Health Policy Process & Power essay
Question 3. Present a critical case study of evidence based/informed health policy making. In doing this, you will want to explain what the policy was, and what body of evidence was drawn upon or seen as relevant. Then you should explore the political aspects of the policy. If there was contestation over evidence (such as which evidence was used, what was seen as important, or how to interpret evidence), you can explain the views of the opposed groups, and the roles of different institutions or processes, which led to the final outcome.
A case study of evidence based health policy-making: Adopting DOTS for treatment of tuberculosis in Ukraine
This paper will cover the process by which Ukraine adopted
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(Oxman et al., 2009) This paper will look at the role of evidence in informing the adoption of DOTS in Ukraine, utilising Figure 1 from Oxman et al (2009) about how systematic reviews and local evidence affect policy change. Local evidence will mainly be analysed as the systematic review was done in order for WHO to recommend the DOTS strategy. As shown in this model it is important to also consider local evidence when making evidence-informed decisions, since specific country circumstances can have significant effect on policies and changing one policy may in fact require a number of other policies to be modified as well.
TB Control Program in Ukraine
The Ukraine was formerly a part of the Soviet Union and as such many of its policies continue from those that were in place during this period. The TB policy was one of these whereby TB cases were detected by mass screening the population and TB services were vertical structures and highly centralised. Treatment was performed in specialized TB hospitals and entailed long and non-standard treatments. (Vassall et al., 2009) Patients were treated through individualized treatment, which required them to stay between 6 months to 2 years in hospital.
Patients received TB services free of charge at point of delivery, as it was financed by national, regional and local budgets, the funds were provided by external agencies. The finances are managed by these
With the close proximity infection range TB is known for completes the remainder of the epidemiologic triangle. Overcrowded environments are the coal to the fire of this transmittable disease with outbreaks capable of occurring, infection hundreds. Common symptoms of this active form of tuberculosis include: weight loss, coughing, fatigue, fever, night sweats, chills, and loss of appetite (MayoClinic, 2014). The Mayo Clinic also states that it is believed that 2 billion (one third) of the world population is living with Latent TB (2014). This emphasizes the need for public health and community involvement in order to completely abolish this disease from our planet.
The CDC website provides ample educational information regarding tuberculosis. It gives a detail description of what Tuberculosis is, the testing used and how it works. The website also addresses the risk factors of tuberculosis and warns that traveling to countries such as Africa, Asia and Central America puts them in a higher risk of contracting TB. In addition, it provides people with preventive measures to avoid being infected. They advise against close proximity with infected, and to be cautious around people working in health care facilities, prisons, shelter or an over populate area and advise to refrain from consuming unpasteurized milk products. In addition, the Website provides Data and Statistics, which can help support previous
TB is still proven to be a top killer around the world, and with more cases of drug resistant TB being reported daily, the cost of treating and preventing this disease will continue to be on the rise.
In order to first start a policy process, the problem for which a policy is to be created must be identified and the policy holding a solution to the problem. Researchers and stakeholders will investigate the problem to identify if the policy will reach the policy making agenda. Policies must be to improve society’s health and wellbeing. In the United States (U.S.) public health related issues that require a formulation of a new policy and come from local, state, or federal legislations which ruling govern the provision of health care services and regulations. In this
Tuberculosis is a disease of an infectious nature caused by a bacterium known as mycobacterium tuberculosis. The disease spreads through the air. People with the disease can spread it to susceptible people through coughing, sneezing, talking or spitting. It mainly affects the lungs and other parts such as the lymph nodes and kidneys can also be affected. The symptoms for TB are fatigue, coughing, night sweats, weight loss and fever. One third of the population of the world is affected with mycobacterium tuberculosis. The rate of infection is estimated to be one person per second. About 14 million people in the world are infected with active tuberculosis. Drug resistant TB has been recorded to be a serious public health hazard in many countries. Resistant strains have developed making it difficult to treat the disease. TB has caused millions of death mainly in people living with HIV/AIDS ADDIN EN.CITE Ginsberg19981447(Ginsberg, 1998)1447144717Ginsberg, Ann M.The Tuberculosis Epidemic: Scientific Challenges and OpportunitiesPublic Health Reports (1974-)Public Health Reports (1974-)128-13611321998Association of Schools of Public Health00333549http://www.jstor.org/stable/4598234( HYPERLINK l "_ENREF_3" o "Ginsberg, 1998 #1447" Ginsberg, 1998). The World Health Organization came up with the DOTS (Directly Observed, Therapy, Short course) strategy. The approach involves diagnosing cases and treating patients with drugs for about 6-8
When it comes to understanding the process of legislative health policy in the United States we first need to understand what is a health policy. To create a successful health care system many rules and regulations have to take place. When those have taken place it is forms the health policy. It outlines priorities and the expected roles of different groups; and it builds consensus and informs people (Healthy Policy, 2017).
