More than 3.2 million stillbirths occur globally each year, yet stillbirths are largely invisible in global data tracking, policy dialogue and programme implementation. This mismatch of burden to action is due to a number of factors that keep stillbirths hidden, notably a lack of data and a lack of conse...
Large-scale randomized interventions have the potential to uncover the causal effect of programs applying to a large population, thereby improving on the insights gained from currently dominant smaller randomized studies. However, the external validity gained through larger interventions typically implie...
The terms vertical and integrated are widely used in health service delivery, but
each describes a range of phenomena. In practice, the dichotomy between
them is not rigid, and the extent of verticality or integration varies between
programmes – including (1) a vertically funded, managed, delivered and...
The policy issue: patient engagementOccasionally, all citizens have to make important health decisions that affecthealth outcomes. Strategies to support patient education and engagementshould therefore be a fundamental plank of health policy. Also, patients canplay an important role in understanding the ...
Policy issues• Health technology assessment (HTA) is an important tool for informing effective regulation of the diffusion and use of health technologies.• The key policy issues surrounding the use of HTA fall into three areas: (a) the bodies, decision-makers and other stakeholders involved, (b) the ...
Key messagesPolicy issue and associated policy challenges• Population health is influenced by a variety of factors, many of whichrequire action outside the health system.• The health and socioeconomic costs of the key contributors to poor healthin Europe are substantial. Many of these health problems...
The international migration of health professionals has been a growingfeature of the global health agenda since the late 1990s. In Europe, theaccession of more countries to the European Union (EU) since 2004 hasincreased the scope for mobility among health workers and raisedadditional issues within the E...
Skill-mix initiatives focus on changing professional roles - directly and indirectly.They change roles directly through extension of roles or skills, delegation, andthe introduction of a new type of worker; they change them indirectly throughmodifications of the interface between services - that is, wher...
In some countries, pressure is growing to demonstrate that practising physicians
continue to meet acceptable standards, driven in part by concerns that the
knowledge obtained during basic training may rapidly become out of date. This
takes various forms, from expectations – in some cases backed by vari...
