Unhealthy Health Policy

Unhealthy Health Policy PDF Author: Arachu Castro
Publisher: Rowman Altamira
ISBN: 9780759105119
Category : Ethnology
Languages : en
Pages : 416

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Book Description
This new collection turns a critical anthropological eye on the nature of health policy internationally. The authors reveal the prevailing social inequalities that often represent significant threats to the health and well being of the poor, ethnic minorities, and women. The authors define an anthropology of policy concerned with decision-making and the impact of health policy on human lives. It will be a critical resource for researchers and practitioners in medical anthropology, medical sociology, public policy, and public health care. Visit our website for sample chapters!

Unhealthy Health Policy

Unhealthy Health Policy PDF Author: Arachu Castro
Publisher: Rowman Altamira
ISBN: 9780759105119
Category : Ethnology
Languages : en
Pages : 416

Get Book

Book Description
This new collection turns a critical anthropological eye on the nature of health policy internationally. The authors reveal the prevailing social inequalities that often represent significant threats to the health and well being of the poor, ethnic minorities, and women. The authors define an anthropology of policy concerned with decision-making and the impact of health policy on human lives. It will be a critical resource for researchers and practitioners in medical anthropology, medical sociology, public policy, and public health care. Visit our website for sample chapters!

Assessing the Economic Costs of Unhealthy Diets and Low Physical Activity

Assessing the Economic Costs of Unhealthy Diets and Low Physical Activity PDF Author: Centers of Disease Control
Publisher:
ISBN: 9789289050425
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Unhealthy diets and low physical activity contribute to many chronic diseases and disability; they are responsible for some 2 in 5 deaths worldwide and for about 30% of the global disease burden. Yet surprisingly little is known about the economic costs that these risk factors cause, both for health care and society more widely. This study pulls together the evidence about the economic burden that can be linked to unhealthy diets and low physical activity and explores - How definitions vary and why this matters - The complexity of estimating the economic burden and - How we can arrive at a better way to estimate the costs of an unhealthy diet and low physical activity, using diabetes as an example The review finds that unhealthy diets and low physical activity predict higher health care expenditure, but estimates vary greatly. Existing studies underestimate the true economic burden because most only look at the costs to the health system. Indirect costs caused by lost productivity may be about twice as high as direct health care costs, together accounting for about 0.5% of national income. The study also tests the feasibility of using a disease-based approach to estimate the costs of unhealthy diets and low physical activity in Europe, projecting the total economic burden associated with these two risk factors as manifested in new type 2 diabetes cases at 883 million euros in 2020 for France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom alone. The "true" costs will be higher, as unhealthy diets and low physical activity are linked to many more diseases. The study's findings are a step towards a better understanding of the economic burden that can be associated with two key risk factors for ill health and they will help policymakers in setting priorities and to more effectively promoting healthy diets and physical activity.

Unhealthy Politics

Unhealthy Politics PDF Author: Eric M. Patashnik
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691208565
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 283

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Book Description
How partisanship, polarization, and medical authority stand in the way of evidence-based medicine The U.S. medical system is touted as the most advanced in the world, yet many common treatments are not based on sound science. Unhealthy Politics sheds new light on why the government's response to this troubling situation has been so inadequate, and why efforts to improve the evidence base of U.S. medicine continue to cause so much political controversy. This critically important book paints a portrait of a medical industry with vast influence over which procedures and treatments get adopted, and a public burdened by the rising costs of health care yet fearful of going against "doctor's orders." Now with a new preface by the authors, Unhealthy Politics offers vital insights into the limits of science, expertise, and professionalism in American politics.

U.S. Health in International Perspective

U.S. Health in International Perspective PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309264146
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 421

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Book Description
The United States is among the wealthiest nations in the world, but it is far from the healthiest. Although life expectancy and survival rates in the United States have improved dramatically over the past century, Americans live shorter lives and experience more injuries and illnesses than people in other high-income countries. The U.S. health disadvantage cannot be attributed solely to the adverse health status of racial or ethnic minorities or poor people: even highly advantaged Americans are in worse health than their counterparts in other, "peer" countries. In light of the new and growing evidence about the U.S. health disadvantage, the National Institutes of Health asked the National Research Council (NRC) and the Institute of Medicine (IOM) to convene a panel of experts to study the issue. The Panel on Understanding Cross-National Health Differences Among High-Income Countries examined whether the U.S. health disadvantage exists across the life span, considered potential explanations, and assessed the larger implications of the findings. U.S. Health in International Perspective presents detailed evidence on the issue, explores the possible explanations for the shorter and less healthy lives of Americans than those of people in comparable countries, and recommends actions by both government and nongovernment agencies and organizations to address the U.S. health disadvantage.

Unhealthy Alliances

Unhealthy Alliances PDF Author: Henry N. Butler
Publisher: American Enterprise Institute
ISBN: 9780844770222
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 36

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Book Description
This text calls the Health Security Act a nightmare for consumers and taxpayers. It forecasts the effectiveness of regional health alliances and analyses the political forces at play.

