Globalization Health
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Globalization Health · Jan 2014
Regional variation in the allocation of development assistance for health.
The Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2010 Study has published disability-adjusted life year (DALY) data at both regional and country levels from 1990 to 2010. Concurrently, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) has published estimates of development assistance for health (DAH) at the country-disease level for this same period of time. ⋯ There are no evident explanations for so much variation in funding across regions, especially holding the purpose of the funding constant. This suggests donors' allocation processes have not been particularly sensitive to disease burdens. To maximize health gains, donors should explicitly incorporate new disease burden data along with the relative costs and efficacy of interventions into their allocation process.
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Globalization Health · Jan 2014
Development assistance for health given to Nepal by China and India: a comparative study.
Development assistance for health (DAH) promotes health development in low and middle income countries. China and India, as emerging donors, have scaled-up their DAH programs during the recent years. Nepal, as a neighboring country to China and India, has witnessed the history and development of China's and India's DAH. ⋯ China's and India's insistence on a recipient-driven mechanism keeps the aid programs aligned with Nepal's health development plan and respects Nepal's "ownership". China can learn from India to start the development assistance for health related NGOs and public health intervention.
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Globalization Health · Jan 2014
Trade and investment liberalization and Asia's noncommunicable disease epidemic: a synthesis of data and existing literature.
Trade and investment liberalization (trade liberalization) can promote or harm health. Undoubtedly it has contributed, although unevenly, to Asia's social and economic development over recent decades with resultant gains in life expectancy and living standards. In the absence of public health protections, however, it is also a significant upstream driver of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) including cardiovascular disease, cancer and diabetes through facilitating increased consumption of the 'risk commodities' tobacco, alcohol and ultra-processed foods, and by constraining access to NCD medicines. In this paper we describe the NCD burden in Asian countries, trends in risk commodity consumption and the processes by which trade liberalization has occurred in the region and contributed to these trends. We further establish pressing questions for future research on strengthening regulatory capacity to address trade liberalization impacts on risk commodity consumption and health. ⋯ Trade liberalization is a significant driver of the NCD epidemic in Asia. Increased participation in trade agreements requires countries to strengthen regulatory capacity to ensure adequate protections for public health. How best to achieve this through multilateral, regional and unilateral actions is a pressing question for ongoing research.
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Globalization Health · Jan 2014
ReviewNoncommunicable diseases among urban refugees and asylum-seekers in developing countries: a neglected health care need.
With the increasing trend in refugee urbanisation, growing numbers of refugees are diagnosed with chronic noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). However, with few exceptions, the local and international communities prioritise communicable diseases. The aim of this study is to review the literature to determine the prevalence and distribution of chronic NCDs among urban refugees living in developing countries, to report refugee access to health care for NCDs and to compare the prevalence of NCDs among urban refugees with the prevalence in their home countries. ⋯ Hypertension, musculoskeletal disease, diabetes and chronic respiratory disease were the major diseases observed. In general, most urban refugees in developing countries have adequate access to primary health care services. Further investigations are needed to document the burden of NCDs among urban refugees and to identify their need for health care in developing countries.
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Globalization Health · Jan 2014
Back to the future: what would the post-2015 global development goals look like if we replicated methods used to construct the Millennium Development Goals?
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were 'top-down' goals formulated by policy elites drawing from targets within United Nations (UN) summits and conferences in the 1990s. Contemporary processes shaping the new post-2015 development agenda are more collaborative and participatory, markedly different to the pre-MDG era. This study examines what would the outcome be if a methodology similar to that used for the MDGs were applied to the formulation of the post-2015 development goals (Post-2015DGs), identifying those targets arising from UN summits and conferences since the declaration of the MDGs, and aggregating them into goals. ⋯ This study exposes the evolving political agendas underplaying the current post-2015 process, as targets from DESA's 22 major UN summits and conferences from 2001 to 2012 are not wholly mirrored in the HLP's 12 goals.