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Book part
Publication date: 7 August 2019

Afshin Mehrpouya and Rita Samiolo

Through the example of a “regulatory ranking” – an index produced with the aim to regulate the pharmaceutical market by pushing companies in the direction of providing greater…

Abstract

Through the example of a “regulatory ranking” – an index produced with the aim to regulate the pharmaceutical market by pushing companies in the direction of providing greater access to medicine in developing countries – this chapter focuses on indexing and ranking as infrastructural processes which inscribe global problem spaces as unfolding actionable territories for market intervention. It foregrounds the “Indexal thinking” which structures and informs regulatory rankings – their aspiration to align the interests of different stakeholders and to entice competition among the ranked companies. The authors detail the infrastructural work through which such ambitions are enacted, detailing processes of infrastructural layering/collage and patchwork through which analysts naturalize/denaturalize various contested categories in the ranking’s territory. They reflect on the consequences of such attempts at reconfiguring global topologies for the problems these governance initiatives seek to address.

Details

Thinking Infrastructures
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78769-558-0

Keywords

Open Access
Book part
Publication date: 6 May 2019

Mitch Blair, Denise Alexander and Michael Rigby

Primary care (PC) is a strong determinant of overall health care. Children make up around a fifth of the population of the European Union and European Economic Area and have their…

Abstract

Primary care (PC) is a strong determinant of overall health care. Children make up around a fifth of the population of the European Union and European Economic Area and have their own needs and uptake of PC. However, there is little research into how well PC services address their needs. There are large differences in childhood mortality and morbidity patterns in the EU and EEA countries, and there has been a major epidemiological shift in the past half century from predominantly communicable disease, to non-communicable diseases presenting and increasingly managed in PC. This increase in multifactorial morbidities, such as obesity and learning disability, has led to the need for PC systems to adapt to accommodate these changes. Europe presents a challenging picture of unexplained variation in health care delivery and style and of children’s different health experiences and health-related behaviour. The Models of Child Health Appraised (MOCHA) project aimed to describe the PC systems in detail, analyse their components and appraise them from a number of different viewpoints, including professional, public, political and economic lenses. It did this through nine work packages supported by a core management team, and a network of national agents, individuals in each MOCHA country who had the expertise in research and knowledge of their national health care system to answer a wide range of questions posed by the MOCHA scientific teams.

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Issues and Opportunities in Primary Health Care for Children in Europe
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78973-354-9

Keywords

Open Access
Book part
Publication date: 6 May 2019

Michael Rigby, Shalmali Deshpande, Daniela Luzi, Fabrizio Pecoraro, Oscar Tamburis, Ilaria Rocco, Barbara Corso, Nadia Minicuci, Harshana Liyanage, Uy Hoang, Filipa Ferreira, Simon de Lusignan, Ekelechi MacPepple and Heather Gage

In order to assess the state of health of Europe’s children, or to appraise the systems and models of healthcare delivery, data about children are essential, with as much…

Abstract

In order to assess the state of health of Europe’s children, or to appraise the systems and models of healthcare delivery, data about children are essential, with as much precision and accuracy as possible by small group characteristic. Unfortunately, the experience of the Models of Child Health Appraised (MOCHA) project and its scientists shows that this ideal is seldom met, and thus the accuracy of appraisal or planning work is compromised. In the project, we explored the data collected on children by a number of databases used in Europe and globally, to find that although the four quinquennial age bands are common, it is impossible to represent children aged 0–17 years as a legally defined group in statistical analysis. Adolescents, in particular, are the most invisible age group despite this being a time of life when they are rapidly changing and facing increasing challenges. In terms of measurement and monitoring, there is little progress from work of nearly two decades ago that recommended an information system, and no focus on the creation of a policy and ethical framework to allow collaborative analysis of the rich anonymised databases that hold real-world people-based data. In respect of data systems and surveillance, nearly all systems in European society pay lip service to the importance of children, but do not accommodate them in a practical and statistical sense.

Details

Issues and Opportunities in Primary Health Care for Children in Europe
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78973-354-9

Keywords

Abstract

Details

The Digital Pill: What Everyone Should Know about the Future of Our Healthcare System
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78756-675-0

Abstract

Details

Social Sector Development and Inclusive Growth in India
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83753-187-5

Abstract

Details

Resilient Health Systems
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80262-273-7

Book part
Publication date: 11 June 2009

Cristina Gutiérrez-Delgado and Veronica Guajardo-Barrón

Objective – To present the challenges arising from the double burden of disease in developing countries, focusing on the case of Mexico, and to propose a strategy for addressing…

Abstract

Objective – To present the challenges arising from the double burden of disease in developing countries, focusing on the case of Mexico, and to propose a strategy for addressing these challenges.

