Globalization Health
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Globalization Health · Nov 2017
Disentangling regional trade agreements, trade flows and tobacco affordability in sub-Saharan Africa.
In principle, trade and investment agreements are meant to boost economic growth. However, the removal of trade barriers and the provision of investment incentives to attract foreign direct investments may facilitate increased trade in and/or more efficient production of commodities considered harmful to health such as tobacco. We analyze existing evidence on trade and investment liberalization and its relationship to tobacco trade in Sub-Saharan African countries. ⋯ These results suggest that the changing economic structures of international trade and investment are likely heightening the efficiency and effectiveness of the tobacco industry. As tobacco control advocates consider supply-side tobacco control interventions, they must consider carefully the effects of these economic agreements and whether there are ways to mitigate them.
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Globalization Health · Nov 2017
Measuring the bias against low-income country research: an Implicit Association Test.
With an increasing array of innovations and research emerging from low-income countries there is a growing recognition that even high-income countries could learn from these contexts. It is well known that the source of a product influences perception of that product, but little research has examined whether this applies also in evidence-based medicine and decision-making. In order to examine likely barriers to learning from low-income countries, this study uses established methods in cognitive psychology to explore whether healthcare professionals and researchers implicitly associate good research with rich countries more so than with poor countries. ⋯ The majority of our participants associate Good Research with Rich Countries, compared to Poor Countries. Implicit associations such as these might disfavor research from poor countries in research evaluation, evidence-based medicine and diffusion of innovations.
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Globalization Health · Aug 2017
Global research trends in West Nile virus from 1943 to 2016: a bibliometric analysis.
West Nile virus (WNV) is an emerging infectious disease which is most commonly transmitted to humans through mosquito, and is considered a major public-health problem worldwide. The aim of the current study is to bibliometrically analyze the quantity and quality of publications indexed in Scopus from different countries to reveal the characteristics of global research output regarding WNV. ⋯ There is an obvious trend of WNV research after 2000, and countries with high income have more contributions in WNV research field. The research output is low among LMIC. The USA produced the largest number of publications. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention obtained the leading position of the institutions in terms of publication output. In general, this study not only presents a full view of global WNV research, but also can contribute for future further research in this field.
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Globalization Health · Aug 2017
ReviewPolicy experimentation and innovation as a response to complexity in China's management of health reforms.
There are increasing criticisms of dominant models for scaling up health systems in developing countries and a recognition that approaches are needed that better take into account the complexity of health interventions. Since Reform and Opening in the late 1970s, Chinese government has managed complex, rapid and intersecting reforms across many policy areas. As with reforms in other policy areas, reform of the health system has been through a process of trial and error. ⋯ The article analyses Chinese thinking on policy experimentation and innovation and their use in management of complex reforms. It argues that China's management of reform allows space for policy tailoring and innovation by sub-national governments under a broad agreement over the ends of reform, and that shared understandings of policy innovation, alongside informational infrastructures for the systemic propagation and codification of useful practices, provide a framework for managing change in complex environments and under conditions of uncertainty in which 'what works' is not knowable in advance. The article situates China's use of experimentation and innovation in management of health system reform in relation to recent literature which applies complex systems thinking to global health, and concludes that there are lessons to be learnt from China's approaches to managing complexity in development of health systems for the benefit of the poor.
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Globalization Health · Aug 2017
Setting performance-based financing in the health sector agenda: a case study in Cameroon.
More than 30 countries in sub-Saharan Africa have introduced performance-based financing (PBF) in their healthcare systems. Yet, there has been little research on the process by which PBF was put on the national policy agenda in Africa. This study examines the policy process behind the introduction of PBF program in Cameroon. ⋯ The policy agenda of PBF in Cameroon underlined the importance of a perceived crisis in the policy reform process and the advantage of building a team to carry forward the policy process. It also highlighted the role of other sources of information alongside scientific evidence (eg.: workshop and study tour), as well as the role of previous policies and experiences, in shaping or influencing respectively the way issues are framed and reformers' actions and choices.