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Background: Transparent reporting of rapid reviews enables appropriate use of research findings and dissemination strategies can strengthen uptake and impact for the targeted knowledge users, including policy-makers and health system managers. The aim of this literature review was to understand reporting and dissemination approaches for rapid reviews and provide an overview in the context of health policy and systems research., Methods: A literature review and descriptive summary of the reporting and disseminating approaches for rapid reviews was conducted, focusing on available guidance and methods, considerations for engagement with knowledge users, and optimizing dissemination. MEDLINE, PubMed, Google scholar, as well as relevant websites and reference lists were searched from January 2017 to March 2021 to identify the relevant literature with no language restrictions. Content was abstracted and charted., Results: The literature review found limited guidance specific to rapid reviews. Building on the barriers and facilitators to systematic review use, we provide practical recommendations on different approaches and methods for reporting and disseminating expedited knowledge synthesis considering the needs of health policy and systems knowledge users. Reporting should balance comprehensive accounting of the research process and findings with what is "good enough" or sufficient to meet the requirements of the knowledge users, while considering the time and resources available to conduct a review. Typical approaches may be used when planning the dissemination of rapid review findings; such as peer-reviewed publications or symposia and clear and ongoing engagement with knowledge users in crafting the messages is essential so they are appropriately tailored to the target audience. Consideration should be given to providing different products for different audiences. Dissemination measures and bibliometrics are also useful to gauge impact and reach., Conclusions: Limited guidance specific to the reporting and dissemination of rapid reviews is available. Although approaches to expedited synthesis for health policy and systems research vary, considerations for the reporting and dissemination of findings are pertinent to all., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Background: Health policy-makers must often make decisions in compressed time frames and with limited resources. Hence, rapid reviews have become a pragmatic alternative to comprehensive systematic reviews. However, it is important that rapid review methods remain rigorous to support good policy development and decisions. There is currently little evidence about which streamlined steps in a rapid review are less likely to introduce unacceptable levels of uncertainty while still producing a product that remains useful to policy-makers., Methods: This paper summarizes current research describing commonly used methods and practices that are used to conduct rapid reviews and presents key considerations and options to guide methodological choices for a rapid review., Results: The most important step for a rapid review is for an experienced research team to have early and ongoing engagement with the people who have requested the review. A clear research protocol, derived from a needs assessment conducted with the requester, serves to focus the review, defines the scope of the rapid review, and guides all subsequent steps. Common recommendations for rapid review methods include tailoring the literature search in terms of databases, dates, and languages. Researchers can consider using a staged search to locate high-quality systematic reviews and then subsequently published primary studies. The approaches used for study screening and selection, data extraction, and risk-of-bias assessment should be tailored to the topic, researcher experience, and available resources. Many rapid reviews use a single reviewer for study selection, risk-of-bias assessment, or data abstraction, sometimes with partial or full verification by a second reviewer. Rapid reviews usually use a descriptive synthesis method rather than quantitative meta-analysis. Use of brief report templates and standardized production methods helps to speed final report publication., Conclusions: Researchers conducting rapid reviews need to make transparent methodological choices, informed by stakeholder input, to ensure that rapid reviews meet their intended purpose. Transparency is critical because it is unclear how or how much streamlined methods can bias the conclusions of reviews. There are not yet internationally accepted standards for conducting or reporting rapid reviews. Thus, this article proposes interim guidance for researchers who are increasingly employing these methods., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Background: Rapid reviews have emerged as an approach to provide contextualized evidence in a timely and efficient manner. Three rapid review centers were established in Ethiopia, Lebanon, and South Africa through the Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research, World Health Organization, to stimulate demand, engage policymakers, and produce rapid reviews to support health policy and systems decision-making. This study aimed to assess the experiences of researchers and policymakers engaged in producing and using rapid reviews for health systems strengthening and decisions towards universal health coverage (UHC)., Methods: Using a case study approach with qualitative research methods, experienced researchers conducted semi-structured interviews with respondents from each center (n = 16). The topics covered included the process and experience of establishing the centers, stimulating demand for rapid reviews, collaborating between researchers and policymakers, and disseminating and using rapid reviews for health policies and interventions and the potential for sustaining and institutionalizing the services. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis., Results: Major themes interacted and contributed to shape the experiences of stakeholders of the rapid review centers, including the following: organizational structural arrangements of the centers, management of their processes as input factors, and the rapid reviews as the immediate policy-relevant outputs. The engagement process and the rapid review products contributed to a final theme of impact of the rapid review centers in relation to the uptake of evidence for policy and systems decision-making., Conclusions: The experiences of policymakers and researchers of the rapid review centers determined the uptake of evidence. The findings of this study can inform policymakers, health system managers, and researchers on best practices for demanding, developing and using rapid reviews to support decision- and policymaking, and implementing the universal healthcare coverage agenda., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Approaches for rapid reviews that focus on streamlining systematic review methods are not always suitable for exploring complex policy questions, as developing and testing theories to explain these complexities requires configuring diverse qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods studies. Our objective was therefore to provide a guide to selecting approaches for rapidly (i.e., within days to months) addressing complex questions related to health policy and system issues.We provide a two-stage, transdisciplinary collaborative process to select a rapid review approach to address complex policy questions, which consists of scoping the breadth and depth of the literature and then selecting an optimal approach to synthesis. The first stage (scoping the literature) begins with a discussion with the stakeholders requesting evidence to identify and refine the question for the review, which is then used to conduct preliminary searches and conceptually map the documents identified. In the second stage (selection of an optimal approach), further stakeholder consultation is required to refine and tailor the question and approach to identifying relevant documents to include. The approach to synthesizing the included documents is then guided by the final question, the breadth and depth of the literature, and the time available and can include a static or evolving conceptual framework to code and analyze a range of evidence. For areas already covered extensively by existing systematic reviews, the focus can be on summarizing and integrating the review findings, resynthesizing the primary studies, or updating the search and reanalyzing one or more of the systematic reviews.The choice of approaches for conducting rapid reviews is intertwined with decisions about how to manage projects, the amount of work to be done, and the knowledge already available, and our guide offers support to help make these strategic decisions., (© 2021. The Author(s).)

