest countries. Although the income-to-health mechanism is undoubtedly present—everything is easier with money, and some improvements are impossible without it—I argue that the transmission of health-related knowledge is ultimately more important. Social forces, including not only income but also education and politics, are central because they govern the way in which new knowledge is transformed into population health. The health and [End Page 83] life expectancy of the vast majority of mankind, whether they live in rich or poor countries, depends on ideas, techniques, and therapies developed elsewhere, so that it is the spread of knowledge that is the fundamental determinant of population health. The trade-borne transmission of infectious disease has been the focus of international health authorities since seventeenth-century Italy and remains important today. But, at least since the middle of the last century, a more important influence has been the international transmission of ideas, techniques, and technologies. It is plausible that the recently accelerated pace of globalization has been accompanied by faster transmission of health information between rich countries, although it is probably too soon to be sure. But the current lack of treatment of HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa, as well as the annual deaths of 10.5 million children in poor countries—which would not have occurred had they been born in rich countries—are major failures of globalization to date. Health and Globalization in History Disease has been an unwelcome companion of trade at least since the plague of Athens in 430 B.C. killed perhaps as much as one-third of the population. The black rats, which carried bubonic and pneumonic plague to Europe in 1347, were most likely brought by trading ships. More than three hundred years later, the city-states of northern Italy developed the first systems of national and international public health in an attempt to control recurrent episodes of the disease.1 Merchants wanted quarantine restrictions to be internationally coordinated to minimize the disruption to their business. Yet even at this early date, health concerns tended to run second to the needs of trade. In 1630-31, when Pistoia (near Florence) had locked its gates to quarantine itself against the encroaching plague and had expelled all foreigners, mountebanks, and Jews, the city was temporarily opened up to all comers to facilitate the export of its wine.2 And in the trade and health dispute between Florence and Genoa in 1652, quarantines were used to favor domestic over foreign traders as much as to protect public health. At the same time, the fundamentally mistaken notions of how the plague...

Household catastrophic health expenditure: a multicountry analysis

Health policy makers have long been concerned with protecting people from the possibility that ill health will lead to catastrophic financial payments and subsequent impoverishment. Yet catastrophic expenditure is not rare. We investigated the extent of catastrophic health expenditure as a first step to developing appropriate policy responses. We used a cross-country analysis design. Data from household surveys in 59 countries were used to explore, by regression analysis, variables associated with catastrophic health expenditure. We defined expenditure as being catastrophic if a household's financial contributions to the health system exceed 40% of income remaining after subsistence needs have been met. The proportion of households facing catastrophic payments from out-of-pocket health expenses varied widely between countries. Catastrophic spending rates were highest in some countries in transition, and in certain Latin American countries. Three key preconditions for catastrophic payments were identified: the availability of health services requiring payment, low capacity to pay, and the lack of prepayment or health insurance. People, particularly in poor households, can be protected from catastrophic health expenditures by reducing a health system's reliance on out-of-pocket payments and providing more financial risk protection. Increase in the availability of health services is critical to improving health in poor countries, but this approach could raise the proportion of households facing catastrophic expenditure; risk protection policies would be especially important in this situation.

Comparative efficiency of national health systems: cross national econometric analysis

Objective: To improve the evidence base for health policy by devising a method to measure and monitor the performance of health systems.Design: Estimation of the relation between levels of population...

Commentary: Industry can damage your health

Poverty causes disease, and specialists view economic growth as central to good health in poor countries.1 Industry is a mainstay of development, yet converting labour from a social property to...

The politics of agenda setting in international health: child health versus adult health in developing countries.

AbstractThis paper compares the politics of agenda setting in international health policy, for the issues of child health and adult health, along five political streams: organizational, symbolic, economic, scientific and politician politics. The approach is a modified version of Kingdon's ‘garbage can model’ of how public policy agendas are set. The analysis shows that the five political streams all favoured child health over adult health as an issue on the international health policy agenda, until recently. In the early 1990s, the World Bank has asserted greater influence on this agenda than previously, with a concerted effort to shift the focus from child health to adult health and to give greater attention to the preventive aspects of adult health in poor countries.

The role of water supply in improving health in poor countries (with special reference to Bangla Desh)

Journal Article The role of water supply in improving health in poor countries (with special reference to Bangla Desh) Get access J Briscoe J Briscoe 2Sanitary Engineer. Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Volume 31, Issue 11, November 1978, Pages 2100–2113, https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcn/31.11.2100 Published: 01 November 1978

A METHOD OF ANAESTHETIZING SOLDIERS

<h3>Abstract</h3> <b>Objective:</b> To improve the evidence base for health policy by devising a method to measure and monitor the performance of health systems. <b>Design:</b> Estimation of the relation between levels of population health and the inputs used to produce health. <b>Setting:</b> 191 countries. <b>Main outcome measure:</b> Health system efficiency (performance). <b>Results:</b> Estimated efficiency varied from nearly fully efficient to nearly fully inefficient. Countries with a history of civil conflict or high prevalence of HIV and AIDS were less efficient. Performance increased with health expenditure per capita. <b>Conclusions:</b> Increasing the resources for health systems is critical to improving health in poor countries, but important gains can be made in most countries by using existing resources more efficiently. <h3>What is already known on this topic</h3> Evidence on the effectiveness of health system reforms is scarce Studies have not used a consistent framework for specifying goals or measuring outcomes <h3>What this study adds</h3> Countries with the best levels of health do not always have efficient health systems Efficiency is related to expenditure on health per capita, especially at low expenditure The methods of measuring performance provide a basis for identifying policies that improve health and for monitoring reforms