this commentary on the editorial ‘the politics and analytics of health policy’ by professor calum paton focuses on two issues. first, it points to the unclear links between ideas, ideology, values, and discourse and policy, and warns that discourse is often a poor guide to enacted policy. second, it suggests that realism, particularly ‘programme theory’ are useful tools for health policy analys...

the 21st century is an era of great challenge for humankind; we are combating terrorism, climate change, poverty, human rights issues and last but not least non-communicable diseases (ncds). the burden of the latter has become so large that it is being recognized by world leaders globally as an area that it is in need of much greater attention. in light of this concern, the world health organiz...

Following the development discussion in the last volume on the 'politics of health', Jennifer Prah Ruger argues that the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) represents a shift in global health policy that recognizes the importance of addressing health needs on multiple fronts and integrating public policies into a comprehensive set of health improvement strategies. She argues that th...

1Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters, Institute of Health and Society, Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium; 2Department of Psychiatry, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA, USA; 3Department of Public Health, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium; 4Department of Politics and International Studies (POLIS), University of Cambridge, UK; 5Chatham H...

There is a growing global market in healthcare and patients. And while there is a small body of evidence emerging around this phenomenon commonly known as medical tourism there remain significant unanswered policy and research questions which need to be addressed. We outline some of the key issues set against the six key disciplinary preoccupations of the journal: epidemiology, health economics...

BACKGROUND Coverage of health in Nepali print media is quite a recent phenomenon despite readers' ample appetite for it. Dominated by politics, Nepal's print media has been marginally publishing news pieces, features, editorials and op-ed articles, photographs and cartoons on health, though marginally. But the media did not wake up to the issues of human resources for health until lately. MET...