In this editorial we describe the clinician/administrator/researcher experience of frustration or confusion around how to effectively advocate for policy change in health care. By the end of the piece the reader will (a) understand the importance of health professionals' advocacy; (b) know how to use policy papers to advocate; and (c) understand how policy organizations use policy papers. We also discuss the National Academies of Medicine, Science, & Engineering High Quality Primary Care report as an example of a policy paper, introduce our new coeditors for the Policy and Management Department, and describe the Collaborative Family Health Care Association's new policy principles. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

National Rabies Control Programme, India, is in operation since 2012-2013 without much impact due to poor funding and no set policy for the rabies prevention and control. An effort was made to develop a draft policy paper which can help the Government of India to develop a national rabies vaccination policy for humans and for achieving the goal of zero dog-mediated human rabies deaths by the year 2030. A technical stakeholders meeting was held under the chairmanship of the Drug Controller General of India at New Delhi in December 2017 to discuss the problems and solutions for providing essential rabies postexposure prophylaxis (PEP). The following problems and dilemmas were identified: frequent shortages of life-saving rabies vaccines and rabies immunoglobulin for PEP; as rabies vaccines are mostly procured by the state governments that often face resource crunch and hurdles in logistics within the states; production levels of rabies biologicals in the public sector are low; and the export of rabies biologicals from the private sector needs to be critically evaluated in the context of frequent stock-outs in the domestic market and also the national vaccine security.

Objective: At the end of 2012, the Indonesian government enacted tobacco control regulation (PP 109/2012) that included stricter tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship (TAPS) controls. The PP did not ban all forms of TAPS and generated a great deal of media interest from both supporters and detractors. This study aims to analyse stakeholder arguments regarding the adoption and implementation of the regulation as presented through news media converge., Design: Content analysis of 213 news articles reporting on TAPS and the PP that were available from the Factiva database and the Google News search engine., Setting: Indonesia, 24 December 2012-29 February 2016., Methods: Arguments presented in the news article about the adoption and implementation of the PP were coded into 10 supportive and 9 opposed categories. The news actors presenting the arguments were also recorded. Kappa statistic were calculated for intercoder reliability., Results: Of the 213 relevant news articles, 202 included stakeholder arguments, with a total of 436 arguments coded across the articles. More than two-thirds, 69% (301) of arguments were in support of the regulation, and of those, 32.6% (98) agreed that the implementation should be enhanced. Of 135 opposed arguments, the three most common were the potential decrease in government revenue at 26.7% (36), disadvantage to the tobacco industry at 18.5% (25) and concern for tobacco farmers and workers welfare at 11.1% (15). The majority of the in support arguments were made by national government, tobacco control advocates and journalists, while the tobacco industry made most opposing arguments., Conclusions: Analysing the arguments and news actors provides a mapping of support and opposition to an essential tobacco control policy instrument. Advocates, especially in a fragmented and expansive geographic area like Indonesia, can use these findings to enhance local tobacco control efforts., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2017. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.)

Background: Health policy papers disseminate recommendations and guidelines for the development and implementation of health promotion interventions. Such documents have rarely been investigated with regard to their assumed mechanisms of action for changing behaviour. The Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF) and Behaviour Change Techniques (BCT) Taxonomy have been used to code behaviour change intervention descriptions, but to our knowledge such "retrofitting" of policy papers has not previously been reported. This study aims first to identify targets, mediators, and change strategies for physical activity (PA) and nutrition behaviour change in Finnish policy papers on workplace health promotion, and second to assess the suitability of the Behaviour Change Wheel (BCW) approach for this purpose., Method: We searched all national-level health policy papers effectual in Finland in August 2016 focusing on the promotion of PA and/or healthy nutrition in the workplace context (n = 6). Policy recommendations targeting employees' nutrition and PA including sedentary behaviour (SB) were coded using BCW, TDF, and BCT Taxonomy., Results: A total of 125 recommendations were coded in the six policy papers, and in two additional documents referenced by them. Psychological capability, physical opportunity, and social opportunity were frequently identified (22%, 31%, and 24%, respectively), whereas physical capability was almost completely absent (1%). Three TDF domains (knowledge, skills, and social influence) were observed in all papers. Multiple intervention functions and BCTs were identified in all papers but several recommendations were too vague to be coded reliably. Influencing individuals (46%) and changing the physical environment (44%) were recommended more frequently than influencing the social environment (10%)., Conclusions: The BCW approach appeared to be useful for analysing the content of health policy papers. Paying more attention to underlying assumptions regarding behavioural change processes may help to identify neglected aspects in current policy, and to develop interventions based on recommendations, thus helping to increase the impact of policy papers.

