In an increasingly complex world of interrelated problems many governments have tried to modernise their institutional structures and the ways in which they go about making policy. In the UK and elsewhere this has been most apparent in the growing emphasis given to evidence-based policy making in contrast to faith-based approaches and the conviction politics of earlier periods. Much of the deba...

1. Benzeval M, Judge K, Whitehead M. Tackling inequalities in health. An agenda for action. London: King’s Fund; 1995. 2. Ben-Shlomo Y, Marmot M. Policy options for managing health inequalities in industrial and post-industrial countries. En: Strickland SS, Shetty PS, editors. Human biology and social inequality. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 1998. p. 308-30. 3. Acheson D, Barker D, Ch...

Safe motherhood has begun to be identified as a priority for the health of American women. We argue that safe motherhood can be achieved through application of a life course and multiple determinants framework. This framework, with its focus on the preconception period, poses a dilemma in that it links together periods of life and domains of activities that have traditionally not been linked wi...

Health care providers (HCP) and clinical scientists (CS) are generally most comfortable using evidence-based rational decision-making models. They become very frustrated when policymakers make decisions that, on the surface, seem irrational and unreasonable. However, such decisions usually make sense when analysed properly. The goal of this paper to provide a basic theoretical understanding of ...

It is not clear how policy-making in the field of reproductive health relates to changes associated with programmes for the reform of the health sector in developing countries. There has been little communication between these two areas, yet policy on reproductive health has to be implemented in the context of structural change. This paper examines factors that limit dialogue between the two ar...