Publications about government action

Kicking bad habits: final report

08 Dec 2008 | This link is to the final report of the Kings Fund (UK) 'Kicking bad habits' project, entitled 'Commissioning and behaviour change' (written by Tammy Boyce, Ruth Robertson and Anna Dixon). Drawing on a series of working papers and seminars held in the first half of 2008, it assesses existing and innovative methods the health service can use to persuade people to live more healthy lifestyles, including providing information and personal support and offering financial incentives.

Improving health and work | 1.8 MB

25 Nov 2008 | Subtitled 'Changing lives - the government's response to Dame Carol Black's Review of the health of Britain's working-age population', this document is a comprehensive response, including commitments to develop a 'fit note' (rather than 'sick note') approach to absence, to help companies by working on tools to measure the costs of absence, and 'funding to deliver innovative health and well-being measures in the workplace'.

Canadian best practices portal

12 Nov 2008 | The 'Canadian best practices portal for health promotion and chronic disease prevention', of the Public Health Agency of Canada, is a new web resource to: facilitate knowledge exchange about best practices among decision-makers in research, policy development and practice; build consensus about best practices approaches; provide a centralised access point for best practices approaches; coordinate activities that increase their uptake and utilisation; and enhance the evaluation of effective interventions at community and population levels.

Lancet: issue on health equity

08 Nov 2008 | The 8 November issue of The Lancet (vol. 372, no. 9650, pp. 1607+) focuses in particular on the global movement to address the social determinants of health that is gathering pace. The Lancet contributes to this campaign by publishing evidence that can help to reduce health inequalities within and between countries [registration required.] The issue was timed to coincide with the Commission on Social Determinants of Health conference in London (see http://www.csdhconference.org/).

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.

Beyond 'Smoking kills' | 4.8 MB

07 Oct 2008 | This report, subtitled 'Protecting children, reducing inequalities', is published by Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), in collaboration with the British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK and endorsed by over 100 health and welfare organisations. It calls on the UK government to introduce a comprehensive tobacco control strategy which could help a further 4.5 million smokers to quit by 2015 by: a) requiring plain packaging for all tobacco products (research in the report shows that young people are between 3 and 4 times less likely to pick a plain pack as a branded one if they were trying smoking for the first time); b) prohibiting the display of tobacco products in shops; c) clamping down on smuggling; and d) giving smokers access to safer non-tobacco alternatives to smoking

Toolkit for developing local strategies (UK)

07 Oct 2008 | Entitled 'Healthy Weight, Healthy Lives: A toolkit for developing local strategies', this sizeable (5MB) pdf is 'a toolkit is to help [UK] PCTs and Local Authorities plan, coordinate and implement comprehensive strategies to prevent and manage overweight and obesity. It provides information and tools including useful statistics, practical initiatives, evidence of effectiveness, checklists, frameworks and examples of good practice.'

Regulation and public health?

02 Oct 2008 | Published in the BMJ's 'Head to Head' section, this article by Stig Pramming of OxHA argues 'Should we use regulation to demand improved public health outcomes from industry? - No'. Stephen Sugarman (in favour) argues that setting targets for companies will produce innovative solutions, but Stig Pramming believes collaboration is the best way to improve health.

Design for play

30 Sep 2008 | This UK document, 'Design for play: a guide for creating successful play spaces', is intended primarily for commissioners and designers of children’s play areas, to support good practice in the development and improvement of public play space. It presents guiding principles, suggested approaches and aims to inspire innovative and creative ideas.

NICE guidance on premature death

23 Sep 2008 | This document from NICE provides new public health guidance on reducing the rate of premature deaths from CVD and other smoking-related diseases. It is is 'designed to help tackle health inequalities by making recommendations about the best ways to identify and support those most at risk and improve access to services'. It is' intended to complement existing initiatives and wider health promoting policies aimed at reducing health inequalities', and 'has been developed specifically for smoking cessation services and the provision of statins'.

Health for all?

15 Sep 2008 | 'Health for all? A critical analysis of public health policies in eight European countries' is published by the Swedish National Institute of Public Health, and looks at the public health policies of Denmark, Finland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom, with particular emphasis on health equity.

Best practices 'portal' (Canada)

15 Sep 2008 | The Canadian Best Practices Portal for Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention is a central component of the Canadian Best Practices System, that will ultimately: (1) Facilitate knowledge exchange about best practices among decision-makers in research, policy development and practice (2) Build consensus about best practices approaches (3) Provide a centralised access point for best practices approaches (4) Coordinate activities that increase their uptake and utilization (5) Enhance the evaluation of effective interventions at community and population levels

Change4Life

10 Sep 2008 | The Change4Life initiative is a government scheme to bring together multiple stakeholders to help to 'change the lives of families in England by improving their diet, exercise and attitude to good health'. It is a national movement, launched in autumn 2008 before a major publicity campaign starts in January 2009.

Ireland: Tackling health inequalities

28 Aug 2008 | This report, 'Tackling health inequalities. An All-Ireland approach to social determinants', by the Institute of Public Health in Ireland and Combat Poverty Agency, highlights the extent to which health outcomes are influenced by social factors, such as poor housing, nutrition and education, and explains the higher level of ill-health found among poor and socially excluded groups in Ireland

Health systems of China and India

10 Jul 2008 | This paper, 'Comparison of the Health Systems in China and India' by Sai Ma and Neeraj Sood for RAND, notes that the health status of residents of China and India still lags behind relative to other populations, and the health gains in each country have been uneven across subpopulations. 'This paper compares the health systems of China and India to determine what approaches to improving health in these two countries do and do not work. In particular, the authors compare the health systems in China and India along three dimensions: policy levers, intermediate outcomes, and ultimate ends.'

Ambitions for health | 461.2 kB

09 Jul 2008 | 'Ambitions for Health – a strategic framework for maximising the potential of social marketing and health-related behaviour' is a document published by the Department of Health (UK) that sets out a new action plan to provide a clear steer on next steps for social marketing, building on the increasing appetite for its wider adoption throughout public health delivery systems. It sets out a strategic framework for a plan to work together with key leaders in the public health community to embed social marketing principles into health improvement programmes, and illustrates the practical tools being developed to build social marketing competencies and capacity in England.

Obesity: should there be a law against it?

25 Jun 2008 | This series of open-access articles draws on an Australia and New Zealand Health Policy conference in 2006. It includes contributions from Boyd Swinburn and Roger Magnusson (who also edited the series).

Health inequalities: progress and next steps

09 Jun 2008 | This document outlines the UK government’s approach to hit its 2010 health inequalities Public Service Agreement targets, assessing what has and has not worked, and setting the direction of travel beyond 2010. The partial equality impact assessment sets out some of the current health inequalities and potential interventions to reduce and eliminate these inequalities.

Our cities, our health, our future

31 May 2008 | Subtitled ‘Acting on social determinants for health equity in urban settings’, this final report to the WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health from the Knowledge Network on Urban Settings suggests that ‘failure to eliminate the intolerable living conditions among the poor in the world’s cities, at a time when immense financial and technical resources are available globally, suggests a deplorable disregard for the principle of health as a human right by decisionmakers in the global community.’ It includes photos, case studies and charts. (Please note that the pdf is over 4 MB.)

Social determinants of health: primer to action

30 May 2008 | This document, published by the Ontario Chronic Disease Prevention Alliance, explores ways in which social determinants of health affect chronic disease, including income, employment, housing, food security, education, and inclusion, and what can be done about it.