Evidence-based policy ensures that the best interventions are effectively implemented. Integrating rigorous, relevant science into policy is therefore essential. Barriers include the evidence not being there; lack of demand by policymakers; academics not producing rigorous, relevant papers within the timeframe of the policy cycle. This piece addresses the last problem. Academics underestimate the speed of the policy process, and publish excellent papers after a policy decision rather than good ones before it. To be useful in policy, papers must be at least as rigorous about reporting their methods as for other academic uses. Papers which are as simple as possible (but no simpler) are most likely to be taken up in policy. Most policy questions have many scientific questions, from different disciplines, within them. The accurate synthesis of existing information is the most important single offering by academics to the policy process. Since policymakers are making economic decisions, economic analysis is central, as are the qualitative social sciences. Models should, wherever possible, allow policymakers to vary assumptions. Objective, rigorous, original studies from multiple disciplines relevant to a policy question need to be synthesized before being incorporated into policy.

This article systematically reviews a set of health policy papers on agenda setting and tests them against a specific priority-setting framework. The article applies the Shiffman and Smith framework in extracting and synthesizing data from an existing set of papers, purposively identified for their relevance and systematically reviewed. Its primary aim is to assess how far the component parts of the framework help to identify the factors that influence the agenda setting stage of the policy process at global and national levels. It seeks to advance the field and inform the development of theory in health policy by examining the extent to which the framework offers a useful approach for organizing and analysing data. Applying the framework retrospectively to the selected set of papers, it aims to explore influences on priority setting and to assess how far the framework might gain from further refinement or adaptation, if used prospectively. In pursuing its primary aim, the article also demonstrates how the approach of framework synthesis can be used in health policy analysis research., (Published by Oxford University Press in association with The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine © The Author 2014; all rights reserved.)

Background: The objective of this paper is to draw attention to the oral health needs of children in Nigeria, and promote the use of appropriate interventions for disease prevention in the population. It also evaluates the value of the ongoing twice-daily tooth brushing campaign, which focuses on promoting good periodontal health and its relevance for children in Nigeria., Discussion: The main oral health burden for children in Nigeria is untreated dental caries, attributable to low utilization of oral health facilities. While there is a strong association between oral hygiene status and caries occurrence, no research had established an association between frequency of tooth brushing and caries in children in Nigeria. Prevalence of caries and gingivitis is low, despite the fact that a majority of children brush once a day and most of them have fair oral hygiene. Campaigns that promote twice daily brushing to prevent chronic periodontitis in children are not driven by evidences supporting the local epidemic, and therefore cannot be considered as efficient use of the limited resources available., Summary: Existing evidences show that the main oral health need of children in Nigeria is the management of untreated caries. Promoting the treatment of caries should be the primary focus of oral health programmes for children in Nigeria, as this would reduce further risks of developing new carious lesions. Public health campaigns should focus efforts at creating demand for oral health care services, for both preventive and curative purposes.

Background: Specialized drug shops (SDSs) are popular in Sub-Saharan Africa because they provide convenient access to medicines. There is increasing interest in how policymakers can work with them, but little knowledge on how their operation relates to regulatory frameworks. This study sought to describe characteristics and predictors of regulatory practices among SDSs in Kenya., Methods: The regulatory framework governing the Kenya pharmaceutical sector was mapped, and a list of regulations selected for inclusion in a survey questionnaire. An SDS census was conducted, and survey data collected from 213 SDSs from two districts in Western Kenya., Results: The majority of SDSs did not comply with regulations, with only 12% having a refrigerator and 22% having a separate dispensing area for instance. Additionally, less than half had at least one staff with pharmacy qualification (46%), with less than a third of all interviewed operators knowing the name of the law governing pharmacy.Regulatory infringement was more common among SDSs in rural locations; those that did not have staff with pharmacy qualifications; and those whose operator did not know the name of the pharmacy law. Compliance was not significantly associated with the frequency of inspections, with over 80% of both rural and urban SDSs reporting an inspection in the past year., Conclusion: While compliance was low overall, it was particularly poor among SDSs operating in rural locations, and those that did not have staff with pharmacy qualification. This suggested the need for policy to introduce levels of practice in recognition of the variations in resource availability. Under such a system, rural SDSs operating in low-resource setting, and selling a limited range of medicines, may be exempted from certain regulatory requirements, as long as their scope of practice is limited to certain essential services only. Future research should also explore why regulatory compliance is poor despite regular inspections.

The purpose of this position paper by the South African Academy of Family Physicians (SAAFPs) is to inform decision making on human resources for health policy in South Africa and the placement of family physicians (FPs) in the district health system. National policies have been marred by misunderstanding of the roles and contribution of FPs; and there is unhelpful variability in how FPs are positioned in the health services between provinces. In the private sector, medical aid schemes have discriminated against FPs by failing to remunerate them as specialists and to recognise their scope of practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In accordance with its mandate to provide guidance to Member States on health policy matters, WHO issues a series of regularly updated position papers on vaccines and combinations of vaccines [...]

Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) represent the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) most recent initiative for reducing the plight of the poor. This paper examines whether the PRSPs for Liberia, Afghanistan and Haiti follow World Bank guidance on health. The health data, analysis and strategy content of the three PRSPs are assessed with respect to the ‘Health, Nutrition and Population’ chapter of the World Bank’s PRSP Sourcebook. This guidance states that PRSPs should include: health data on the poor and a clear analysis showing the determinants of ill health and pro-poor health strategies. Unfortunately, none of the PRSPs analysed comply with the guidance and, consequently, do not adequately portray the health situation within their countries. Thus health is not given a high priority in the PRSP process and is seemingly low on the agenda of both poor country governments and the International Financial Institutions (IFIs). If the situation for the world’s poorest people is to improve, health and the right to health need to be promoted within PRSPs.

Introduction In accordance with its mandate to provide guidance to Member States on health policy matters, WHO issues a series of regularly updated position papers on vaccines and combinations of [...]

This paper provides a comprehensive summary of evidence to explore and position the role of serology testing in the context of coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) immunization and policy response in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region. The document builds on a review of academic literature and existing policies followed by a process of discussion, validation, and feedback by a group of six experts. Six countries and territories—Australia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Thailand, and Taiwan—were sampled to highlight the differing contexts and scenarios in the region. The review includes an overview of (1) the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, including the emergence of Variants of Concern (VOCs), especially Omicron, (2) the introduction of immunization, (3) the available testing options and potential use of serology testing, (4) the landscape of guidelines and recommendations for their use, and (5) the barriers and challenges to implementing serology testing as a tool to support COVID-19 immunization. Based on the findings, the co-authors propose a set of recommendations to resolve knowledge gaps, to include the use of serology testing as part of the policy response, and to ensure adequate means of implementation. This paper's target audience includes members of the academic community, medical societies, health providers and practitioners, and decision-makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has accelerated the adoption of telemedicine globally. The current consortium critically examines the telemedicine frameworks, identifies gaps in its implementation and investigates the changes in telemedicine framework/s during COVID-19 across the globe. Streamlining of global public health preparedness framework that is interoperable and allow for collaboration and sharing of resources, in which telemedicine is an integral part of the public health response during outbreaks such as COVID-19, should be pursued. With adequate reinforcement, telemedicine has the potential to act as the “safety-net” of our public health response to an outbreak. Our focus on telemedicine must shift to the developing and under-developing nations, which carry a disproportionate burden of vulnerable communities who are at risk due to COVID-19.

Older people are often affected by impaired organ and bodily functions resulting in multimorbidity and polypharmacy, turning them into the main user group of many medicines. Very often, medicines have not specifically been developed for older people, causing practical medication problems for them like limited availability of easy to swallow formulations, easy to open packaging and dosing instructions for enteral administration. In 2020, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) published a reflection paper 'Pharmaceutical development of medicines for use in the older population', which discusses how the emerging needs of an ageing European population can be addressed by medicines regulation. The paper intends to help industry to better consider the needs of older people during pharmaceutical/clinical medicines development by summarising data on the most relevant topics, providing early suggestions on how to move forward and prompting expert discussions and studies into knowledge gaps. Topics include patient acceptability, (dis)advantages of an administration route, formulation, dosage form, packaging, dosing device and user instruction. While the paper is directed at older people and the pharmaceutical industry, the reflections are also relevant to younger patients with similar disease‐related needs and of value to other stakeholders parties, e.g., healthcare professionals, academics, patients and caregivers, as the paper makes clear what can be expected from industry and where collaborative work is needed. This commentary provides an overview of the different steps in the development of the reflection paper, discusses points considered most controversial and/or subject to (multidisciplinary) expert discussions and indicates their value for real world clinical practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction In accordance with its mandate to provide guidance to Member States on health policy matters, WHO issues a series of regularly updated position papers on vaccines and vaccine combinations [...]

Background: Strategies for supporting evidence-informed health policy are a recognized but understudied area of policy dissemination and implementation science. Codesign describes a set of strategies potentially well suited to address the complexity presented by policy formation and implementation. We examine the health policy literature describing the use of codesign in initiatives intended to combine diverse sources of knowledge and evidence in policymaking., Methods: The search included PubMed, MEDLINE, PsychInfo, CINAHL, Web of Science, and Google Scholar in November 2022 and included papers published between 1996 and 2022. Terms included codesign, health, policy, and system terminology. Title and abstracts were reviewed in duplicate and included if efforts informed policy or system-level decision-making. Extracted data followed scoping review guidelines for location, evaluation method, health focus, codesign definition, description, level of health system user input, sectors involved, and reported benefits and challenges., Results: From 550 titles, 23 citations describing 32 policy codesign studies were included from multiple continents (Australia/New Zealand, 32%; UK/Europe, 32%; South America, 14%; Africa, 9%; USA/Canada 23%). Document type was primarily case study (77%). The area of health focus was widely distributed. Policy type was more commonly little p policy (47%), followed by big p policy (25%), and service innovations that included policy-enabled funding (25%). Models and frameworks originated from formal design (e.g., human-centered or participatory design (44%), political science (38%), or health service research (16%). Reported outcomes included community mobilization (50%), policy feasibility (41%), improved multisector alignment (31%), and introduction of novel ideas and critical thinking (47%). Studies engaging policy users in full decision-making roles self-reported higher levels of community mobilization and community needs than other types of engagement., Discussion: Policy codesign is theoretically promising and is gaining interest among diverse health sectors for addressing the complexity of policy formation and implementation. The maturity of the science is just emerging. We observed trends in the association of codesign strategies and outcomes that suggests a research agenda in this area could provide practical insights for tailoring policy codesign to respond to local contextual factors including values, needs, and resources., (© 2023. BioMed Central Ltd., part of Springer Nature.)

