OBJECTIVES To provide an overview of the development of health technology assessment (HTA) in Germany since the 1990s. METHODS Analysis of key documents (e.g. literature, laws, and other official documentation) and personal experiences. RESULTS Health technology assessment (HTA) entered the political agenda in Germany only in the mid-1990s, basically as the result of a top-down approach tow...

ISSUE ADDRESSED There is a need for a system of values and principles consistent with modern health promotion that enables practitioners to use these values and principles to understand health and in their needs assessment, planning, implementation and evaluation practice. METHOD Grounded theory, document analysis and the authors' own practice experience were used to systematically collect an...

Fifteen area health services currently have formal structures for ongoing community participation. These structures are variously called health councils, health consumer networks, consumer and community health forums, and consultative committees. The role and activities undertaken vary and include local needs assessment, input to planning, and health promotion activities. The two area health se...

The Island County Environmental Health Initiative (ICEHI) is a demonstration project in the use of the Protocol for Assessing Community Excellence in Environmental Health (PACE EH) to build capacity in the 10 essential services of environmental health. The PACE EH methodology systematically applies the 10 essential services of environmental health through the completion of 13 tasks derived from...

OBJECTIVE Middle-income countries are often referred to as developing or emerging economies and face multiple challenges of severe financial stresses in their health care sectors, and high disease burden. The objective of this study is to provide an overview of how health technology assessment (HTA) is used and organized in selected middle-income countries and its role in the process of pharmac...

OBJECTIVES To identify factors associated with the decisions of the Federal Department of Home Affairs concerning coverage with evidence development (CED) for contested novel medical technologies in Switzerland. DESIGN Quantitative, retrospective, descriptive analysis of publicly available material and prospective, structured, qualitative interviews with key stakeholders. SETTING All 152 co...

BACKGROUND The Kenyan Ministry of Health- Department of Standards and Regulations sought to operationalize the Kenya Quality Assurance Model for Health. To this end an integrated quality management system based on validated indicators derived from the Kenya Quality Model for Health (KQMH) was developed and adapted to the area of Reproductive and Maternal and Neonatal Health, implemented and ana...

Throughout my career as a health economist, one issue has always been a mystery to me—why does cancer enjoy such a dominant position within healthcare systems throughout the world? The debate concerning the reconfiguration of the Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF), which is addressed in this journal [1], represents a microcosm of a much wider debate reflecting the complex and ever-changing interface betwe...

The objective of this study was to develop a stream prioritization tool that evaluates stream reaches in terms of the potential water quality improvements that could be achieved through restoration versus practical constraints to project implementation. This study is inextricably linked to the countywide stream assessment and Reynolds study conducted prior to this project. The first two section...

Hydrological drought is defined by long-term decrease in levels and flows of water bodies. The task of this paper is to analyze and identify statistical trends of low flows in streams in the eastern Slovakia. Methodology for evaluating hydrological drought is based on statistical analysis of observed low stream flows at chosen river stations – annual and seasonal. Mann-Kendall statistical test ...