Journal of public health policy
-
J Public Health Policy · Sep 2016
Achieving population-level violence declines: implications of the international crime drop for prevention programming.
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations for the period 2016-2030 aim to achieve a substantial reduction of interpersonal violence. An increasing body of evidence of what works, emerging from randomized controlled trials, can inform public health policy decisions. However, there is very limited evidence on the kinds of mechanisms that lead to sustained declines in interpersonal violence at the population level. We discuss the implications of what is known about recent major declines in violence to guide violence-reduction policies.
-
Three months after the World Health Organization declared the epidemic of Zika virus infections to be a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, we can look back at what we have learned and prospects for controlling the disease. Although Zika virus infections may explain many cases of brain damage in newborns, it may not be the only cause. ⋯ The development and almost universal use of rubella vaccine has all but eliminated the congenital rubella syndrome in the world. Rapid development of Zika virus vaccine might well do the same for this epidemic.
-
This Viewpoint discusses the World Health Organization's Declaration on 1 February 2016 that the epidemic infection caused by the Zika virus is a public health emergency of international concern - the basis of the decision and controversy surrounding it.
-
J Public Health Policy · Nov 2015
Viewpoint: Counterfeit medicines and substandard medicines: Different problems requiring different solutions.
New interest in the 'pandemic' of falsified medicines has resulted in efforts to put in place a treaty on 'medicines crime'. If the goal is to protect the interests of people and public health, an international agreement to ensure that all proven effective and necessary medicines are affordable, available, and of assured quality will do far more to combat falsified and substandard medicines than an agreement that deals primarily with the criminal aspects of problematic medicines production and distribution.
-
J Public Health Policy · Aug 2015
'May issue' gun carrying laws and police discretion: Some evidence from Massachusetts.
In almost all states in the United States, to carry a concealed handgun legally requires a permit from the police. Many states have changed from may-issue laws (where the local police chief has discretion about to whom to issue a license) to shall-issue laws (where the police chief must issue a permit if the applicant passes a computerized federal background check). Studies conflict on the effect on crime. ⋯ We provide suggestive evidence from a December 2013 survey of police chiefs in Massachusetts' 351 cities and towns. Of the 121 responding police chiefs, a large majority favored retaining police discretion. Chiefs issued few discretionary denials - median 2 per year, citing providing false information, a history of assault (often domestic violence), a history of drug or alcohol abuse, or of mental-health issues as the most common reasons for denial.