Home About us Contact
|
Home About us Contact | ||
|
|
||
Health Crisis (health + crisis)
Kinds of Health Crisis Selected AbstractsPatents and Pharmaceutical R&D: Consolidating Private,Public Partnership Approach to Global Public Health CrisesTHE JOURNAL OF WORLD INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, Issue 4 2010Chidi Oguamanam Intellectual property (IP) is a reward and incentive market-driven mechanism for fostering innovation and creativity. The underlying, but disputed, assumption to this logic is that without IP, the wheel of innovation and inventiveness may grind to a halt or spin at a lower and unhelpful pace. This conventional justification of IP enjoys, perhaps, greater empirical credibility with the patent regime than with other regimes. Despite the inconclusive role of patents as a stimulant for research and development (R&D), special exception is given to patent's positive impact on innovation and inventiveness in the pharmaceutical sector. This article focuses on that sector and links the palpable disconnect between the current pharmaceutical R&D agenda and global public health crises, especially access to drugs for needy populations, to a flaw in the reward and incentive theory of the patent system. It proposes a creative access model to the benefits of pharmaceutical research by pointing in the direction of a global treaty to empower and institutionalize private,public partnerships in health care provisions. Such a regime would restore balance in the global IP system that presently undermines the public-regarding considerations in IP jurisprudence. [source] Doctors, Borders, and Life in CrisisCULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY, Issue 3 2005Peter Redfield The politics of life and death is explored from the perspective of Doctors Without Borders (Médecins sans frontières [MSF]), an activist nongovernmental organization explicitly founded to respond to health crises on a global scale. Following the work of Michel Foucault and Giorgio Agamben, I underline key intersections between MSF's operations that express concern for human life in the midst of humanitarian disaster and the group's self-proclaimed ethic of engaged refusal. Adopting the analytic frame of biopolitics, I suggest that the actual practice of medical humanitarian organizations in crisis settings presents a fragmentary and uncertain form of such power, extended beyond stable sovereignty and deployed within a restricted temporal horizon. [source] Mental Health First Aid: an international programme for early interventionEARLY INTERVENTION IN PSYCHIATRY, Issue 1 2008Betty A. Kitchener Abtract Aim: To describe the development of the Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) programme in Australia, its roll-out in other countries and evaluation studies which have been carried out. Methods: A description of the programme's development and evaluation, its cultural adaptations and its dissemination in seven countries. Results: The programme was developed in Australia in 2001. By the end of 2007, there were 600 instructors and 55 000 people trained as mental health first aiders. A number of evaluations have been carried out, including two randomized controlled trials that showed changes in knowledge, attitudes and first aid behaviours. Special adaptations of the course have been rolled out for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and some non-English speaking immigrant groups. The course has spread to seven other countries with varying degrees of penetration. In all countries, the programme has been initially supported by government funding. Independent evaluations have been carried out in Scotland and Ireland. Conclusions: The concept of first aid by the public for physical health crises is familiar in many countries. This has made it relatively easy to extend this approach to early intervention by members of the public for mental disorders and crises. Through MHFA training, the whole of a community can assist formal mental health services in early intervention for mental disorders. [source] Predictors of the International HIV,AIDS INGO Network Over TimeHUMAN COMMUNICATION RESEARCH, Issue 4 2005Michelle Shumate The HIV,AIDS epidemic is one of the most challenging and significant health crises facing the world today. In order to cope with its complexities, the United Nations and World Health Organization have increasingly relied upon the resources offered by networks of HIV,AIDS nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). The research reported here uses evolutionary theory to predict the patterns of alliances and collaborations within the HIV,AIDS International Nongovernmental Organizations (INGO) network. The hypotheses are tested using 8 years of data from the Yearbook of International Organizations. The results showed that geographic proximity and common ties with intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) predict the pattern of alliances among HIV,AIDS INGOs. The best predictor of such alliances, however, is past relationships among these organizations. [source] Patents and Pharmaceutical R&D: Consolidating Private,Public Partnership Approach to Global Public Health CrisesTHE JOURNAL OF WORLD INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, Issue 4 2010Chidi Oguamanam Intellectual property (IP) is a reward and incentive market-driven mechanism for fostering innovation and creativity. The underlying, but disputed, assumption to this logic is that without IP, the wheel of innovation and inventiveness may grind to a halt or spin at a lower and unhelpful pace. This conventional justification of IP enjoys, perhaps, greater empirical credibility with the patent regime than with other regimes. Despite the inconclusive role of patents as a stimulant for research and development (R&D), special exception is given to patent's positive impact on innovation and inventiveness in the pharmaceutical sector. This article focuses on that sector and links the palpable disconnect between the current pharmaceutical R&D agenda and global public health crises, especially access to drugs for needy populations, to a flaw in the reward and incentive theory of the patent system. It proposes a creative access model to the benefits of pharmaceutical research by pointing in the direction of a global treaty to empower and institutionalize private,public partnerships in health care provisions. Such a regime would restore balance in the global IP system that presently undermines the public-regarding considerations in IP jurisprudence. [source] Prisons and the tuberculosis epidemic in RussiaJOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, Issue 5 2003A. J. Mercer A resurgence of tuberculosis (TB) occurred in Russia in the 1990s, in a period of general health crisis following the break-up of the Soviet Union. Inter-related increases in poverty, unemployment and unhealthy lifestyle probably contributed to increased incidence and mortality from TB among the civilian population. The number of prisoners increased dramatically in the 1990s and many come from socially marginalized groups at high risk of TB. There is a high prevalence of TB in prisons in Russia, with inadequate TB control measures, overcrowding and poor nutrition contributing to the problem. Many prisoners are released before completion of treatment, often into a social milieu that fosters transmission of TB. Prisoners and ex-prisoners