Translating Health Economics Research Into Public Health Action Towards An Economy Of Wellbeing

In today's world of scare resources, determining the optimal allocation of funds to preventive health care interventions (PHIs) is a challenge. The upfront investments needed must be viewed as long term projects, the benefits of which we will experience in the future. The long term positive change to PHIs from economic investment can be seen across multiple sectors such as health care, education, employment and beyond. Applied Health Economics for Public Health Practice and Research is the fifth in the series of Handbooks in Health Economic Evaluation. It presents new research on health economics methodology and application to the evaluation of public health interventions. Looking at traditional as well as novel methods of economic evaluation, the book covers the history of economics of public health and the economic rationale for government investment in prevention. In addition, it looks at principles of health economics, evidence synthesis, key methods of economic evaluation with accompanying case studies, and much more. Looking to the future, Applied Health Economics for Public Health Practice and Research presents priorities for research in the field of public health economics. It acknowledges the role played by natural environment in promoting better health, and the place of genetics, environment and socioeconomic status in determining population health. Ideal for health economists, public health researchers, local government workers, health care professionals, and those responsible for health policy development. Applied Health Economics for Public Health Practice and Research is an important contribution to the economic discussion of public health and resource allocation.

In the United States, some populations suffer from far greater disparities in health than others. Those disparities are caused not only by fundamental differences in health status across segments of the population, but also because of inequities in factors that impact health status, so-called determinants of health. Only part of an individual's health status depends on his or her behavior and choice; community-wide problems like poverty, unemployment, poor education, inadequate housing, poor public transportation, interpersonal violence, and decaying neighborhoods also contribute to health inequities, as well as the historic and ongoing interplay of structures, policies, and norms that shape lives. When these factors are not optimal in a community, it does not mean they are intractable: such inequities can be mitigated by social policies that can shape health in powerful ways. Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity seeks to delineate the causes of and the solutions to health inequities in the United States. This report focuses on what communities can do to promote health equity, what actions are needed by the many and varied stakeholders that are part of communities or support them, as well as the root causes and structural barriers that need to be overcome.

Governments across the WHO European Region need to take urgent action to address the growing public health inequality economic and environmental challenges in order to achieve sustainable development (meeting current needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs) and to ensure health and well-being for present and future generations. Based on a scoping review this report concludes that current investment policies and practices (doing business as usual) are unsustainable with high costs to individuals families communities societies the economy and the planet. Investment in public health policies that are based on values and evidence provides effective and efficient inclusive and innovative solutions that can drive social economic and environmental sustainability. Investing for health and well-being is a driver and an enabler of sustainable development and vice versa and it empowers people to achieve the highest attainable standard of health for all.

There are not enough resources in health care systems around the world to fund all technically feasible and potentially beneficial health care interventions. Difficult choices have to be made, and economic evaluation offers a systematic and transparent process for informing such choices. A key component of economic evaluation is how to value the benefits of health care in a way that permits comparison between health care interventions, such as through costs per quality-adjusted life years (QALY). Measuring and Valuing Health Benefits for Economic Evaluation examines the measurement and valuation of health benefits, reviews the explosion of theoretical and empirical work in the field, and explores an area of research that continues to be a major source of debate. It addresses the key questions in the field including: the definition of health, the techniques of valuation, who should provide the values, techniques for modelling health state values, the appropriateness of tools in children and vulnerable groups, cross cultural issues, and the problem of choosing the right instrument. This new edition contains updated empirical examples and practical applications, which help to clarify the readers understanding of real world contexts. It features a glossary containing the common terms used by practitioners, and has been updated to cover new measures of health and wellbeing, such as ICECAP, ASCOT and AQOL. It takes into account new research into the social weighting of a QALY, the rising use of ordinal valuation techniques, use of the internet to collect data, and the use of health state utility values in cost effectiveness models. This is an ideal resource for anyone wishing to gain a specialised understanding of health benefit measurement in economic evaluation, especially those working in the fields of health economics, public sector economics, pharmacoeconomics, health services research, public health, and quality of life research.

