with demand for health services continuing to grow as populations age and new technologies emerge to meet health needs, healthcare policy-makers are under constant pressure to set priorities, ie, to make choices about the health services that can and cannot be funded within available resources. in a recent paper, smith et al apply an influential policy studies framework – kingdon’s multiple str...

The health care industry is a major contributor to environmental pollution. Through the processes of waste disposal, including incineration, the health care industry is one of the largest contributors to environmental dioxin and mercury. Mercury contamination of our waterways has created the conditions by which a significant number of fish are sufficiently mercury-laden so as to pose a human he...

Background There is a growing body of literature on evidence-informed priority setting. However, the literature on the use of evidence when setting healthcare priorities in low-income countries (LICs), tends to treat the healthcare system (HCS) as a single unit, despite the existence of multiple programs within the HCS, some of whic...

It is arguable that the instinct for survival in animal species has evolved due to the evolutionary elimination of those individuals who did not have enough inclination nor desire to cluster in a team. Thus, the roots of ethical conduct in its many facets in today’s world, may be sought in this very primeval concern for the society that enabled communities, rather than individuals, to survive i...

background: reproductive health problems affect youths in all countries. there is an urgent need to enhance youths reproductive health services to provide a healthy life for this group. in this regard, the present study aimed to evaluate the reproductive health peer education program based on the opinion of university students.   methods :this interventional study was conducted in qazvin univer...

Background Priority setting in healthcare is a key determinant of health system performance. However, there is no widely accepted priority setting evaluation framework. We reviewed literature with the aim of developing and proposing a framework for the evaluation of macro and meso level healthcare priority setting practices.   Methods We systematically searched Econlit, PubMed, CINAHL, and EBSC...

The publication of Disease Control Priorities, 3rd edition (DCP3) is a major milestone in the global health world. DCP3 reviews and summarizes high quality health intervention effectiveness and cost-effectiveness evidence relevant to low- and middle-income countries and is freely available to users...

agenda-setting is a crucial step for inclusive health policies in the low- and middle-income countries (lmics). enlightened by ha et al manuscript, this commentary paper argues that ‘political impetus’ is the key to the successful agenda-setting of health policies in lmics, though other determinants may also play the role during the process. this vietnamese case study presents a good example fo...