Intensive Care Units (ICU) are units where vital support with advanced technology is given to critically ill patients and multidisciplinary approaches are frequently applied. As we all see during the pandemic, the ICU beds are limited in number; therefore, appropriate use of ICU beds is very important to give the necessary treatment to patients on time while allocating the resources rationally and efficiently. Practices to be implemented for this purpose may cause conflicts between the patients, relatives of the patients, the society and the healthcare team. It is crucial to prevent these conflicts and to ensure that they are resolved properly when they arise. This policy paper prepared by Turkish Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infection (Klimik), Turkish Society of Intensive Care and Turkish Bioethics Association brings suggestions to physicians and healthcare administrators regarding the rational use of intensive care units. We presume that it will be effective as supported by the professional organizations and medical associations operating in our country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The regulation of health claims for foods by the Nutrition and Health Claims Regulation is intended, primarily, to protect consumers from unscrupulous claims by ensuring claims are accurate and substantiated with high quality scientific evidence. In this position paper, the Academy of Nutrition Sciences uniquely recognises the strengths of the transparent, rigorous scientific assessment by independent scientists of the evidence underpinning claims in Europe, an approach now independently adopted in UK. Further strengths are the separation of risk assessment from risk management, and the extensive guidance for those submitting claims. Nevertheless, four main challenges in assessing the scientific evidence and context remain: (i) defining a healthy population, (ii) undertaking efficacy trials for foods, (iii) developing clearly defined biomarkers for some trial outcomes and (iv) ensuring the composition of a food bearing a health claim is consistent with generally accepted nutrition principles. Although the Regulation aims to protect the consumer from harm, we identify some challenges from consumer research: (i) making the wording of some health claims more easily understood and (ii) understanding the implications of the misperceptions around products bearing nutrition or health claims. Recommendations are made to overcome these challenges. Further, the Academy recommends that a dialogue is developed with the relevant national bodies about Article 12(c) in the Regulation. This should further clarify the GB Guidance to avoid the current non-level playing field between health professionals and untrained 'influencers' who are not covered by this Article about the communication of authorised claims within commercial communications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite much progress in our understanding of uveal melanoma (UM) over the past decades, this rare tumour is still often misclassified. Although UM, like other melanomas, is very probably derived from melanocytes, it is drastically different from cutaneous melanoma and most other melanoma subtypes in terms of epidemiology, aetiology, biology and clinical features, including an intriguing metastatic hepatotropism. UM carries distinctive prognostic chromosome alterations, somatic mutations and gene expression profiles, allowing an active tailored surveillance strategy and dedicated adjuvant clinical trials. There is no standard systemic treatment for disseminated UM at present. In contrast to cutaneous melanoma, UMs are not BRAF-mutated, thus curtailing the use of B-Raf inhibitors. Although these tumours are characterised by some immune infiltrates, immune checkpoint inhibitors are rarely effective, possibly due to a low mutation burden. UM patients across the world not only face rare cancer-related issues (e.g., specific management strategies, access to information and to expert centres), but also specific UM problems, which can be exacerbated by the common misconception that it is a subtype of cutaneous melanoma. As a European Consortium dedicated to research on UM and awareness on the disease, “UM Cure 2020” participants urge medical oncologists, pharmaceutical companies, and regulatory agencies to acknowledge UM as a melanoma with specific issues, in order to accelerate the development of new therapies for patients.

The article is a call for papers in the Health Promotion & Chronic Disease Prevention in Canada journal. It focuses on the topic of natural experiments on built environments, health behaviors, and chronic diseases. The built environment, which includes structures, recreation facilities, transportation systems, and community design, has been linked to the development of chronic diseases and health behaviors. Natural experiments, which are interventions that occur without a researcher's manipulation, offer an opportunity to evaluate the effects of changes to the built environment on health behaviors and chronic disease risk. The special issue aims to provide evidence on the effectiveness of built environment interventions in a Canadian context. The journal is seeking research articles that present new findings or synthesize existing evidence on natural experiments and their impact on health behaviors and chronic disease prevention. The submission deadline is November 30, 2024. [Extracted from the article]

