Making theory from knowledge syntheses useful for public health

From Theory to Practice in Public Health

Making trade work for public health.

Recent trade disagreements over hormone treated beef, genetically modified foods, and antiretroviral drugs have captured the public interest and revealed the tensions between national public health policies and the need to comply with trade agreements overseen by the World Trade Organisation. A new round of global trade negotiations will be on the agenda next month at the World Trade Organisati...

Field exercises are useful for improving public health emergency responses.

PROBLEM Emergencies resulting from disease outbreaks and extreme environmental events present significant challenges for health services. CONTEXT Preparing to effectively manage emergencies is a core activity in public health units. Field exercises support consolidation of biopreparedness by testing plans, identifying weaknesses, providing training opportunities and developing surge capacity....

Scientific Knowledge, Controversy, and Public Decision-Making

Making Invasion Models Useful for Decision Makers: Incorporating Uncertainty, Knowledge Gaps and Decision- making Preferences

Uncertainty is inherent in model-based forecasts of ecological invasions. In this chapter, we explore how the perceptions of that uncertainty can be incorporated into the pest risk assessment process. Uncertainty changes a decision maker’s perceptions of risk; therefore, the direct incorporation of uncertainty may provide a more appropriate depiction of risk. Our methodology borrows basic conce...