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Researchers interested in sexual minority health are beginning to examine contextual and environmental determinants of health such as neighbourhoods, health services, and social policies. Efforts to catalogue and systematise policies relating to the health of lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) individuals are therefore central in uncovering more comprehensive determinants of LGB health. This commentary identifies the links between social policy and LGB health, some methodological concerns of spatial analyses in this research area, and some future research directions. In particular, there is a need to integrate both migration and life course into understandings of the relationships between LGB health and jurisdictional policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This commentary argues that there are three major crises confronting global health: ongoing financial crises; deepening ecological crises; and rapidly escalating income and wealth inequalities within and between nations. Global rhetorical responses to these crises frequently invoke policy sentiments similar to those advised by the 2008 WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health (CSDH). However, actual policy decisions run counter to the evidence reviewed by the Commission, and its final report recommendations. Failure to re-regulate financial capitalism, introduce regulatory standards for transnational companies, or subordinate trade and investment liberalization treaties to development goals and human rights treaties will exacerbate global health inequities into the future. More positively, there is increasing support for systems of global taxation. The challenge for global health, however, will remain the willingness of states to make domestic and foreign policy choices that strengthen income redistribution, economic regulation, and citizen rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The principal objective of our research is to examine whether the earned income tax credit (EITC), a broad-based income support program that has been shown to increase employment and income among poor working families, also improves their health and access to care. A finding that the EITC has a positive impact on the health of the American public may help guide deliberations about its future at the federal, state, and local levels. The authors contend that a better understanding of the relationship between major socioeconomic policies such as the EITC and the public's health will inform the fields of health and social policy in the pursuit of improving population health.Journal of Public Health Policy (2009) 30, 198–207. doi:10.1057/jphp.2009.3 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, various theories of convergence of health care systems have been presented. This review of several dimensions of health priority setting in nine countries sheds light on the interrelationship between convergence and embeddedness. It reconfirms that within a co-existence of convergence and divergence, there are clusters of convergence, primarily at the ideational and social value levels. However, our findings suggest that the variation across different substantive levels is less clear cut than suggested by others. Moreover, the variation between different procedural aspects of convergence appears more significant. Certain ideas involving the need for rationing, the role of market mechanisms, and cost containment have gained recognition by health policy makers across countries, but this has not guaranteed their adoption. Our analysis demonstrates that despite these signs of a convergence at the conceptual level, policy content and the preferred policy instruments for implementing such policy continue to vary widely across these countries.Journal of Public Health Policy (2006) 27, 265–281. doi:10.1057/palgrave.jphp.3200082 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the history of abstinence education in the United States and the empirical evidence of its effectiveness in preventing teenage pregnancy. It concludes that abstinence education has not yet been proven effective, and therefore recommends that federal policy and funding should be directed towards teen pregnancy prevention programs that have demonstrated success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Measuring the effects of policy and social inequality is complicated because inequalities and policies may have delayed or accumulative effects on health. The objective of this study is to build on the body of work on population mortality and income inequality by investigating the association between income inequality and mortality at the city level at two points in time (1980 and 1990) as well as to determine whether indicators of 1980 social policies of cities are associated with 1990 mortality rates due to delayed or accumulative effects. We found that 1980 income inequality and police spending is associated with increased premature mortality for 1990. In conclusion, there appear to be ling-term consequences of city levels of income inequality on population health, although this relationship is incompletely understood. While a lack of information on how inequality operates on health should not preclude us from making policy decisions aimed at creating greater social equality, for example, through improvements in education, we would benefit from longitudinal research on specific macroeconomic and environmental factors, inequality, and health. Establishing such causal relationships in critical in creating social policies that optimally promote health and well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Media advocacy is the strategic use of mass media and community organizing as a resource for advancing a social or public policy initiative. Across the United States, communities are using media advocacy to promote healthier public policies and environments. The U.S. Center for Substance Abuse Prevention commissioned numerous case studies of media advocacy on alcohol and tobacco issues in a diverse array of communities, including efforts in African-American and Latino communities or using computer-based electronic communication systems. The paper describes these efforts briefly, and summarizes lessons learned, including: media advocacy can lead to larger victories when used as a complement to community organizing in the context of a larger strategic vision for policy change; like policy advocacy, media advocacy is best done in the context of clear long-term goals; conscious framing, guiding the choice of spokespeople, visuals, and messages, can alter media coverage and public debate of health policies; advocates need to respect the media but also remember that they have power in relation to the media; and media advocacy is often controversial and not suited to every situation. The case studies show that media advocacy is a potent tool for public health workers, making an important contribution to campaigns to promote healthier public policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recognizing the critical role of needs assessments in the development of public health policy, the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1989 required states to include needs assessments in their Maternal and Child Health Services Block Grant applications and to demonstrate a link between needs and programs. We examined this link by analyzing the relationship between strategies to meet health objectives and needs assessments in the applications for fiscal year 1991 for the eight states in the southeait (DHHS Region 4). Overall, the proportion of strategies based on reported needs was 88%. Numerous other needs, however, were not related to any strategies. Furthermore, there were neither needs nor strategies described for many objectives. These data required extensive analysis of the applications. A uniform structured report would facilitate the explicit collection of this information and thus the usefulness of this important document for policy development and accountability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Because most public health endeavors in the United States are funded by the public sector, public health practitioners need to be adept at working within the political system. However, the 1988 Institute of Medicine report, The Future of Public Health, found that many public health professionals are ignorant or disdainful of political processes and will not participate in activities that they perceive to be political. Our study examined the health policy and politics curricula of the 14 accredited schools of public health in the U.S., finding that most public health students are not exposed to these areas dating their graduate coursework. Moreover, those students who do take health policy and politics courses study these areas within the context of health care delivery; the politics of public health and prevention are ignored by most schools of public health. Recommendations for improving public health curricula in health policy and politics are presented, including linkages with prevention activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article makes three major arguments: (i) the current War on Drugs under-cuts public health values and premises, resulting in a war on the poor, disen-franchised, people of color, the homeless, and the unemployed; (z) drug problems should be addressed primarily within the realm of public health policy rather than criminal justice policy; and (3) to achieve a viable public health drug policy, the public health community needs to build grassroots support and become effective activists. The article reviews the history of past drug wars, analyzes recent trends in illegal drug use and problems, and critiques current policy initiatives and their consequences. It then outlines a comprehensive, public health approach to addressing illegal drug problems, and concludes with an analysis of what steps are needed to become effective in the public policy arena. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]