Tuberculosis (TB), which is brought on by contamination with an individual from the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex, is a noteworthy reason for incapacity and passing in numerous parts of the world. The frequency (recently reported cases) of tuberculosis in Louisiana is near the normal occurrence in the United States. . In 2013, Louisiana: Ranked eleventh among the 50 states in TB rates (3 for each 100,000 people) and 22.3% of TB cases were foreign-born people (CDC, 2015). As in the U.S., frequency has diminished
Highlight and present one key player/stakeholder (i.e., federal, state, or local) in political health policy in your state.
In today’s health care system it is constantly improving and changing, due to the demands of the health care system. For this to happen new policies must be created or even improving old policies. Congress is involved in the process of policy making; including three stages such as foundation stage, legislative stage, and implementation stage. When a health care topic is in process of becoming a policy it hopes to reach a desired outcome to have a positive effect on people. In the policy making model it has its strengths and limitations. Its strength is the reduction of complexity of policy making to manageable. The
A resolution was introduced by the Minister of Health ”Through this Framework, the federal government will focus its efforts on reducing the burden of tuberculosis within those populations by: Optimizing and enhancing current efforts to prevent and control active tuberculosis disease, facilitating the identification and treatment of latent tuberculosis infection for those at high risk of developing active tuberculosis disease, and championing collaborative action to address the underlying risk factors for tuberculosis.” (The Honourable Rona Ambrose, P.C., M.P Minister of Health). In 2004, total tuberculosis-related expenditures in Canada were estimated at $74 million dollars, with the average cost of treating a case of active tuberculosis being approximately $47 thousand dollars. Treatment for latent TB infection, on the other hand, is estimated to be less than $1000 per
(Farmer, 39). Many think that this illness is “new” because it is finding its way back into the rich populations. Unfortunately, TB does not get a lot of attention, as Farmer states, “it would appear that diseases predominantly afflicting the poor are unlikely to garner funding for research and drug development – unless they begin to emerge into the consciousness and space of the nonpoor” (Farmer
Among many misconceptions, tuberculosis is not a disease of the past. Tuberculosis remains a public health issue. It is estimated that one-third of the total world population is infected by tuberculosis (TB). The American lung association (2013) states, in 2011 alone there were nearly 9,000,000 new diagnosed cases of tuberculosis around the world and an estimated 1.4 million deaths because of this disease. In the United States, TB is not as common (but still a problem). In 2011, only 10,500 people reported having TB (Trends in Tuberculosis Morbidity and
The problem areas in the dilemma were categorized as: coverage, cost, quality, and personal responsibility. The consensus of the panel members was that all citizens should have access to basic and essential health care benefits. However, the designated baseline services must be guided by evidence-based scientific research. In this way, best practices and cost containing standards can be established. Evidence-based guidelines assist in the standardization of health care practices. Best practices result in optimized outcomes for patients. The basic and essential coverage must provide for health care that addresses wellness, prevention, as well as catastrophic coverage.
Public health policy is associated with the need to imposition public health professionals to consider leading gaps in the future of health care crisis. The purpose is to protect the underserved and underinsured population by the need to propose public health policy to safeguard individual’s health (Laureate Education, 2012). By protecting community health, in turn, helps control the cost of the over-burdensome healthcare expenses (Getzen, 2013). A public health professional has an obligation to influence the health status through evidence-based policymaking needed to intervene for policy makers. Given financial constraint to reduce health disparities financial preparation and disseminative communication are the essential tools needed to make supplement legislative policy (Brownson, Chriqui, & Stamatakis, 2009; Laureate Education, 2012). The future financing to improve and amend required policy is through evidence-based health surveillance that helps public health professionals decide the direction of where budget containment should be allocated (Brownson et al., 2009).
India, the second most populous country with over 1.31 billion people, has the highest burden of tuberculosis (TB) in the world, accounting for 20% of the global incidence of TB, and an even higher share of global incidence of multi–drug resistant (MDR) TB. With an estimated 2 million new cases of TB and 5, 00,000 TB-related deaths in India annually, those who got diagnosed with different forms of DR-TB were 35,385 cases but only 20,753 people started on multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) treatment in 2013. The National Tuberculosis Program was launched in 1962, but suffered heavily continuing TB led mortality. Acknowledging this reality, a Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme (RNTCP) was launched by the Government of India in 1997, however even today it does not comply with World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations.