BACKGROUND While the burden of disease in Africa is high, health research emanating from the continent is low. Building human capacity and research infrastructure to close the gap between research and disease is thus of great imporatance. OBJECTIVE In order to improve research outputs and postgraduate training in the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, the Health Scie...

BACKGROUND A number of health outcomes were affected by previous financial crises, e.g. suicides, homicides and transport accident mortality. Aim of this study was to analyse the effects of the current financial crisis on selected health outcomes at population level in Europe. METHODS A mixed approach of ecologic and time trend design was applied, including correlation analysis. For eight cou...

This paper examines neighbourhood effects on health within a large Canadian city--Montréal. Our approach is to consider that individual health outcomes are determined both by individual and neighbourhood characteristics and we consciously take on the problem of neighbourhood definition by developing 'natural' neighbourhoods. Our data come from the Montréal health region sample of the 2000/1 Can...

Community-based initiatives (CBI) are based on integrated multisectoral socioeconomic development with community participation and intersectoral support to improve the health and quality of life of the people. During 2005-06 the World Health Organization supported an evaluation of CBI in the Islamic Republic of Iran by collecting information from intervention villages on social capital and othe...

OBJECTIVES We examined the interrelationships between ethnicity, gender, and caregiving on the health of older New Zealanders. We hypothesized that those providing higher levels of care and more care across time would have poorer health outcomes and that these relationships would be moderated by ethnicity and gender. METHOD A representative sample of participants (N = 2,155) aged 54-70 years ...

Uncovering hidden determinants of health Jeanne Chai et al. (331–339) study the association between child growth and violence in the home. Transforming society for better health outcomes Cicely Marston et al. (376–382) explain why community participation is crucial. Towards fair assessments Laura Frost et al. (393–395) explain why many voices are needed to understand health and development issues.

This article introduces and defines the Health in All Policies (HiAP) concept and examines existing state legislation, with a focus on California. The article starts with an overview of HiAP and then analyzes the status of HiAP legislation, specifically addressing variations across states. Finally, the article describes California's HiAP approach and discusses how communities can apply a HiAP f...

Pierre-Gerlier Forest has put forward the case that we are on the brink of a revolution in health policy that will be the result of the interplay of five factors. I would not challenge any of them but would emphasize the need to address socio-economic health inequalities, which have the potential to become a major cost driver in a time of growing economic inequality. To Dr. Forest’s list, I wou...

BACKGROUND The Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (WSCC) model shows the interrelationship between health and learning and the potential for improving educational outcomes by improving health outcomes. However, current descriptions do not explain how to implement the model. METHODS The existing literature, including scientific articles, programmatic guidance, and publications by natio...

BACKGROUND In the United States, a dedicated property tax describes the legal authority given to a local jurisdiction to levy and collect a tax for a specific purpose. We investigated for an association of locally dedicated property taxes to fund local public health agencies and improved health status in the eight states designated as the Mississippi Delta Region. METHODS We analyzed the diff...