account for a very high proportion of TB cases in Russia and without adequate treatment for them the epidemic is unlikely to be brought under control. © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Mental health crisis and respite services: service user and carer aspirationsJOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRIC & MENTAL HEALTH NURSING, Issue 5 2009C. LYONS phd msc pg cert rnt dpsn rmn teacher's cert There is emerging evidence that crisis resolution services can provide alternatives to hospital admission, reducing demand on inpatient beds. Following a public consultation exercise in Lancashire (England), a team of nurses undertook a study, using interactive research methodology, to gain an understanding of how users and carers define a crisis and what range of crisis services, resources and interventions service users and carers thought would help avoid unnecessary hospital admission. Data collection comprised postal questionnaires and 24 group meetings with service users and carers, which were held during 2006. Data were analysed, and seven themes were identified: (1) definitions of a crisis; (2) access to services; (3) interventions; (4) range of services required (before, during and after crisis); (5) place of treatment; (6) recovery and rehabilitation; and (7) community support. We conclude that expressed preferences of service users and carers for pre-emptive services that are delivered flexibly will present a challenge for service commissioners and providers, particularly where stringent access criteria are used. Home-based pre-emptive services that reduce the need for unnecessary hospital treatment may avoid progression to social exclusion of service users. [source] Mental health crisis at home: service user perspectives on what helps and what hindersJOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRIC & MENTAL HEALTH NURSING, Issue 3 2007C. HOPKINS rmn msc ma This paper presents data which emerged during the process of a participatory research study to identify the perspectives of previous users of a home treatment service. Feedback was sought in order to establish the criteria for the development of a service evaluation questionnaire. Seven themes emerged from the data which were then used as a framework for the evaluation questionnaire. These themes have also been used within this paper to present what our participants told us was important to them when they received a service at home at a time of mental health crisis. Although what is described here is the experience of one group of service users in the North of England, we hope that the views of these participants will create a resonance with providers of other home treatment services and expand the knowledge about which aspects of care at home during mental health crisis are viewed as helpful and those aspects which are not. [source] In Defense of Asbestos Tort Litigation: Rethinking Legal Process Analysis in a World of Uncertainty, Second Bests, and Shared Policy-Making ResponsibilityLAW & SOCIAL INQUIRY, Issue 1 2009Jeb Barnes A central question in American policy making is when should courts address complex policy issues, as opposed to defer to other forums? Legal process analysis offers a standard answer. It holds that judges should act when adjudication offers advantages over other modes of social ordering such as contracts, legislation, or agency rule making. From this vantage, the decision to use common law adjudication to address a sprawling public health crisis was a terrible mistake, as asbestos litigation has come to represent the very worst of mass tort litigation. This article questions this view, arguing that legal process analysis distorts the institutional choices underlying the American policy-making process. Indeed, once one considers informational and political constraints, as well as how the branches of government can fruitfully share policy-making functions, the asbestos litigation seems a reasonable and, in some ways, exemplary, use of judicial power. [source] Individual differences in the drive to overeatNUTRITION BULLETIN, Issue 2007M. M. Hetherington Summary, Obesity is considered a public health crisis. In order to tackle this, an enhanced appreciation of what drives some consumers to overeat is required. It is clear that several features of the modern environment encourage over-consumption in many people, at least some of the time. However, there is variation in the extent to which this translates into weight gain. Understanding whether susceptibility is dispositional or learned will shape prevention and treatment programmes. This review identifies situational cues that promote overeating and dispositional traits, such as impulsivity and sensitivity to reward, which make some individuals specifically vulnerable to overeating. These traits are likely to contribute to the development of the obese state, but also present barriers to weight management. Personalised nutrition and behavioural strategies may provide a novel and innovative approach, as these take account of individual differences in vulnerability to overeating. [source] "Do You Have Anything to Add?"ANTHROPOLOGY & HUMANISM, Issue 1 2000Commentary on the Social Experience of Mental Illness, Narrative as Reflection This article argues that a phenomenological study of mental illness constructed from first-person subjective narratives can make a substantial contribution to our understanding of illness in terms of ordinary human experience. I suggest that the social experience of mental illness is primarily one of alienation and that this is both an internal and externally imposed experience. I conclude by proposing that the anthropological perspective,seeing the person within his or her wider cultural context, including both spatial and temporal dimensions,has the potential to generate new insights into how we might mitigate the alienating and depersonalizing effects of the mental illness experience. On another level, this article represents my attempt, as a mother, to come to terms with a mental health crisis within my own family. [source] Policy on global warming: fiddling while the globe burns?AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH, Issue 4 2009Del Weston Abstract Objective: To assess the extent that the health consequences of global warming and the responses to it take due account of its impact on poverty and inequality. Method: Reviewing the relevant literature on global warming, proposed solutions and the impact. Results: To date, too little attention has been paid to the health consequences arising from the increased poverty and inequality that global warming will bring. When these are combined with issues arising from the economic melt-down, food shortages, peak oil, etc. we are heading for a global public health crisis of immeasurable magnitude. Conclusion: Solutions lie in rethinking the global economic system that we have relied upon over the past several decades and the global institutions that have led and fed off that global system , the IMF, the World Bank and so on. Implications: Public health practitioners need to look and act globally more often. They need to better recognise the links between global warming and the global financial crisis. How the latter is dealt with will determine whether the former can be resolved. It is in this global political economy arena that future action in public health lies. [source] | ||||||||||||||||