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The contradictions of the transition period in Moldova promoted transformations of the structure and functions of the family. Today the term “family” is more extended, including new forms in comparison with previous generations. Under current conditions there is an increased need to understand family issues. The family is not considered as a separate cell and closed system; rather it represents a problem of national interests. Strengthening the family is important, but its realization is not easy. Problems have to be solved at the society and family level. At the society level, there is a need for systematic research on family issues, for development and implementation of family support strategy, family consultations, and family life educational programs for youth. At the family level, the focus needs to be on increasing the quality of relationships, developing a democratic style of childrearing, and restructuring the gender roles.

The purchasing role of health authorities has been in existence for two years and public health physicians are expected to play a central part within this role. While the first year was dedicated to maintaining a “steady state”, differences are now appearing between authorities in the way in which purchasing is managed. Based on the views of senior managers and public health physicians working in purchasing authorities, considers how the purchasing process is developing and reports how public health medicine is perceived to be contributing to it. Identifies sub‐regional resource allocation as a major factor influencing the purchasing process. Conflicting views were found on the purchasing role of public health medicine, in particular with respect to health needs assessment. As purchasing evolves it remains unclear whether public health medicine will come to fulfil a largely technical role, or a more wider one in which it acts as advocate for the population′s health.

Health is a human right and a fundamental building block of sustainable development, economic prosperity and poverty reduction. To realize people’s right to health, evaluating the situation of the right and its determinants is necessary. This paper aims to analyze Iran’s conduct in realizing its population’s right to health.

A qualitative case study design involving a structured review of relevant laws, policy documents, reports and academic literature was undertaken. The data were collected from electronic databases and the official Web pages of the United Nations (UN) and Iran’s Government and analyzed by a framework suggested by the UN.

Iran’s law and policies intend to combat health inequalities and to provide an adequate standard of living for everyone, particularly disadvantaged groups and individuals. However, not all laws and policies protecting disadvantaged groups are adequately implemented. There are disparities in health status and access to health care among different socio-economic groups. International economic sanctions and government policies decreased people’s ability to access the necessities of life including health care. Moreover, social determinants of health, such as cultural beliefs regarding women’s rights have not been addressed sufficiently in the country’s laws.

This study includes a broad range of subjects and provides an overview of the health-care system of Iran. However, more detail is needed to describe every aspect of the right to health. It was not feasible to address them all in this paper and needs more research. In addition, as with the majority of qualitative studies, the design of the current study is subject to limitations. Firstly, the research quality of narrative reviews is dependent on the researcher’ skills and more easily can be influenced by his/her personal biases. Second, the rigor is more difficult to maintain, assess and demonstrate. Nevertheless, narrative studies often complement quantitative studies and are informative.

To fulfill the right to health, Iran should improve affordability and quality of care and the situation of the determinants of health. The gaps in people’s access to health care need to be identified, and all necessary means and scarce resources be allocated to remove access barriers and to improve the situation of disadvantaged people. The adoption of relatively low-cost targeted programs, the proper management of resources and the prevention of unnecessary costs are suggested.

The purpose of this paper is to suggest the use of reverse medical supply chain data to infer changes of a population's health status with regard to a focal disease. It includes a detailed illustration of how health status information can be obtained from drug reverse chains.

A Bayesian dynamical model linking drug reverse supply chain data to relevant health status indicators with regard to a focal disease is developed. A detailed implementation of the model on computer‐simulated data is considered. The predictive ability of the methodology is also assessed using out‐of‐sample Monte Carlo‐based predictive analysis.

The results substantiate the good fit of the model to the empirical data.

Difficulty in obtaining actual return data and in selecting appropriate health status indicators. The correspondence disease‐drug is typically not one‐to‐one. Experts' opinion is required in setting up suitable mixing weights as many drugs may inform the health status relative to a given disease and vice versa.

Reverse logistics data may contain potential information, and this is not exclusive to medical chains.

The paper's suggestions tend to reinforce the notion that supply chain data may be used in many unsuspected settings. Solutions to issues of immediate concern in public health require multidisciplinary cooperation, and this paper shows how supply chain management can contribute. It is believed that the potential of reverse chain data in the health status prospect has previously hardly ever been pointed out.

Objectives – Purchasing has been promoted as a key policy instrument to improve health system performance. Despite its widespread adoption, there is little empirical evidence on how it works, the challenges surrounding its implementation, its impact, and the preconditions for it to function effectively, particularly in low- and middle-income settings. The objective of this chapter is to analyze critically the extent to which purchasing could be, and has been used strategically in China and to identify modifications that are needed for purchasing to be effective in assuring that the government's new funding for health care will result in efficient and effective health services.

Methods – We present a conceptual framework for purchasing, which identifies three critical principal–agent relationships in purchasing. We draw on evidence from secondary data, results of other research studies, interviews, and the impact evaluation of a social experiment in rural China that explicitly used purchasing to improve quality and efficiency. This information is used to examine purchasing relationships in urban social health insurance (SHI), the rural medical insurance scheme, and purchasing of public health services.

