Total: 752

    HIV and infant feeding: summary of findings from the good start study

    The Good Start Study was a prospective cohort study of 665 HIV positive women who attended routine PMTCT services. The women and infants were followed for 36 weeks after birth with data collection during home visits every 2 weeks until 12 weeks and then monthly until 9 months. At each scheduled visit inf...

    Evidence from systematic reviews to inform decision making regarding financing mechanisms that improve access to health services for poor people

    Without evidence-informed action, health-related Millennium Development Goals as well as those of individual nations are unlikely to be achieved. Health policies are influenced by a variety of factors – values and beliefs, stakeholder power, institutional constraints, and donor funding flows, among oth...

    What is the impact of HIV on families?

    In Europe, the number of people infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is increasing. More infections of heterosexuals are appearing, and young people and women are becoming more vulnerable. For these people, the introduction of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) now allows them to li...

    What are the advantages and limitations of different quality and safety tools for health care?

    The term “quality tools” is used in many different ways to refer to a method used by an individual, a team, an organization or a health system. It is most often used in a narrow sense in American texts to refer to a set of simple “continuous quality improvement” methods (CQI tools). More broadly,...

    Should patient decision aids (PtDAs) be introduced in the health care system?

    “Grey zone” treatments are those that rely upon the patient’s judgement of associated benefits versus harms. When clinicians judge patients are eligible for “grey zone” treatments, their acceptance should be consistent with informed patients’ values. The question is how can one obtain informe...

    What evidence is there about the effects of health care reforms on gender equity, particularly in health?

    In most countries the pressure for health care reform is aimed at improving the efficiency, equity and effectiveness of the health sector. Emerging evidence shows that health care reforms can affect men and women differently, as a consequence of their different positions as users and producers of health ...

    What is the effectiveness of antenatal care? Supplement

    This is a Health Evidence Network (HEN) evidence report on antenatal care (ANC). This report is a supplement to the 2003 HEN report on the same subject (http://www.euro.who.int/Document/e82996.pdf). It is a review of the best available evidence in the scientific literature regarding ANC interventions. It...

    Health technology assessment: An introduction to objectives, role of evidence, and structure in Europe

    Health systems have developed at different speeds, and with differing degrees of complexity throughout the twentieth century, reflecting the diverse political and social conditions in each country. Notwithstanding their diversity, all systems, however, share a common reason for their existence, namely th...

    Mental health I: key issues in the development of policy and practice across Europe

    Mental health problems account for approximately 20% of the total burden of ill health in Europe (WHO, 2004a). This estimate of burden is just the tip of the iceberg; what makes mental health almost unique is the broad impact it can have on all aspects of life, including physical health, family relations...

    Cross border health care in Europe

    This policy brief provides a review of current information and issues relating to cross-border health care in Europe. Following an overview of current patterns of patient mobility, the policy brief looks in turn at the legal framework for mobility, the financial implications, approaches to quality monito...