Literacy, education and health development: research priorities

How education and health are linked in developing countries and what educational activities produce change are quite uncertain. Questions for research on these concerns are noted, and it is suggested that prospective longitudinal studies, household surveys, and field observations might well be added to the more usual multivariate analyses of records. Analyses of educational program implementation alternatives are also suggested.     

Literacy,education and health development: Research priorities

How education and health are linked in developing countries and what educational activities produce change are quite uncertain. Questions for research on these concerns are noted, and it is suggested that prospective longitudinal studies, household surveys, and field observations might well be added to the more usual multivariate analyses of records. Analyses of educational program implementation alternatives are also suggested.     

Physician cost experience under private health insurance programs

Little information is available on private payer claims cost experience for specific categories of health care. A study was conducted in which physician-claims cost experience and trends among 15 Blue Cross and Blue Shield Plans were compared. Between 1986 and 1988, physician claims cost per covered person increased at an average annual rate of 17 percent, approximately 6 percentage points higher than for Medicare. Annual charges were highest for laboratory (24 percent), radiology (19 percent), and medical care (18 percent) services. Utilization trends were also examined in the study. The number of radiology imaging procedures performed increased 48 percent between 1986 and 1988, and the number of hospital visits declined by 6 percent.     

Values and priorities: Their effect on knowledge utilization in public mental health programs

Developing and maintaining shared values and priorities in public mental health systems is crucial to clinical, program, policy and administrative success. The issues of establishing priority populations, mobilizing resources, and improving quality of care and personal leadership style are discussed as examples of the ways in which such consensus contributed to progress in Pennsylvania's public mental health system.     

Balancing the priorities of evaluation with the priorities of the setting: A focus on positive youth development programs in school settings

This paper explores important issues that program developers and evaluators must consider when implementing and researching positive youth development programs in school settings. Issues such as ensuring utility of the program at the local level and assessing process, proximate, and distal outcomes are stressed.     

Setting priorities for new vaccination programs by using public health officers and immunization managers opinions

The objective of this work was to assess the opinions of public health professionals (PHPs) about routinely recommended and new vaccines, and to evaluate the feasibility of using a modified Basic Priority Rating System (BPRS) approach to prioritize new immunization programs. One hundred and thirty six PHPs were invited to participate in the survey and 101 responded. Ninty-eight percent of respondents agreed that "recommended vaccines are very useful" (mean score=9.5 out of 10). Between 47% and 100% of respondents agreed with statements about usefulness, safety, effectiveness and acceptability of seven new vaccines (mean scores 5.7-9.7). The highest BPRS scores were observed for MMRV (7.3), DTaP-IPV-HBV-Hib (7.0), and conjugate ACYW-135 (5.4), followed by HPV (4.8), HAV (4.4), rotavirus (1.6) and zoster vaccine (1.5%). The results demonstrate that PHPs perceive presently recommended vaccines as very useful tools in infection prevention. On the other hand, the perceived usefulness, safety, effectiveness, and acceptability of new vaccines are heterogeneous. This heterogeneity is indicative of the complexity of decision-making around implementation of new immunization programs and the need for tools facilitating program prioritization. The modified BPRS approach using survey responses to five statements on program usefulness, vaccine safety, effectiveness, and acceptance by vaccinators and the population is a simple, feasible and inexpensive method of prioritizing new immunization programs. The method we propose is flexible in choosing target groups and allows a large number of professionals to be involved in the decision-making process about new immunization programs.     

The role of public and private transfers in the cost-benefit analysis of mental health programs

This paper revisits the issue of whether to include maintenance costs in an economic evaluation in mental health. The source of these maintenance costs may be public or private transfers. The issue is discussed in terms of a formal cost-benefit criterion. It is shown that, when transfers have productivity effects, income distribution is important, and one recognizes that public transfers have tax implications, transfers can have real resource effects and cannot be ignored. The criterion is then applied to an evaluation of three case management programs in California that sought to reduce the intensive hospitalization of the severely mentally ill.     

Future-proofing global health: Governance of priorities

The year 2015 was a significant anniversary for global health: 15 years since the adoption of the Millennium Development Goals and the creation of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization, followed two years later by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria. 2015 was also the 10-year anniversary of the adoption of the International Health Regulations (May 2005) and the formal entering into force of the Framework Convention on the Tobacco Control (February 2005). The anniversary of these frameworks and institutions illustrates the growth and contribution of ‘global’ health diplomacy. Each initiative has also revealed on-going issues with compliance, sustainable funding and equitable attention in global health governance. In this paper, we present four thematic challenges that will continue to challenge prioritisation within global health governance into the future unless addressed: framing and prioritising within global health governance; identifying stakeholders of the global health community; understanding the relationship between health and behaviour; and the role of governance and regulation in supporting global health.     

部分国家商业健康保险发展的特点及对我国的启示

本文分析了当前我国地方政府融资存在的财政自给率不足、对转移支付依赖加大、土地资源出让收入倾向最大化、地方政府债务隐性化和可持续贷款能力受限等问题,认为应正视未来20年我国地方政府在城市化进程中大规模融资行为的必然性,建议从五个方面入手来规范地方政府的融资行为,即以培育地方主体税种为基石深化分税制改革,以公共服务均等化为导向优化转移支付制度,通过正确处理土地出让金收入改变卖地财政境况,以地方政府债券发行收入来弥补市政建设缺口,以及鼓励符合条件的政府投融资平台上市融资等。