Methodology/approach – Mortality and morbidity data are presented for selected countries and groups of diseases. Specific examples of the pressures faced by the public health services in Mexico to provide and finance treatment for communicable and non-communicable diseases are used to illustrate the extent of the challenges in the context of a country with limited resources.

Findings – Public health systems in developing countries face strong pressure to provide and finance treatment for both communicable and non-communicable diseases, inevitably producing competition among diseases and conditions and requiring trade-offs between equity and efficiency goals.

Implications for policy – In developing countries, addressing the challenges presented by the double burden of disease requires a multidisciplinary approach to develop and strengthen the policymaking process. This involves the use of analytical tools applied to each stage of the planning cycle, in particular the use of an explicit priority setting process together with monitoring and assessment to strengthen decision making under limited resources.

Details

Innovations in Health System Finance in Developing and Transitional Economies
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-84855-664-5

Abstract

Details

The Digital Pill: What Everyone Should Know about the Future of Our Healthcare System
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78756-675-0

Book part
Publication date: 18 September 2018

Nekehia T. Quashie

Barbados is at a very advanced stage of population aging. Health care services are designed to ensure universal access for all Barbadians but the contributing factors for older…

Abstract

Purpose

Barbados is at a very advanced stage of population aging. Health care services are designed to ensure universal access for all Barbadians but the contributing factors for older adults’ health care utilization are not well explored. This chapter examines gender differences in the correlates of seeking medical care among older adults in Barbados.

Methodology/approach

Logistic regression models were applied to data drawn from the 2000 Survey of Health, Well-Being and Aging of Older Adults in Latin America and the Caribbean (SABE), Bridgetown sample (n = 1,068).

Findings

Health needs, based on chronic conditions, were positively associated with seeking medical care for men and women. Different forms and directions of intergenerational support were associated with men and women seeking care. Among men, receiving financial support was positively associated with seeking care. Among women, providing financial support was associated with lower odds of seeking care while receiving instrumental support was associated with higher odds of seeking care.

Research limitations/implications

Medical care is only one form of health care use and there is no specification of the nature of care or consultation. The sample is cross-sectional and limited to older adults in urban areas. The relative importance of enabling factors and health needs, especially, may differ across time and space within Barbados.

Originality/value

The study contributes to the literature on health care utilization among older adults within developing countries and highlights the pertinence of family relations influencing gender differences in health care utilization.

Details

Gender, Women’s Health Care Concerns and Other Social Factors in Health and Health Care
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78756-175-5

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 9 March 2015

Roel Pieterman

This paper investigates whether in the case of obesity medicalization implies transforming deviants into patients. First, a brief history is presented of the social construction…

Abstract

This paper investigates whether in the case of obesity medicalization implies transforming deviants into patients. First, a brief history is presented of the social construction of obesity as an epidemic. Since the turn of the millennium obesity experts claim that a continuously increasing proportion of the Western population is becoming overweight and that this trend is spreading across the globe. Other claims have been made as well, such as that fatter people die younger and add substantially to the cost of health care. Counterclaims have been made too, such as that in Western countries obesity no longer increases and that only extreme obesity increases the risk of dying young.

Furthermore, several explanations for the obesity epidemic are discussed. Public health experts all over the world prefer two explanations that suggest the obesity problem is amenable to intervention. Most basically, it is held that people become overweight because their intake of calories exceeds their expenditure. In addition it is proposed that modern societies are obesogenic, for example, offering food in abundance while removing the need for physical exertion. The first explanation leads to blaming overweight people for their own condition. The second offers opportunities for disciplining the food industry, which following the anti-tobacco movement is labeled “big food.” Especially with regard to individual citizens the conclusion seems warranted that medicalizing fatness adds opportunities for stigmatization and discrimination beyond those offered by conceptions of beauty and fitness. This causes a double bind for governments that want to fight both obesity and stigmatization.

Details

Contributions from European Symbolic Interactionists: Reflections on Methods
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78441-854-0

Keywords

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