Fuel Poverty and Health: A Shared Agenda for Policy

Political Impetus: Towards a Successful Agenda-Setting for Inclusive Health Policies in Low- and Middle-Income Countries; Comment on “Shaping the Health Policy Agenda: The Case of Safe Motherhood Policy in Vietnam”

Agenda-setting is a crucial step for inclusive health policies in the low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Enlightened by Ha et al manuscript, this commentary paper argues that ‘political impetus’ is the key to the successful agenda-setting of health policies in LMICs, though other determinants may also play the role during the process. This Vietnamese case study presents a good example fo...

Health policy and its impact on poverty.

Poverty may be defined narrowly as a lack of income, but is more usefully viewed as a multidimensional concept. I discuss some associations between poverty and health, identify groups with special needs, and describe some aspects of the government's health policy which are relevant to those needs. Finally, I note the importance of ensuring there is a more integrated approach in future.

Policy Briefing The impact of Fuel Poverty on Children

A Third Way for Health Policy?

Economics has hit the mainstream in the last decade with popular books like Freakonomics and The Undercover Economist reaching the masses. These authors have used their toolkits far beyond the narrow scope of money and finance and answered questions pertaining to anything from social policy to demographics to crime. Their appeal has largely been their ability to explain that small underlying fo...

Shaping the Health Policy Agenda: The Case of Safe Motherhood Policy in Vietnam

Background Maternal health remains a central policy concern in Vietnam. With a commitment to achieving the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 5 target of maternal mortality rate (MMR) of 70/100 000 by 2015, the Ministry of Health (MoH) issued the National Plan for Safe Motherhood (NPSM) 2003-2010. In 2008, reproductive health, including safe motherhood (SM) became a national health target progra...