Objectives: The involvement of individuals and communities in health decision-making is enshrined in WHO policies. However, migrant groups are under-represented in health decision-making processes. Our aim was to explore migrants' involvement in health policy, service development and research in the WHO European Region to identify levers for inclusive and meaningful practice., Methods: We conducted a narrative review of grey literature and peer-reviewed research on migrants' involvement in health decision-making across the 53 countries in WHO Europe. We searched for articles published in English between 2010 and the present in two electronic databases (PubMed, Scopus), IOM MIPEX Health Strand country reports, the EU SOPHIE project and using a Google advanced search. Findings were analysed descriptively and using Normalisation Process Theory to investigate levers and barriers to implementation of policy into practice., Results: Of 1,444 articles retrieved, 79 met the inclusion criteria. We identified 20 policies promoting migrants' involvement, but national-level policies were present in only two countries. We identified 59 examples of migrants' involvement in practice from half of the WHO Europe countries (n = 27). Our Normalisation Process Theory (NPT) analysis of 14 peer-reviewed empirical papers found that participatory research approaches are a lever to putting policy into practice in a meaningful way., Conclusions: Migrants' involvement in health decision-making requires explicit national policies that are implemented evenly across policymaking, service provider and research activities in all countries in the WHO European Region. Participatory approaches to involvement activities are encouraged because they are a lever to perceived barriers to migrants' involvement., (© 2021 The Authors Tropical Medicine & International Health Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Background: Sharing experiences and learning from health measures taken during the outbreak of epidemics is a critical issue that affects the right and timely decisions in health crises. In the present study, an attempt has been made to review the health policies adopted against COVID-19 and extract critical points for resolving the epidemic crisis. Materials and Methods: This article was a comparative study. The study population comprised Canada, Japan, Germany, Korea, Turkey, and Iran. Ten effective indicators in the management of epidemics were extracted by reviewing the literature and interviewing disaster management experts, and the degree of conformity of the research community with them was examined. The study data were collected from articles published in scientific databases (Google Scholar, PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus search engines) or information from COVID-19 disease management organizations from official sites. The obtained data were processed and analyzed by matrix content analysis. Results: The results showed the importance of 10 effective indicators in the management of epidemics during the outbreak of COVID-19 studied and noticed by the health system of most countries. And the government, local and private organizations have participated in the implementation of the studied indicators according to the conditions of each country's health system. Therefore, the success rate of countries in managing COVID-19 disease varies according to the time, type, and manner of implementation and monitoring of measures. Conclusion: Speed of action in adopting health policies and integration in its implementation, construction of convalescence, adequate training and access to personal protective equipment, prevention of nosocomial contamination, and voluntary assistance are essential issues in the fight against epidemics. These measures should be considered and used as teachings in managing health crises, especially emerging diseases and pandemics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the ethics and science literature surrounding uterus transplantation (UTx), emphasis is often placed on the extent to which UTx might improve upon, or offer additional benefits when compared to, existing 'treatment options' for women with absolute uterine factor infertility, such as adoption and gestational surrogacy. Within this literature UTx is often positioned as superior to surrogacy because it can deliver things that surrogacy cannot (such as the experience of gestation). Yet, in addition to claims that UTx is superior in the aforementioned sense it is also often assumed (either implicitly or explicitly) that UTx is less fraught with ethical difficulties and thus should be considered a less morally problematic option. This article seeks to examine this assumption. Given that much UTx research has been performed in Sweden, a country where surrogacy is effectively although not currently explicitly forbidden, we do this through an analysis of the arguments underpinning a 2016 Swedish white paper which considered amending existing policy such that altruistic surrogacy arrangements would be permitted. By applying the white paper's arguments for a restrictive position on altruistic surrogacy to the case of UTx using living altruistic donors we find that such arguments, if they hold in the case of surrogacy, apply similarly to UTx. We thus suggest that, for reasons of consistency, a similar stance should be taken towards the moral and legal permissibility of these two practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What drives people towards tobacco use? What prevents people from doing physical exercise or adopting preventive measures during a pandemic? What increases the likelihood that someone will adhere to treatment [...]

Background: The ethical governance of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in health care and public health continues to be an urgent issue for attention in policy, research, and practice. In this paper we report on central themes related to challenges and strategies for promoting ethics in research involving AI in global health, arising from the Global Forum on Bioethics in Research (GFBR), held in Cape Town, South Africa in November 2022. Methods: The GFBR is an annual meeting organized by the World Health Organization and supported by the Wellcome Trust, the US National Institutes of Health, the UK Medical Research Council (MRC) and the South African MRC. The forum aims to bring together ethicists, researchers, policymakers, research ethics committee members and other actors to engage with challenges and opportunities specifically related to research ethics. In 2022 the focus of the GFBR was "Ethics of AI in Global Health Research". The forum consisted of 6 case study presentations, 16 governance presentations, and a series of small group and large group discussions. A total of 87 participants attended the forum from 31 countries around the world, representing disciplines of bioethics, AI, health policy, health professional practice, research funding, and bioinformatics. In this paper, we highlight central insights arising from GFBR 2022. Results: We describe the significance of four thematic insights arising from the forum: (1) Appropriateness of building AI, (2) Transferability of AI systems, (3) Accountability for AI decision-making and outcomes, and (4) Individual consent. We then describe eight recommendations for governance leaders to enhance the ethical governance of AI in global health research, addressing issues such as AI impact assessments, environmental values, and fair partnerships. Conclusions: The 2022 Global Forum on Bioethics in Research illustrated several innovations in ethical governance of AI for global health research, as well as several areas in need of urgent attention internationally. This summary is intended to inform international and domestic efforts to strengthen research ethics and support the evolution of governance leadership to meet the demands of AI in global health research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Governments globally deployed various non-pharmacological public health measures to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic (i.e. lockdowns and suspension of transportation, amongst others); some of these measures had an influence on society's mental health. Specific mental health policies were therefore implemented to mitigate the potential mental health impact of the pandemic. We aimed to explore the implementation of mental health regulations adopted by the Peruvian health system by focusing on the care services at Community Mental Health Centres (CMHCs), based on the experiences of health workers. We conducted a phenomenological qualitative study to understand the implementation of mental health policies launched in Peru during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data were obtained from a document review of 15 national policy measures implemented during the pandemic (March 2020 to September 2021), and 20 interviews with health workers from CMHCs (September 2021 to February 2022). The analysis was conducted using thematic content analysis. Most implemented policies adapted CMHC care services to a virtual modality during the COVID-19 pandemic; however, various challenges and barriers were evidenced in the process, which prevented effective adaptation of services. Workers perceived that ineffective telemedicine use was attributed to a gap in access to technology at the CMHCs and also by users, ranging from limited access to technological devices to a lack of technological skills. Further, although mental health promotion and prevention policies targeting the community were proposed, CMHC staff reported temporary interruption of these services during the first wave. The disparity between what is stated in the regulations and the experiences of health workers is evident. Policies that focus on mental health need to provide practical and flexible methods taking into consideration both the needs of CMHCs and socio-cultural characteristics that may affect their implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although cancer mortality rates declined in the United States in recent decades, some populations experienced little benefit from advances in cancer prevention, early detection, treatment, and survivorship care. In fact, some cancer disparities between populations of low and high socioeconomic status widened during this period. Many potentially preventable cancer deaths continue to occur, and disadvantaged populations bear a disproportionate burden. Reducing the burden of cancer and eliminating cancer-related disparities will require more focused and coordinated action across multiple sectors and in partnership with communities. This article, part of the American Cancer Society's Cancer Control Blueprint series, introduces a framework for understanding and addressing social determinants to advance cancer health equity and presents actionable recommendations for practice, research, and policy. The article aims to accelerate progress toward eliminating disparities in cancer and achieving health equity., (© 2019 American Cancer Society.)

