The last century of innovative public health discoveries has led most of the world’s population to lead longer, healthier lives. Yet, the future holds some of the greatest public health challenges in mankind’s history. Global disparities in health; medication safety; climate change; epidemics of obesity and diabetes; an aging world demographic; and emerging infections all represent problems req...

BACKGROUND Despite improving trends, countries in Europe continue to face public-health challenges. This study investigated the priorities of stakeholders for research to meet these challenges. METHODS Public-health research includes population-level and health-system research, but not clinical or biomedical research. The study drew on data from three surveys undertaken through collaboration ...

In Switzerland, the federal authorities, the cantons, and the communes share the responsibility of healthcare, disease prevention and health promotion policies. Yet, the cantons are in most health matters independent in their decisions, thus defining as a matter of fact their own health priorities. We examined and analysed the content of the disease prevention and health promotion plans elabora...

www.thelancet.com Vol 385 April 4, 2015 e31 To achieve universal health coverage, a defi nition of what coverage everybody is guaranteed is needed. In view of the gap between what is medically possible and what is fi nancially feasible, some type of rationing is inevitable in all societies. So the decision is not about whether to prioritise, but how best to achieve this. However, this issue is ...

OBJECTIVE To set investment priorities in global mental health research and to propose a more rational use of funds in this under-resourced and under-investigated area. METHODS Members of the Lancet Mental Health Group systematically listed and scored research investment options on four broad classes of disorders: schizophrenia and other major psychotic disorders, major depressive disorder an...

BACKGROUND This exploratory study used participatory methods to identify, characterize, and rank climate-sensitive health priorities in Nunatsiavut, Labrador, Canada. METHODS A mixed method study design was used and involved collecting both qualitative and quantitative data at regional, community, and individual levels. In-depth interviews with regional health representatives were conducted t...

OBJECTIVE To describe a health priority setting exercise in Pakistan and its relevance to traditional medical care and care providers. METHODS Literature search of local and regional data was performed to identify priority health problems, those with high disease burden and with cost-effective interventions. RESULTS Major causes of ill-health were communicable (diarrhoea, respiratory infect...

BACKGROUND Public health priorities can be addressed by pharmacists through channels such as medication therapy management (MTM) to optimize patient and population outcomes. However, no studies have specifically assessed pharmacists' perceptions of addressing public health priorities through MTM. OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to assess pharmacists' opinions regarding the feasibili...

BACKGROUND The state of the world is one with scarce medical resources where longevity is not equally distributed. Given such facts, setting priorities in health entails making difficult yet unavoidable decisions about which lives to save. The business of saving lives works on the assumption that longevity is valuable and that an early death is worse than a late death. There is a vast literatur...