Alcohol taxation policy in Australia: public health imperatives for action.

“First, Do No Harm”: Have the Health Impacts of Government Bills on Tax Legislation Been Assessed in Finland?

As taxation is one of the key public policy domains influencing population health, and as there is a legal, strategic, and programmatic basis for health impact assessment (HIA) in Finland, we analyzed all 235 government bills on tax legislation over the years 2007–2014 to see whether the health impacts of the tax bills had been assessed. We found that health impacts had been assessed for 13 bil...

What should be done about policy on alcohol pricing and promotions? Australian experts’ views of policy priorities: a qualitative interview study

BACKGROUND Alcohol policy priorities in Australia have been set by the National Preventative Health Task Force, yet significant reform has not occurred. News media coverage of these priorities has not reported public health experts as in agreement and Government has not acted upon the legislative recommendations made. We investigate policy experts' views on alcohol policy priorities with a view...

What Can Policy-Makers Get Out of Systems Thinking? Policy Partners’ Experiences of a Systems-Focused Research Collaboration in Preventive Health

Background There is increasing interest in using systems thinking to tackle ‘wicked’ policy problems in preventive health, but this can be challenging for policy-makers because the literature is amorphous and often highly theoretical. Little is known about how best to support health policy-makers to gain skills in understanding and applying systems thinking for policy action.  <br /...

Power, Process and Context in Theory Based Evaluation of Policy Implementation: A Response to Recent Commentaries

How Neoliberalism Is Shaping the Supply of Unhealthy Commodities and What This Means for NCD Prevention

Alcohol, tobacco, and unhealthy foods contribute greatly to the global burden of non-communicable disease (NCD). Member states of the World Health Organization (WHO) have recognized the critical need to address these three key risk factors through global action plans and policy recommendations. The 2013-2020 WHO action plan identifies the need to engage economic, agricultural and other relevant...