Applying to the United States the kind of scrutiny that Nobel–prize winning economist Amartya Sen has devoted to developing countries, The Health of Nations demonstrates that growing inequality is undermining health, welfare, and community life in America. Harvard professors Ichiro Kawachi and Bruce P. Kennedy review the social costs of inequality, revealing that the United States and other wealthy countries with high levels of social inequality have lower general health than do more equitable societies, rich or poor. The Health of Nations makes an urgent argument for social justice as the necessary vehicle for the betterment of society, including improving the health of our bodies and our body politic.
Useful Resources
The Health of Nations: Why Inequality is Harmful to your Health
Ichiro Kawachi, Bruce P Kennedy. New York: The New Press, 2002
WEB-BASED HIV/AIDS, TB AND MALARIA TOOL
The Global Health Initiative (GHI) of the World Economic Forum is developing a web-based networking tool, which is aimed at fostering new partnerships and greater private sector action against HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria. The GHI Networking Directory, available at http://www.weforum.org/globalhealth/directory , enables businesses and other users to easily identify useful contacts and potential partners in the battle against HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria. The directory lists NGOs working with the private sector, as well as companies that have existing programs or expertise to share. It also includes academic institutions and other organisations that provide technical assistance or advice. The target audience for this website is businesses and others wanting to start or improve programmes, usually in the workplace or in local communities. There are no fees involved with participating.
Further details: /newsletter/id/29491
AIDS epidemic update
The annual AIDS epidemic update reports on the latest developments in the global HIV/AIDS epidemic. With maps and regional summaries, the 2002 edition provides the most recent estimates of the epidemic's scope and human toll, explores new trends in the epidemic's evolution, and features a special section examining the links between HIV/ AIDS and humanitarian crises.
Delivering HIV treatment - discussion summary available
More than 120 individuals from many countries and diverse backgrounds joined this discussion list. The debate covered a broad range of topics, focusing particularly on: HIV treatment as a priority relative to other health and development issues; Strategies for delivering treatment in resource-poor settings; The role and operation of the new Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria; Stigma as a barrier to access. The discussion provided a unique opportunity for a variety of stakeholders to share their views and contribute to this important and topical debate. Hard copies of the report will be available soon. To request a copy, email Tom Barker: tomb@ids.ac.uk
Designing HIV/AIDS Intervention Studies
This Operations Research Handbook shows how to use operations research (OR) to design programmes that effectively combat HIV/AIDS. Written for programme administrators and researchers, the handbook draws on real-life lessons derived from projects implemented throughout the developing world.
Engendering International Health: The Challenge of Equity
Gita Sen, Asha George and Piroska Östlin (Eds)
Engendering International Health presents the work of leading researchers on gender equity in international health. Growing economic inequalities reinforce social injustices, stall health gains, and deny good health to many. In particular, deep-seated gender biases in health research and policy institutions combine with a lack of well-articulated and accessible evidence to downgrade the importance of gender perspectives in health.
Free Reproductive Health and Training Newsletter
JHPIEGO TrainerNews© is a free monthly e-mail newsletter with current reproductive health training news, contraceptive briefs, training tips, announcements about reproductive health and training-related programs and activities, and profiles on Internet and CD-ROM resources of interest to reproductive health trainers. The information is targeted to professionals working in low-resource settings.
Further details: /newsletter/id/29432
Intl. J. for Equity in Health 2002, 1:1, 22 April 2002
Macinko J.A. and Starfield B., \'Annotated bibliography on Equity in Health\'
The purposes of this bibliography are to present an overview of the published literature on equity in health and to summarize key articles relevant to the mission of the International Society for Equity in Health (ISEqH). The intent is to show the directions being taken in health equity research including theories, methods, and interventions to understand the genesis of inequities and their remediation. Therefore, the bibliography includes articles from the health equity literature that focus on mechanisms by which inequities in health arise and approaches to reducing them where and when they exist.
local creation and adaption of health information
Earlier this year, 'HIF-net at WHO' subscribers contributed ideas and perspectives around the theme of 'Local creation and adaptation of health information'. This took the form of a vibrant discussion on 'HIF-net at WHO'. Along with other material, the content of this discussion is helping to inform the G8 DOTS Force, a high-level international body 'addressing the global digital divide'. In addition, 'HIF-net at WHO' subscribers and others worldwide contributed more than 30 detailed case stories on health information, which were collated by INASP. These are now available in full at the URL provided.
Source - A Health Resource Centre
Source is a unique resource centre, designed to meet the information needs of those working in health, disability and development worldwide. Source is an innovative collaboration between an academic institution, the Centre for International Child Health (at the Institute of Child Health, UCL), and two international NGOs, Healthlink Worldwide (formerly AHRTAG) and Handicap International UK. Source is aimed at health workers, researchers, rehabilitation workers, non-governmental and governmental organisations and disabled peoples' organisations worldwide and has a unique collection of over 20,000 health and disability related information resources.
Further details: /newsletter/id/29452