Policy and Health: Implications for Development in Asia

by Edited by John W. Peabody , M. Omar Rahman , Paul J. Gertler , Joyce Mann , Donna O. Farley , Jeff Luck

• ISBN13: 9780521619905
• ISBN10: 0521619904
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-02-17
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

This rich volume provides a comprehensive look at how policy leads to better health in Asia. Leading RAND thinkers, working in different disciplines, create an all-encompassing framework for students, scholars, and policymakers, clarifying what is known and still needs to be known about how policy and practice lead to better health outcomes in developing countries. Drawing on their broad experience, the authors explore the health effects of macroeconomic development, education, and technology. After making compelling arguments about the need for policymakers to use and demand evidence-based policy, they investigate the epidemiology of persistent infectious diseases and the rapid ascendancy of chronic diseases in the elderly, showing how effectively appropriate clinical medicine addresses illness and promotes well-being. Emphasis is placed on examining equity-improving solutions to ascertain how and where they have helped the poor, women, and other vulnerable populations. The book concludes with a discussion of politics, priorities, the private sector, and what role health departments should play to translate policy objectives into better health.

Table of Contents

Foreword by Dean T. Jamison

Preface

Tables

Figures

Boxes

1. Overview: the role and responsibility of governments in the health sector

2. Evidence-based policy: using data to inform policy and improve health outcomes

3. Prioritizing medical interventions: defining burden of disease and cost-effective interventions in the pursuit of universal primary care

4. Financing and allocating public expenditures: leveraging public resources to meet objectives and increase private participation

5. Toward better equity and access: persistent poverty, inadequate interventions, and the need for better data and solutions

6. Government and the improvement of health behaviors

7. Implementing policy objectives: the role and responsibilities of the ministry of health

Acronyms

Data Notes and Glossary - Chapter Two

References

Authors

Index.