Action on Health Disparities in the United States
Commission on Social Determinants of Health

Michael G. Marmot, FRCP; Ruth Bell, PhD
International Institute for Society and Health and Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London, London, England. Dr Marmot was chair of the World Health Organization Commission on Social Determinants of Health, 2005-2008.
Dr Bell is a senior research fellow at University College London and was a member of the Commission on Social Determinants of Health Secretariat

Robert W Platt1, Jennifer Zeitlin2
1 Departments of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health and of Pediatrics, McGill University, Westmount, Canada
2 INSERM, UMR, Epidemiological Research Unit on Perinatal Health and Women's and Children's Health, , Paris, France
Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 2009 - April 2009 (Volume 63, Number 4).

Website: http://jech.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/63/4/267

“……The paper by Mortensen et al1 raises important questions in the study of time trends in fetal growth and other exposures and outcomes.

The Obama presidency: what may happen, what needs to happen in health policies in the USA

Barbara Starfield
Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 2009;63:265-266; doi:10.1136/jech.2008.084822
April 2009 (Volume 63, Number 4).

Website: http://jech.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/63/4/265

“……Expectations are high for the Obama presidency. People worked hard on his campaign, more because of his perceived integrity than his platforms (which were not well defined). Is it realistic to expect Obama to make a real difference?

Please have a look at the Health Systems and Infectious Disease section of a newly-released G8 report. This may be a useful advocacy reference tool in the coming months.

Download the full report or view other sections here….
http://www.g7.utoronto.ca/evaluations/2008compliance-interim/index.html

Study sees factor in ocean currents; subways, other infrastructure at risk
The Associated Press
updated 11:01 a.m. ET, Mon., March. 16, 2009

WASHINGTON - The northeastern U.S. coast is likely to see the world's biggest sea level rise from man-made global warming, a new study predicts.

However much the oceans rise by the end of the century, add an extra 8 inches or so for New York, Boston and other spots along the coast from the mid-Atlantic to New England. That's because of predicted changes in ocean currents, according to a study based on computer models published online Sunday in the journal Nature Geoscience.

An extra 8 inches — on top of a possible 2 or 3 feet of sea rise globally by 2100 — is a big deal, especially when nor'easters and hurricanes hit, experts said.

"It's not just waterfront homes and wetlands that are at stake here," said Donald Boesch, president of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, who wasn't part of the study. "Those kind of rises in sea level when placed on top of the storm surges we see today, put in jeopardy lots of infrastructure, including the New York subway system."

Why do rich countries spend so much on health, when evidence shows it doesn't make much difference to life expectancy?

Richard Smith
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 10 June 2008 11.00 BST

As countries get richer they spend more and more on healthcare. A congressional report (pdf) recently showed that the US might be spending 50% of its gross domestic product on health by 2082.

Could this happen in Britain? Is it possible or desirable?

Theory Summary
John Kotter says that the change process takes time and goes through several different phases in a successful change effort and that a mistake made during any phase of the change effort can have a negative impact on the organisation [or community]. Kotter outlines an eight step process with suggestions to help organisations [communities] transform.
o Increase urgency
o Build guiding team
o Get the vision right
o Communicate for buy-in
o Empowering action
o Create short term wins
o Do not let up
o Make change stick

Reducing Health Inequalities
What Do We Really Know About Successful Strategies?

8–9 May 2009 School of Public Health, University of Bielefeld, and Hertie School of Governance, Berlin

Website: http://www.hertie-school.org/binaries/addon/1085_rhi.pdf

High Level Taskforce on Innovative International Financing for Health Systems
A discussion paper For the Hélène de Beir foundation and the International Civil Society Support group
Written by Gorik Ooms - January 2009

Available online as PDF file [47p.] at:
http://www.internationalhealthpartnership.net/pdf/IHP%20Update%2013/Taskforce/taskforce/090101_Ooms_Global_Health_Discussion_Paper%20(2).pdf

Third Report of Session 2008-09 Volume 1
House of Commons Health Committee
15 March 2009

Available online PDF [143p.] at: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200809/cmselect/cmhealth/286/286.pdf