Health policy
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Seed grant programs have been suggested as an innovative way to launch new initiatives. We evaluated one such program designed to stimulate cancer research in a state with little to moderate cancer research activity. Success was defined as the ability of seed grant recipients to develop proposals, obtain external funding and publish the results of cancer-related research. ⋯ Seed grants for pilot projects inexpensively and efficiently built cancer research capacity in a state with historically low levels of national cancer research funding. As our findings are based on a single case study, we cannot state that this strategy would succeed for other states in similar circumstances.
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This review aims to bring together current evidence on the impact of chronic pain in terms of its economic costs, cost to healthcare services and benefit agencies, and quality of life, and to discuss the implications of this for government policies. Quantifying the burden and cost of pain is challenging due to its multi-factorial nature and wide reaching effects. Nonetheless, there is a consensus that chronic pain has a significant impact on levels of resources across society and on quality of life. ⋯ Although effective pain management interventions and programmes exist, provision of these services is inconsistent, and chronic pain is not given the priority it requires in view of the extent of its burden on individuals and society. Current relevant government policies in U. K. are discussed to highlight the need to prioritise pain and adopt a whole-systems approach to its management if governments are to successfully reduce its cost and burden.
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Review Historical Article
Health policy in the Baltic countries since the beginning of the 1990s.
The objective of this article is to compare the development of health policies in three Baltic countries, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in the period from 1992 to 2004 and reflect on whether key dimensions of these policies are developing in parallel, diverging or even converging in some respects. The paper identifies the similarity in the overall goals and compares the policy content in primary health care, the hospital sector and financing. ⋯ There is evidence of both convergence and divergence across the three countries and of progress in the direction of EU15 in key health policy and outcome characteristics. These patterns are explained partly by differing starting points and partly by political and economic factors over the 1992-2004 period.
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The interface between national health policy and women's health needs is complex in developing countries like Pakistan. This paper aims to assess if Pakistan's national health policy 2001 is relevant and appropriate to women's health needs. Through review of existing data on women, a profile of women's health needs was developed which was transformed into framework of analysis. ⋯ Moreover, gender equity is translated as provision of reproductive health services to married mothers, ignoring various critical overarching issues of women's life such as sexual abuse, violence, induced abortion, etc. Health systems strengthening strategies are though suggested but these fails to recognize main obstacles of utilization of healthcare services by women including non-availability of female healthcare providers and gender-based obstacles to healthcare utilization such as illiteracy, lack of empowerment to make decisions related to health, etc. In order to be relevant and appropriate to women's health needs the policy should: (1) use gender equity in health and health-related sectors as an approach to develop a healthy policy (2) expand the focus from reproductive health to life cycle approach to address all issues around women's life (3) strengthen health systems through creation of gender equity among all cadres of health providers (4) tailoring health interventions to counter gender-based obstacles to utilization of healthcare services and (5) dissemination interventions for behavior change.
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To investigate structural and psychological factors that lead non-urgent patients to choose the Accidents & Emergency Department (A&ED) rather than primary care services. ⋯ Use of A&ED services for non-urgent care can be reduced. The understanding of reasons underlying the choice and a change in access, timing and contents of care/services provided by general practitioners (GPs) might provide incentives for shifting from A&ED to GPs surgeries.