Publications about economics

World Health Report 2008

14 Oct 2008 | The 2008 World Health Report, 'Primary Health Care – Now More Than Ever’, suggests the steering of health systems towards better performance through a return to primary health care, a holistic approach to health formally launched 30 years ago at the Alma-Ata International Conference on Primary Health Care.

The growing cost of obesity: three years on

22 Aug 2008 | In 2006, Access Economics released a report for Diabetes Australia, which was quite conservative in its projections of obesity prevalence and estimates of attributable fractions for conditions associated with obesity. This current report seeks to use new data that have become available subsequently to update the estimates.

Economic incentives for long-term health gain

01 Aug 2008 | This article, written for Health England by Julian Le Grand and Divya Srivastava, reviews economic incentive schemes and considers the potential role of agencies involved in policy that directly or indirectly affect health. The authors apply five criteria to help identify the relative strengths and weaknesses of different schemes: their effectiveness, their cost relative to effectiveness, their impact on equity, their feasibility and their impact on individual and local autonomy.

Cycling: getting Australia moving | 3.1 MB

04 Jun 2008 | Report by the Cycling Promotion Fund states that cycling – to work or for leisure – saves the health industry an estimated Aus $227.2 million a year. Cycling to work in Australia is on the rise, up from 50,648 in 2001 to 62,032 in 2006 – but only 20% of these are women, and the numbers are still low because of poor infrastructure and safety concerns.

Eldis web resource on chronic disease

05 May 2008 | This link is to the section on chronic disease on the Eldis website (a development policy, practice and research knowledge centre). The content was commissioned from the Oxford Health Alliance.

Diabetes Voice - Special Issue

01 May 2008 | This special issue of Diabetes Voice deals with many aspects of chronic disease management, including articles on: 'Chronic diseases: a growing problem in developing countries' (Rachel Nugent); 'Developing a global framework to address non-communicable diseases' (Roger Magnusson); 'The economics of chronic disease: the case for government intervention' (David Stuckler)

Low income groups and behaviour change

26 Mar 2008 | 'Low-income Groups and Behaviour Change Interventions: A review of intervention content and effectiveness' is the second paper in a series by the King's Fund, Kicking Bad Habits, on how people can be encouraged to adopt healthy behaviour. It looks at which interventions targeted at low-income groups are effective in getting people to quit smoking, eat healthily and exercise.

An economic framework

25 Mar 2008 | This OECD report, 'The Prevention of Lifestyle-Related Chronic Diseases: An Economic Framework' (Health Working Paper No. 32), by Franco Sassi and Jeremy Hurst, provides an economic perspective on the prevention of chronic diseases, focusing in particular on diseases linked to lifestyle choices.

Urban health and healthy weights | 1.6 MB

18 Mar 2008 | The 'State of the Evidence Review on Urban Health and Healthy Weights' brings together findings of hundreds of population health studies, highlighting aspects of the urban environment that affect our ability to maintain a healthy weight. Its main message is that 'evidence exists for associations between aspects of the urban environment and behaviours contributing to obesity.' It is written by the Canadian Population Health Initiative.

Matthews presentation summit 08 | 1.3 MB

26 Feb 2008 | Presentation (pdf) given by David Matthews at the OxHA Summit '08: 'What constitutes a best buy in chronic disease prevention'

The law and chronic disease prevention

21 Jan 2008 | 'The law and chronic disease prevention: possibilities and politics', by Roger S Magnusson and Ruth Colagiuri, appeared in MJA 2008; 188 (2): 104-105. It notes that, while legislation has the potential to reduce chronic disease, political will and leadership are essential.

Public health. Implementation science

14 Dec 2007 | This (restricted access) article is by T. Madon, K.J. Hofman, L. Kupfer and R.I. Glass and appeared in 'Science' 14 December 2007 (pp. 1728-1729). It explains that researchers and funders need to use systems approaches that are beginning to translate research not only to the bedside but also to global health programmes.

Prevention and the Indian economy

12 Sep 2007 | 'Impact of preventive health care on Indian industry and economy' is a Working Paper written for the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations. The authors examine the empirical evidence on the relationship between preventive health care and labour productivity and corporate profitability. It aims to generate awareness on the positive role of preventive health care in boosting the corporate sector’s performance and improving the country’s economy. The report also offers recommendations for policymakers and corporate management to promote preventive healthcare practice among employees.

Chronic diseases in Africa | 985.8 kB

30 Jun 2007 | Presentation by Dr Louazani, 'The burden of chronic diseases in the African region', given at the WDF Diabetes Summit Africa in June 2007.

Health and economic challenge of diabetes | 7.4 MB

30 Jun 2007 | Presentation by Dr. Paul Zimmet, 'The Global Health And Economic Challenge Posed By Diabetes & Associated Disorders', at the WDF Diabetes Summit Africa in June 2007.

Health in Germany | 271.6 kB

01 May 2007 | 'The economic benefits of health and prevention in a high-income country: the example of Germany' (Suhrcke et al.) addresses the economic benefits of health promotion - complementing the existing literature on the economic costs of health care. Germany is the main point of reference, but the findings are likely to apply to many European countries.

Economics of NCDs in Russia | 421.5 kB

01 Apr 2007 | This report, 'Economic consequences of non-communicable diseases and injuries in the Russian Federation', is written by Marc Suhrcke, Lorenzo Rocco, Martin McKee et al., and published by the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies. Its unambiguous finding is that poor adult health negatively affects economic wellbeing at the individual and household level, and improving health would help to sustain high economic growth.

Societal costs of preventable illnesses

31 Dec 2006 | Societal costs of illnesses This report, ‘The societal costs of potentially preventable illnesses: a rapid review’, was written for the National Social Marketing Centre in the UK. ‘The review suggested that the total cost implications for society are considerably greater than indicated by most previous studies, which have focused on specific measurable aspects of outcomes and detailed financial costs.’ It looks at the costs of alcohol misuse, smoking, obesity, CVD, lung cancer, HIV/AIDS and mental health.

Social determinants of health

07 Dec 2006 | This paper, 'Economic Arguments for Action on the Social Determinants of Health', is by the Director of the Family Network at the Canadian Policy Research Network, David Hay.

Chronic disease: an economic perspective | 2.0 MB

08 Nov 2006 | This report, written by Marc Suhrcke, Rachel A. Nugent, David Stuckler and Lorenzo Rocco for OxHA, demonstrates that chronic diseases – heart and lung disease, cancer and diabetes – are having a negative economic impact on both the developed and developing world and should thus be adequately addressed by domestic and international policy makers.