Asthma often starts before six years of age. However, there remains uncertainty as to when and how a preschool-age child with symptoms suggestive of asthma can be diagnosed with this condition. This delays treatment and contributes to both short- and long-term morbidity. Members of the Canadian Thoracic Society Asthma Clinical Assembly partnered with the Canadian Paediatric Society to develop a joint working group with the mandate to develop a position paper on the diagnosis and management of asthma in preschoolers. In the absence of lung function tests, the diagnosis of asthma should be considered in children one to five years of age with frequent (≥8 days/month) asthma-like symptoms or recurrent (≥2) exacerbations (episodes with asthma-like signs). The diagnosis requires the objective document of signs or convincing parent-reported symptoms of airflow obstruction (improvement in these signs or symptoms with asthma therapy), and no clinical suspicion of an alternative diagnosis. The characteristic feature of airflow obstruction is wheezing, commonly accompanied by difficulty breathing and cough. Reversibility with asthma medications is defined as direct observation of improvement with short-acting ß2-agonists (SABA) (with or without oral corticosteroids) by a trained health care practitioner during an acute exacerbation (preferred method). However, in children with no wheezing (or other signs of airflow obstruction) on presentation, reversibility may be determined by convincing parental report of a symptomatic response to a three-month therapeutic trial of a medium dose of inhaled corticosteroids with as-needed SABA (alternative method), or as-needed SABA alone (weaker alternative method). The authors provide key messages regarding in whom to consider the diagnosis, terms to be abandoned, when to refer to an asthma specialist and the initial management strategy. Finally, dissemination plans and priority areas for research are identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The terms consensus, guideline and position paper are sometimes employed as if they were interchangeable, but the purpose of such documents and the robustness of advice vary as the evidence base does not have the same depth in each. The Board of the European Cystic Fibrosis Society deemed it to be helpful to provide a short commentary on the definition of these terms, on their interconnections and on how ECFS considers them in documents endorsed by the society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development and implementation of clinical decision support (CDS) that trains itself and adapts its algorithms based on new data-here referred to as Adaptive CDS-present unique challenges and considerations. Although Adaptive CDS represents an expected progression from earlier work, the activities needed to appropriately manage and support the establishment and evolution of Adaptive CDS require new, coordinated initiatives and oversight that do not currently exist. In this AMIA position paper, the authors describe current and emerging challenges to the safe use of Adaptive CDS and lay out recommendations for the effective management and monitoring of Adaptive CDS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This white paper explores the considerations of standards-based interoperability of medical images between organizations, patients, and providers. In this paper, we will look at three different standards-based image exchange implementations that have been deployed to facilitate exchange of images between provider organizations. The paper will describe how each implementation uses applicable technology and standards; the image types that are included; and the governance policies that define participation, access, and trust. Limitations of the solution or non-standard approaches to solve challenges will also be identified. Much can be learned from successes elsewhere, and those learnings will point to recommendations of best practices to facilitate the adoption of image exchange. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This systematic review was conducted to identify, evaluate and characterize the overall progress of health economics research conducted for Africa. Health economics studies carried out from 1991 to 2020 for Africa were retrieved from the EconLit database using relevant searching strategies. According to the methodology of Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis, qualified journal papers were included. Using bibliometrics, we ran a series of analyses on authorship, studied countries, affiliations, and countries of origin, journals, and research topics. A total of 2935 studies were screened, and 178 were included in this review. We observed that the determinants of illness is the most researched topics. The United States, World Bank, University of California Berkeley, are respectively the most influential countries, world organizations, and academic institutions in the field of health economics of Africa. HIV/AIDs is still the leading health issue in highly cited health economics studies in Africa. Health Policy and Planning is the most productive and academically influential journal, and Kenya is the most studied country by health economists among all African countries. African health systems are vulnerable compared to developed countries, as many of them are underfunded. The academic strength in Africa is much weaker than that of leading health economics counties. Even within the continent, the academic development and the attention it receives are uneven. More influential health economics studies of Africa should be published in addition to the disease focus of HIV/AIDS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article calls for papers on The Governance of Health Conference 2017 Historical & Contemporary Perspectives on Medical, Managerial and Economic Influence on Health Policy-Making, to be submitted by January 29, 2017.

