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

SWIMMING AGAINST THE TIDE:
HOW DEVELOPING COUNTRIES ARE COPING WITH THE GLOBAL CRISIS

Background Paper prepared by World Bank Staff for the G20 Finance Ministers and Central
Bank Governors Meeting, Horsham, United Kingdom on March 13-14, 2009

Available online PDF [21p.] at:
http://siteresources.worldbank.org/NEWS/Resources/swimmingagainstthetide-march2009.pdf

Below are a list of the articles in the new SAISPHERE focusing on the new understandings regarding global water supplies.

For more information:

http://www.sais-jhu.edu/pressroom/publications/saisphere/2008/index.htm

The World Is Dry (pdf version)
by Erik R. Peterson

Getting to the Bottom of Water Scarcity (pdf version)
by Pieter Bottelier

The Mediterranean: Byway or Barrier? (pdf version)
by Esther Brimmer

The Price of Power in the Mekong Delta (pdf version)
by Frederick Z. Brown

Grains of Gold: Water in Central Asia (pdf version)
by John Daly

UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs
Population Division, March 2009

The official United Nations estimations and projections of population for all countries of the world, covering the period 1950-2050.

Press release: http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/wpp2008/pressrelease.pdf

Data Online : http://esa.un.org/unpp/index.asp

Selected Tables: http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/wpp2008/wpp2008_text_tables.pdf

Anna Gatti and Andrea Boggio (editors)

“……There is growing awareness of the crucial relationship between health and development. But while the importance of this relationship may be obvious, scholars are still debating about the nature of it, and different assumptions on this crucial relationship have an impact on the developmental agenda of international organizations and their modus operandi at country level.

Recommendations for the G20

Edited by Richard Baldwin and Simon Evenett
Graduate Institute, Geneva and CEPR; University of St. Gallen and CEPR
UK Centre for Economic Policy Research CEPR 2009

Available online as PDf file [115p.] at: http://www.graduateinstitute.ch/webdav/site/iheid/shared/iheid/31/Murky_Protectionism.pdf

“…..When G20 leaders met last November in Washington, trade was a side issue; urgent efforts focused on stabilising financial systems and kick-starting economies. When leaders meet at the London Summit in April 2009, trade must move to centre stage.

HM Government, UK - February 2009

Available online at PDF [35p.] at:
http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_095296

The UK Government has recently agreed the first cross-Government Institutional Strategy (IS) with the World Health Organization (WHO).
The overall aim of the strategy is to set out how the UK and WHO will work together, and to provide a basis for multi-year (2008-2013) core funding relationship with WHO.

Agreement on health foreign policy objectives

Federal Department of Home Affairs (FDHA) and Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA)
Federal Office of Public Health FOPH Switzerland

PDF [20p.] available online at:
http://www.bag.admin.ch/org/01044/index.html?lang=en&download=M3wBPgDB/8ull6Du36WenojQ1NTTjaXZnqWfVp3Uhmfhnapmmc7Zi6rZnqCkkIZ2fHh/bKbXrZ6lhuDZz8mMps2gpKfo

Website: http://www.bag.admin.ch/org/01044/03338/index.html?lang=en

What should we be doing with the new homeless and how fast could the edge cities in the United States grow?

March 11, 2009, 3:19 PM
Sacramento and Its Riverside Tent City
By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE

Renee Hadley covered her bicycles with a tarp outside her tent on Tuesday in Sacramento, Calif.
A tent city is burgeoning in Sacramento, Calif., prompting local officials to consider whether such an encampment should be made permanent, with plumbing and all.