This Handbook covers major topics in global health economics and public policy and provides a timely, systematic review of the field. Edited by Richard M Scheffler, Distinguished Professor of Health Economics and Public Policy and Director of the Global Center for Health Economics and Policy Research at the University of California, Berkeley, the Handbook features academics and practitioners from more than a dozen countries. Contributors are from the London School of Economics and Political Science, Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, University of York, University of Oslo, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University of California - Berkeley, Stanford University, Johns Hopkins University, University of Toronto, University of Oxford, Harvard Medical School, OECD, the World Health Organization and the World Bank, many of whom have also acted as economic and policy advisors to government and non-governmental organizations across the world. Experts in these areas who provide critical analyses and relevant data for further exploration and research include: Thomas E Getzen, Executive Director of the International Health Economics Association (iHEA); Douglas E Hough, Associate Scientist and Associate Director of the Master in Healthcare Management programme at the Bloomberg School of Public Health of John Hopkins University; Guillem López-Casasnovas, former President of iHEA and member of the Advisory Council of the Spanish Health and Social Welfare Ministry and of the Advisory Council of the Catalan Health Ministry since 1984; Alistair McGuire, Professor of Health Economics at the London School of Economics and Political and advisor to a number of governments and governmental bodies across Europe; Tor Iversen, Research Director at the Health Economics Research Programme at the University of Oslo and former member of the iHEA Arrow Award Committee 2007-2011; William H Dow, Professor and Associate Dean for Research at University of California ,Berkeley and former Senior Economist for the Council of Economic Advisors (White House); Audrey Laporte, the Director of the Canadian Centre for Health Economics; Alexander S Preker, President and CEO of Health Investment & Financing Corporation; Ayda Yurekli, who initiated and developed the World Health Organization TaXSiM simulation model that has been used by many Ministries of Finance around the world for the development of tax policies; Marko Vujicic, Managing Vice President of the Health Policy Resources Center at the American Dental Association; Mark Sculpher, Director of the Programme on Economic Evaluation and Health Technology Assessment at the University of York and former President of the International Society of Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR) (2011-2012); and Peter Berman, who has had almost 40 years of experience in global health and was formerly a Lead Health Economist at the World Bank. The Handbook spans across three volumes. The chapters deal with key global issues in health economics, are evidence-based, and offer innovative policy alternatives and solutions. The Handbook's approach toward global health economics and public policy will make it a useful resource for health economists, policymakers, private sector companies, NGOs, government decision-makers and those who manage healthcare systems.

Governments across the WHO European Region need to take urgent action to address the growing public health, inequality, economic and environmental challenges in order to achieve sustainable development (meeting current needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs) and to ensure health and well-being for present and future generations. Based on a scoping review, this report concludes that current investment policies and practices (doing business as usual) are unsustainable, with high costs to individuals, families, communities, societies, the economy and the planet. Investment in public health policies that are based on values and evidence provides effective and efficient, inclusive and innovative solutions that can drive social, economic and environmental sustainability. Investing for health and well-being is a driver and an enabler of sustainable development, and vice versa, and it empowers people to achieve the highest attainable standard of health for all.

This book provides an economic perspective on health promotion and chronic disease prevention, and gives a rationale for assessing the economic case for action. It provides a comprehensive review of the evidence base in support of a broad range of public health interventions, addressing not only their effectiveness in improving population health, but also their implementation costs, impacts on health expenditures and wider economic consequences. An economic perspective is about more than counting the costs associated with poor health. It is about understanding how economic incentives can influence healthy lifestyle choices in the population. The book provides tools for developing effective and efficient policy strategies and addressing trade-offs between the goals of improving population health, while being mindful of the need to tackle inequalities in health outcomes across individuals and populations. The book: practically illustrates methods and measures of cost and outcome used in the evaluation of interventions covers specific risk factor areas including tobacco smoking, alcohol, unhealthy diets, physical inactivity, poor mental health and harmful environmental factors considers cross-cutting themes including key implementation issues, health inequalities, and the merits of early life interventions The book is designed for health policy makers and all those working or studying in the areas of public health, health research, medicine or health economics.