INTRODUCTION There are population groups nowadays that are regarded as vulnerable, one of which is the prison population, considered to have major health needs. Nonetheless, people deprived of liberty maintain inherent human rights such as that of health care, which in some situations may take second place. METHODS Cross-sectional descriptive study, carried out at El Manzano Prison compliance...

OBJECTIVES We examined the impact of Arizona's "Supporting Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act" (SB 1070, enacted July 29, 2010) on the utilization of preventive health care and public assistance among Mexican-origin families. METHODS Data came from 142 adolescent mothers and 137 mother figures who participated in a quasi-experimental, ongoing longitudinal study of the health and d...

PROBLEM The Chinese central government launched the Health System Reform Plan in 2009 to strengthen disease control and health promotion and provide a package of basic public health services. Village doctors receive a modest subsidy for providing public health services associated with the package. Their beliefs about this subsidy and providing public health services could influence the quality ...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Although preventive dental visits are considered important for maintaining pediatric oral health, there is relatively little research showing that they reduce subsequent nonpreventive dental visits or costs. At least 1 study seemed to find that early preventive dental care is associated with more restorative and emergency visits. Previous studies are limited by their i...

INTRODUCTION EnhanceWellness (EW) is a community-based health promotion program that helps prevent disabilities and improves health and functioning in older adults. A previous randomized controlled trial demonstrated a decrease in inpatient use for EW participants but did not evaluate health care costs. We assessed the effect of EW participation on health care costs. METHODS We performed a re...

D URING THE past several years, physicians have become increasingly aware of the epidemic of obesity in the United States. The alarming increase in its prevalence, both in adults and children, has led to the development of initiatives geared to the recognition of obesity as a complex disorder of energy balance requiring long-term treatment. The change in our view of obesity from a shameful soci...

Achieving universal health coverage (UHC)—defined as access to needed health services to all and protection against financial risks arising from paying for health services [1]—is among the top priorities of reform agendas across many countries. Provision of health services should be determined by individuals’ need rather than their ability to pay and, at the same time, utilization of services b...

The presidential election has focused public attention on the need for health system reform--to ensure health insurance for all, to make health care more accessible and responsive to patients, and to slow the growth in health care cost. This issue brief sets forth a framework for expanding health coverage that offers Americans a choice of a product modeled on Medicare to those under age 65, mad...

An aging population, growing awareness of chronic disease, and access and navigation of health care services prompt much discussion regarding aging in Australia. Debate within academic and policy circles directs attention toward preventive health, with a growing interest in “healthy aging” and “active aging” where quality of life, rather than years of life, is important. There is little doubt t...

The European Council Directive 89/391/EC of 12 June 1989 is concerned with the introduction of measures to encourage improvements in the occupational safety and health. For example, it deals with risk assessment and preventive measures. The Finnish legislation enacts the risk assessment and prevention measures in a similar way as the EU Directive 89/391/EC. The aim of this study was to examine:...