British Columbia capital regional district 100% smokefree bylaw: a successful public health campaign despite industry opposition.

Time to Shift from Systems Thinking-Talking to Systems Thinking-Action; Comment on “Constraints to Applying Systems Thinking Concepts in Health Systems: A Regional Perspective from Surveying Stakeholders in Eastern Mediterranean Countries”

A recent International Journal of Health Policy and Management (IJHPM) article by Fadi El-Jardali and colleagues makes an important contribution to the literature on health system strengthening by reporting on a survey of healthcare stakeholders in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs) about Systems Thinking (ST). The study’s main contributions are its confirmation that healthcare stakeholde...

Ebola Treatment and Prevention are not the only Battles: Understanding Ebola-related Fear and Stigma

Zoned Out: "NIMBYism", addiction services and municipal governance in British Columbia.

In Canada, Provincial Governments have jurisdiction over delivery of healthcare including harm reduction services and Methadone Maintenance Therapy (MMT). While policy directives and funding come from the provincial capital, individuals' access to these services happens in neighbourhoods and municipalities spread out across the province. In some cases, public health objectives targeted at peopl...

Support for a smoke-free bylaw in parks and on beaches.

BACKGROUND In September 2010, Vancouver, Canada enacted a smoke-free bylaw in parks and on beaches. OBJECTIVE To examine demographic and attitudinal factors associated with the public opinion on Vancouver's outdoor smoke-free bylaw. METHODS From 496 randomly selected Vancouver residents, information on demographics, smoking status, and opinions and support for or opposition to the smoke-fre...

Print media coverage of California's smokefree bar law.

OBJECTIVE To assess the print media coverage of California's smokefree bar law in the state of California. DESIGN Content analysis of newspaper, trade journal, and magazine items. SUBJECTS Items regarding the smokefree bar law published seven months before and one year following the implementation of the smokefree bar law (June 1997 to December 1998). Items consisted of news articles (n = 4...