Findings – To date, use of strategic purchasing is limited in China. Both the urban and the rural health insurance schemes act as passive third-party payers, failing to take advantage of the opportunities to strengthen incentives to improve quality and efficiency. This may be because as government agencies, the extent to which the Ministries of Health and Labor and Social Security can act independently from provider interests, or act in the best interest of the population, is unclear. Other important challenges include ensuring adequate representation of the population's views and preferences and making better use of the leverage provided by purchasing to create appropriate provider incentives, through better integration of financing and improved coordination among purchasers.

Implications for policy – In designing purchasing arrangements, attention needs to be paid to all three principal–agent relationships. Successful purchasing appears to require mechanisms to mobilize and represent community preferences and more strategic contracting with providers. More research is needed to strengthen the evidence on which purchasing arrangements work, which do not work, and under what conditions different purchasing configurations can work most effectively.

The research topicality is stipulated by the need to study the legal regulation problems of the state financial guarantees of medical services for the population in Ukraine and to consider positive experience of the developed countries in this area. The aim of the article is to define the main trends in the legal regulation of healthcare in Ukraine; analyze the state financial guarantees of medical services for the population, and positive and negative aspects of the healthcare reform; to explore the international experience in medical services for its implementation to national law enforcement in the sphere of healthcare.

During the research, systematization and generalization of the positive international experience in the legal regulation of the state financial guarantees of medical services for the population were realized.

The analysis of the population's perception of healthcare innovations was carried out. The level of medical service was assessed. The results showed that in order to improve Ukrainian legislation on healthcare, it is necessary to remove absolute conflicts of normative legal acts; to establish public confidence in innovations and changes; to take into account international experience adapting it to specific features of Ukrainian legislation.

The defined theoretical and applied provisions constitute the practical significance for scholars and practicians, who deal with the legal regulation problems of the state financial guarantees of medical services for the population, university professors training highly qualified personnel, and all interested people concerned with healthcare.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of low health literacy and identify how this can have detrimental effects on citizens and their health. It looks at the current overload of information about health in today's society, how that leaves many confused and unsure of the correct advice to follow, and how governments and other decision makers can take steps to address this problem.

Previous research and statistics have been examined and the author offers ideas on how the situation can be changed.

The paper notes that a substantial proportion of the thousands of marketing messages each person receives every day concern health and it is a topic about which citizens proactively seek information. This variety of sources and their respective advice can lead to confusion and too much information, which can prevent action being taken. Health literacy is fundamentally important to maintaining a population's health, but levels are often low. The paper concludes that action is needed in three areas: increasing health literacy of citizens, improving communications skills of professionals, and increasing readability of systems. Many can contribute to this goal, but there is a special responsibility for governments, for example in implementing health literacy programmes in schools and special support for people with low health literacy. Citizens must also become more active to build an essential life‐skill that provides a building‐block for health.

This paper contains new thoughts and conclusions and is of value to a variety of agencies, including government, as well as individuals looking to increase health literacy levels.

The purpose of this paper is to understand how Saudis perceive chemical pollution health risks. Also, it attempts to investigate whether there are gender, age, education, and place of residence differences in health risk perception.

A questionnaire was designed and developed as a descriptive survey of the target population's perceptions of the impact of chemical contaminants on health. Statistical data analysis was conducted to determine the response difference among variables.

The survey demonstrated higher perceptions of health risk among females as compared to males in general and that females are more likely than males to rank items as a high risk. Most gender differences were statistically significant (F(23, 516)=4.906, p<0.001). This is in agreement with some other studies in the world. The older age group is, in general, more likely to consider something as being a high‐health risk. Also, respondents with higher education were more likely to rate more health risks as “high risk” than were other respondents. Meanwhile, there was no difference in health risk perception according to place of residence.

Saudis face increasing health risks due to chemical pollution. Very little is known about chemical pollution concern and health risk perceptions in the Saudi society. Understanding public chemicals health risk perceptions is the basis of an effective strategy for environmental health risk management. The results of this survey will provide useful information to policy makers to improve health risk communication and develop effective health risks management policies.

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted every community across the globe, but the global COVID-19 data show that the United States remains the most affected country where well over 666,000 people died, and approximately 40 million citizens became ill due to the virus' spread by mid-2021 (CDC, 2021). It is also noteworthy that extreme racial disparities in rates of COVID-19 cases and deaths are high in the United States, specifically among African American population. This situation is particularly evident among African American population in Alabama's Black Belt. Subsequently, COVID-19, racial disparities, and health inequalities have become central to the national and regional conversation. This chapter examines the associations between COVID-19, social determinants of health, and the systematic health disparity in African American population in Alabama's Black Belt region using Geographic Information Systems and the concept of uneven spatial development. Understanding the relationship between COVID-19 and these disparities within a spatial context vital to developing pathways to overcome the pandemic's effects and combat the systemic discrimination in this region. The derived policy recommendation could apply to other regions experiencing social inequality and health disparity.