Background: Social innovation is often used as a mechanism to jump-start public–private partnerships to leverage resources to achieve social impact; the analysis of sustainability and the impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) cannot be emphasized enough. Due to advances in the information and communication technology industry in Taiwan, this paper aims to explore whether these advancements drive CSR as a form of social innovation to meet health needs in Taiwan. Methodology: This paper uses a case study to look at CSR programs in the health sector in Taiwan. Corporations with diverse missions and different CSR approaches that are available on the internet are selected. The analysis of the case study takes a qualitative, exploratory approach to shed light on current initiatives. Results: The majority of CSR programs in Taiwan are private sector activities that emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic; current CSR activities in Taiwan are driven by awards, public relations, and external interests. Corporations in Taiwan have the potential to address the health care gaps of urban–rural health utilization among Taiwanese indigenous communities. It is recommended for corporations to (1) develop partnerships with public health experts or to (2) employ CSR personnel with health care backgrounds who can navigate the intersection between health, business, and policies to develop CSR strategies. Conclusions: Further evaluation of the projects mentioned in this paper to assess the direct and indirect impact on health outcomes could provide a more comprehensive understanding of the field of CSR in the health sector in Taiwan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Health policy and systems research (HPSR) can strengthen health systems and improve population health outcomes. In the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR), there is limited recognition of the importance of HPSR and funding remains the main challenge. This study seeks to: (1) assess the reporting of funding in HPSR papers published between 2010 and 2022 in the EMR, (2) examine the source of funding in the published HPSR papers in the EMR and (3) explore variables influencing funding sources, including any difference in funding sources for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-related articles. Methods: We conducted a rapid scoping review of HPSR papers published between 2010 and 2022 (inclusively) in the EMR, addressing the following areas: reporting of funding in HPSR papers, source of funding in the published HPSR papers, authors' affiliations and country of focus. We followed the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) guidelines for conducting scoping reviews. We also conducted univariate and bivariate analyses for all variables at 0.05 significance level. Results: Of 10,797 articles screened, 3408 were included (of which 9.3% were COVID-19-related). More than half of the included articles originated from three EMR countries: Iran (n = 1018, 29.9%), the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (n = 595, 17.5%) and Pakistan (n = 360, 10.6%). Approximately 30% of the included articles did not report any details on study funding. Among articles that reported funding (n = 1346, 39.5%), analysis of funding sources across all country income groups revealed that the most prominent source was national (55.4%), followed by international (41.7%) and lastly regional sources (3%). Among the national funding sources, universities accounted for 76.8%, while governments accounted for 14.9%. Further analysis of funding sources by country income group showed that, in low-income and lower-middle-income countries, all or the majority of funding came from international sources, while in high-income and upper-middle-income countries, national funding sources, mainly universities, were the primary sources of funding. The majority of funded articles' first authors were affiliated with academia/university, while a minority were affiliated with government, healthcare organizations or intergovernmental organizations. We identified the following characteristics to be significantly associated with the funding source: country income level, the focus of HPSR articles (within the EMR only, or extending beyond the EMR as part of international research consortia), and the first author's affiliation. Similar funding patterns were observed for COVID-19-related HPSR articles, with national funding sources (78.95%), mainly universities, comprising the main source of funding. In contrast, international funding sources decreased to 15.8%. Conclusion: This is the first study to address the reporting of funding and funding sources in published HPSR articles in the EMR. Approximately 30% of HPSR articles did not report on the funding source. Study findings revealed heavy reliance on universities and international funding sources with minimal role of national governments and regional entities in funding HPSR articles in the EMR. We provide implications for policy and practice to enhance the profile of HPSR in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we outline our qualitative protocol for the largest, independent, mixed-method, evaluation of the High Volume-Low Complexity Surgical Hubs programme in England – The MEASURE study. In addition to serving as a protocol paper, we outline the key methodological considerations and adaptations that are needed when designing big qualitative studies – complex (multi-site, multi-stakeholder), multi-method (e.g. interviews, observations, documents) qualitative research involving a large number of participations (n = 100+). This paper expands on our previous methodological work, where we used our experience of undertaking a big qualitative study as part of a mixed-method evaluation of a national emergency care-based initiative, to outline the methodological considerations and uncertainties for designing and analysing "big" qualitative studies. In this paper, we put these considerations into practice by providing a transparent account of our qualitative study design. The methodological reflections which we present are centred around the areas where we feel there is the most uncertainty for big qualitative research: study design, sampling (of case sites and stakeholders) and analysis. Underpinning this uncertainty are broader challenges which utilising this approach incite. Namely, that striving for both breadth (national-level insights) and depth (local variation and context), challenges paradigmatic norms and expectations and forces either methodological innovation, or the adaption of existing qualitative methods. We hope this paper provides transparency and insight into an area of qualitative research which has, potentially due to a perception of "safety in numbers" been inherently trusted and rarely scrutinised. Ultimately, we hope that by providing a transparent account of our study design and the challenges we have faced that we continue to encourage discussion and innovation in this evolving area of qualitative research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]