BACKGROUND Intervention strategies to reduce obesity include policy and environmental changes that are designed to provide opportunities, support, and cues to help people develop healthier behaviors. Policy changes at the state level are one way to influence access, social norms, and opportunities for better nutrition and increased physical activity among the population. METHODS Ten states we...

The requirements of policy makers for contextually relevant evidence are increasingly documented and understood. In response, there have been significant recent international and Australian initiatives to facilitate closer links between policy makers and researchers to address questions of policy relevance. The gap between researchers and policy makers has been well described by Lomas, who note...

BACKGROUND Currently, little is known about the types of evidence used by policy makers. This study aimed to investigate how policy makers in the health domain use and evaluate evidence and how this differs from academic epidemiologists. By having a better understanding of how policy makers select, evaluate, and use evidence, academics can tailor the way in which that evidence is produced, pote...

Natural systems and society share a symbiotic relationship with each affecting the health and welfare of the other. More importantly, society’s impacts on natural systems can lead to negative side effects on society such as increased respiratory illness from air pollution, contaminated drinking water from industrial runoff, and increased skin cancer risk from stratospheric ozone depletion. Miti...

The efficacy of opioids for cancer pain has been proven and the World Health Organization (WHO) three-step ladder has been recommended for cancer pain relief. However, undertreatment of cancer pain has still been reported in Thailand. Identification of barriers to opioid use by the physicians and policy makers/regulators, and their level of knowledge and attitudes concerning its use are influen...