The term “health policy” is the literal translation of a branch of Anglo-Saxon public health that is well established and widespread in recent decades: “Health Policy”. In fact, this term has a broad meaning, whose Italian translation (“politica sanitaria”) cannot fully express “the policies (“health in all policies”) and strategies to improve the health (i.e. “physical, mental, and social’) of the population.”
There are three components of the Health Policy:
Determinants of health.
At the base of the health status of a population (of its subgroups and eventually at the individual level) are the social determinants of health: the political and economic context that creates and distributes wealth and power; the community and welfare context that regulates and mitigates the effects; social position, and the consequent unequal resources, which influence the likelihood of exposure and the degree of exposure to risk factors for the onset of a health problem: psychosocial factors, unhealthy lifestyles, external risk factors, conditions of clinical susceptibility/fragility.
Health policies and health systems.
Part of the community and welfare context is represented by the health system and health policies, which when considered together, indicate the level of protection of the right to health in a given reality. The latter depends on the universality and equity (or otherwise) of access to health services, the economic impact on families of the chosen system and policies, the amount of resources allocated to the health system, distribution of services in the public-private sector, centralisation or decentralisation in the governance of the system, level of participation of citizens, and policies of inclusion (or exclusion) of ethnic minorities. Naturally, health policies also cover aspects regarding access to resources that are not strictly medical, but have a direct impact on people’s health such as, for example, work, education, culture, and environment.
Organisation of services.
Expressing the level of supply and delivery of health services affecting the fairness, appropriateness, and quality of service organisation, which is the defining part of a health system.
Delineating the three essential elements of Health Policy with a Global Health view means considering in particular:
• Inequalities in health – between countries and also within nations – produced by the political, economic, financial, trade, energy, and global environment;
• Comparative analysis of international health systems and policies of international organisations that deal with health (WHO, WB, UNDP, UNICEF, etc.);
• The response of health organizations – in terms of prevention and care models – for the main health problems; analysis of the Global Burden of Disease.
The Global Health Centre, in partnership with academic and international institutions, aims to promote knowledge, analysis, comparison, and learning regarding international health policies in terms of the degree of protection of the right to health.
Main sources:
To develop the analysis and study of International Health Policy, the Global Health Centre regularly works with Saluteinternazionale.info in the domain of information exchange, cultural and scientific research, discussion, and sharing in the four thematic of Innovation and Management, Migration and Health, Global Health, and International Health Systems.
Innovation and Management
Organisational, technological and managerial innovations continuously happen within health systems due to both exogenous (e.g. political choices, evolving needs, etc.) and endogenous (e.g. new scientific evidence, quality standards, government spending, etc.) forces. However, it does not always yield the expected results or immediate transferability from one health system to another.
Global health
In today’s globalised and interdependent world, where the intensity of migration, trade and communication between people and countries is growing all the time, even health is boundless. It makes little sense now to distinguish between domestic and international health problems. The strengthening of health systems and the global human resources crisis in the health sector are now priority issues on the development agenda for both the poorest countries and for those that are more advanced.
International Health Systems
Health is the first priority among the reference values of the global community. Now more than ever, ensuring an adequate level of health to its citizens is regarded as one of the primary functions of each State – but also, at the same time, one of the problems of greater complexity. On this issue, different countries give different answers, depending on their cultural, historical, and business identity, and depending on the decisions that governments make from time to time. These responses form Health Systems.
FOCUS ON INTERNATIONAL HEALTH POLICIES
WHY
The importance of dealing with international health policy in Tuscany
COURSES
List of training projects
