Universal health coverage provides a framework to achieve health services coverage but does not articulate the model of care desired. Comprehensive primary health care includes promotive, preventive, curative, and rehabilitative interventions and health equity and health as a human right as central goals. In Australia, Aboriginal community-controlled health services have pioneered comprehensive...

BACKGROUND Amidst concerns regarding the capacity of the public health system to respond rapidly and appropriately to threats such as pandemics and terrorism, along with changing population health needs, governments have focused on strengthening public health systems. A key factor in a robust public health system is its workforce. As part of a nationally funded study of public health renewal in...

BACKGROUND Lack of intersectoral collaboration within public health sectors compound efforts to promote effective multidisciplinary post stroke care after discharge following acute phase. A coordinated, primary care-led care pathway to manage post stroke patients residing at home in the community was designed by an expert panel of specialist stroke care providers to help overcome fragmented pos...

Australia’s Illicit Drug Reporting System (IDRS) was developed in 1996 to provide a cost-effective strategic early warning system for emergent trends in problematic drug use. Through the use of specific case-scenarios, the present article demonstrates the manner in which information obtained from drug information systems such as IDRS can broaden the knowledge base from which evidence-based poli...

This special issue is devoted to the study of environments that make physical activity and/or healthy dietary behaviors more likely. Empirical evidence regarding the influence of environmental factors on physical activity and dietary behavior is growing rapidly. The evidence base, however, is typically built on (cross-sectional) studies, based on self-reports. There is a dearth of studies with ...

In the alarming context of risk of Zika virus (ZIKV) transmission in the Euro-Mediterranean area, there is a need to examine whether capacities to detect, diagnose and notify ZIKV infections in the region are in place and whether ongoing capacity-building initiatives are filling existing gaps.The MediLabSecure network, created in 2014, comprises 55 laboratories of virology and medical entomolog...

The HIV/AIDS pandemic is posing major challenges to all sectors in South Africa, including the health sector of the city of Johannesburg. The health sector of the city of Johannesburg, as a result of the pandemic, is faced with increasing demands on its scarce resources at a time of major reform at local government level including transformation of the health sector. The overall objective of th...

BACKGROUND In October 2013, the Public Health Informatics Institute (PHII) and Institute for Alternative Futures (IAF) convened a multidisciplinary group of experts to evaluate forces shaping public health informatics (PHI) in the United States, with the aim of identifying upcoming challenges and opportunities. The PHI workshop was funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation as part of its lar...

BACKGROUND Intersectoral Action for Health (IAH) and its Health Impact Assessment (HIA) tool are built on collaboration between actors and sectors, requiring multidimensional and horizontal way of working. The study aims to analyse the enablers and barriers when such a new way of working and tool have been initiated to replace a traditional, vertical operation at the local level in Slovakia-a c...

This article analyzes Taiwan’s National Epidemic Prevention Team, a collective synergy between government and society in fighting COVID-19. We draw on model of collaborative governance to dissect the collaboration Team members; that is, central government, local governments, private enterprises citizens. argue 2003 severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak, democratic deepening continua...