Operations research in public health

Operations research in public health.

Operations Research (OR) is gaining importance in public health interventions and programmes increasingly both nationally and internationally. The focus of these research techniques is to constantly guide the programme implementation to achieve best results. It modulates inputs and processes involved in the programme cycle and strive to produce optimal gains in achieving targets and goals. Util...

Montgomery County's Public Health Service Uses Operations Research to Plan Emergency Mass Dispensing and Vaccination Clinics

To curb outbreaks of contagious diseases, county health departments must set up and operate clinics to dispense medications and vaccines. Carefully planning these clinics in advance of such an event is difficult and important. We developed and implemented operations research models to improve clinic planning for the Montgomery County (Maryland) Public Health Services. They include discrete-even...

Centre for Public Health Research

Sharing Public Health Research Data

It is increasingly recognized that effective and appropriate data sharing requires the development of models of good datasharing practice capable of taking seriously both the potential benefits to be gained and the importance of ensuring that the rights and interests of participants are respected and that risk of harms is minimized. Calls for the greater sharing of individual-level data from bi...

Conceptual diagrams in public health research.

I f neo-liberal thinking is gripping health care reform in many countries with its focus on market style competition and individual choice, a similar revolution may be underway in public health policy. The example of recent developments in England is instructive and offers a warning to other countries that are also rediscovering public health or are perhaps discovering it for the first time. Al...