Mobile communication technologies have become more prevalent in developed and developing countries. These coun- tries -including Peru- are becoming an ideal setting where mobile health (mHealth) projects can provide better health services. The reviewed literature shows that the mHealth interventions have enormous potential to improve access and the quality of health services, increasing the eff...

Gorik Ooms recently made a strong case for considering the centrality of normative premises to analyzing and understanding the underappreciated importance of the nexus of politics, power and process in global health. This critical commentary raises serious questions for the practice and study of global health and global health governance. First and foremost, this commentary underlines the impor...

This paper presents an overview of microsimulation as a method to evaluate health and health care policies and interventions. After presenting a brief survey of microsimulation models and applications we describe the main features of the approach and how these are implemented in practice. We pay particular attention to the innovative features of dynamic microsimulation as a method of ex-ante po...

The blockage in implementing transfer of prison health care to regional governments is a problematic social and health care issue, and also brings to light major institutional and political weaknesses. This article considers the power dynamics between administrations and levels, highlighting the subordinate nature of the health care agendas with regard to political and economic ones, as well as...

Public health policies which involve active intervention to improve the health of the population are often criticised as paternalistic. This paper argues that it is a mistake to frame our discussions of public health policies in terms of paternalism. First, it is deeply problematic to pick out which policies should count as paternalistic; at best we can talk about paternalistic justifications f...

BACKGROUND Previous evaluation showed insufficient use of a national guideline for integrated local health policy by Regional Health Services (RHS) in the Netherlands. The guideline focuses on five health topics and includes five checklists to support integrated municipal health policies. This study explores the determinants of guideline use by regional Dutch health professionals. METHODS A w...

The health effects of economic resources (eg, education, employment, and living place) and psychological assets (eg, self-efficacy, perceived control over life, anger control, and emotions) are well-known. This article summarizes the results of a growing body of evidence documenting Blacks’ diminished return, defined as a systematically smaller health gain from economic resources and psychologi...

Background In 2004, the health system in Iran initiated an organizational reform aiming to increase the autonomy of teaching hospitals and make them more decentralized. The policy led to the formation of a board of trustees in each hospital and significant modifications in hospitals’ financing. Since the reform aimed to improve its predecessor policy (implementation of hospital autonomy began i...

The Farm Bill is meant to supplement and secure farm incomes, ensure a stable food supply, and support the American farm economy. Over time, however, it has evolved into a system that creates substantial health impacts, both directly and indirectly. By generating more profit for food producers and less for family farmers; by effectively subsidizing the production of lower-cost fats, sugars, and...

BACKGROUND Ethnic-minority health is a public health priority in Europe. This study compares strategies for tackling ethnic inequalities in health from two countries, Scotland and Belgium. METHODS We compared the countries using the Whitehead framework. Official policy documents were retrieved and reviewed and two databases related to immigrant health policies were also used. Ethnic inequalit...