Healthy Voices, Unhealthy Silence

Healthy Voices, Unhealthy Silence PDF Author: Colleen M. Grogan
Publisher: Georgetown University Press
ISBN: 9781589013391
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 176

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Book Description
Public silence in policymaking can be deafening. When advocates for a disadvantaged group decline to speak up, not only are their concerns not recorded or acted upon, but also the collective strength of the unspoken argument is lessened—a situation that undermines the workings of deliberative democracy by reflecting only the concerns of more powerful interests. But why do so many advocates remain silent on key issues they care about and how does that silence contribute to narrowly defined policies? What can individuals and organizations do to amplify their privately expressed concerns for policy change? In Healthy Voices, Unhealthy Silence, Colleen M. Grogan and Michael K. Gusmano address these questions through the lens of state-level health care advocacy for the poor. They examine how representatives for the poor participate in an advisory board process by tying together existing studies; extensive interviews with key players; and an in-depth, first-hand look at the Connecticut Medicaid advisory board's deliberations during the managed care debate. Drawing on the concepts of deliberative democracy, agenda setting, and nonprofit advocacy, Grogan and Gusmano reveal the reasons behind advocates' often unexpected silence on major issues, assess how capable nonprofits are at affecting policy debates, and provide prescriptive advice for creating a participatory process that adequately addresses the health care concerns of the poor and dispossessed. Though exploring specifically state-level health care advocacy for the poor, the lessons Grogan and Gusmano offer here are transferable across issue areas and levels of government. Public policy scholars, advocacy organizations, government workers, and students of government administration will be well-served by this significant study.

Unhealthy Times

Unhealthy Times PDF Author: Hugh Armstrong
Publisher: Don Mills, Ont. : Oxford University Press
ISBN:
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 276

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Book Description
"Health and health care are at the pop of the public agenda, not only in Canada but throughout the world. Canada's most cherished social program -- health care -- is being transformed in many ways, some highly visible and others hidden from public view."--Cover.

Unhealthy Work

Unhealthy Work PDF Author: Peter L. Schnall
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351840851
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 364

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Book Description
Work, so fundamental to well-being, has its darker and more costly side. Work can adversely affect our health, well beyond the usual counts of injuries that we think of as 'occupational health'. The ways in which work is organized - its pace and intensity, degree of control over the work process, sense of justice, and employment security, among other things - can be as toxic to the health of workers as the chemicals in the air. These work characteristics can be detrimental not only to mental well-being but to physical health. Scientists refer to these features of work as 'hazards' of the 'psychosocial' work environment. One key pathway from the work environment to illness is through the mechanism of stress; thus we speak of 'stressors' in the work environment, or 'work stress'. This is in contrast to the popular psychological understandings of 'stress', which locate many of the problems with the individual rather than the environment. In this book we advance a social environmental understanding of the workplace and health. The book addresses this topic in three parts: the important changes taking place in the world of work in the context of the global economy (Part I); scientific findings on the effects of particular forms of work organization and work stressors on employees' health, 'unhealthy work' as a major public health problem, and estimates of costs to employers and society (Part II); and, case studies and various approaches to improve working conditions, prevent disease, and improve health (Part III).

The Future of the Public's Health in the 21st Century

The Future of the Public's Health in the 21st Century PDF Author: Institute of Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309133181
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 536

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Book Description
The anthrax incidents following the 9/11 terrorist attacks put the spotlight on the nation's public health agencies, placing it under an unprecedented scrutiny that added new dimensions to the complex issues considered in this report. The Future of the Public's Health in the 21st Century reaffirms the vision of Healthy People 2010, and outlines a systems approach to assuring the nation's health in practice, research, and policy. This approach focuses on joining the unique resources and perspectives of diverse sectors and entities and challenges these groups to work in a concerted, strategic way to promote and protect the public's health. Focusing on diverse partnerships as the framework for public health, the book discusses: The need for a shift from an individual to a population-based approach in practice, research, policy, and community engagement. The status of the governmental public health infrastructure and what needs to be improved, including its interface with the health care delivery system. The roles nongovernment actors, such as academia, business, local communities and the media can play in creating a healthy nation. Providing an accessible analysis, this book will be important to public health policy-makers and practitioners, business and community leaders, health advocates, educators and journalists.

Communities in Action

Communities in Action PDF Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309452961
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 583

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Book Description
In the United States, some populations suffer from far greater disparities in health than others. Those disparities are caused not only by fundamental differences in health status across segments of the population, but also because of inequities in factors that impact health status, so-called determinants of health. Only part of an individual's health status depends on his or her behavior and choice; community-wide problems like poverty, unemployment, poor education, inadequate housing, poor public transportation, interpersonal violence, and decaying neighborhoods also contribute to health inequities, as well as the historic and ongoing interplay of structures, policies, and norms that shape lives. When these factors are not optimal in a community, it does not mean they are intractable: such inequities can be mitigated by social policies that can shape health in powerful ways. Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity seeks to delineate the causes of and the solutions to health inequities in the United States. This report focuses on what communities can do to promote health equity, what actions are needed by the many and varied stakeholders that are part of communities or support them, as well as the root causes and structural barriers that need to be overcome.