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Health Promotion International Oct 2019Policy analysis provides a way for understanding how and why governments enact certain policies, and their effects. Public health policy research is limited and lacks...
Policy analysis provides a way for understanding how and why governments enact certain policies, and their effects. Public health policy research is limited and lacks theoretical underpinnings. This article aims to describe and critique different approaches to policy analysis thus providing direction for undertaking policy analysis in the field of health promotion. Through the use of an illustrative example in nutrition it aims to illustrate the different approaches. Three broad orientations to policy analysis are outlined: (i) Traditional approaches aim to identify the 'best' solution, through undertaking objective analyses of possible solutions. (ii) Mainstream approaches focus on the interaction of policy actors in policymaking. (iii) Interpretive approaches examine the framing and representation of problems and how policies reflect the social construction of 'problems'. Policy analysis may assist understanding of how and why policies to improve nutrition are enacted (or rejected) and may inform practitioners in their advocacy. As such, policy analysis provides researchers with a powerful tool to understand the use of research evidence in policymaking and generate a heightened understanding of the values, interests and political contexts underpinning policy decisions. Such methods may enable more effective advocacy for policies that can lead to improvements in health.
Topics: Health Policy; Health Promotion; Humans; Policy Making; Public Health; Public Health Administration; Public Policy; Research Design
PubMed: 30101276
DOI: 10.1093/heapro/day052 -
Nutrients May 2023The Special Issue entitled "The Impact of Policy and Food Environment on Food Purchase and Dietary Behavior" comprises 13 articles that collectively provide valuable...
The Special Issue entitled "The Impact of Policy and Food Environment on Food Purchase and Dietary Behavior" comprises 13 articles that collectively provide valuable insights into the complex interplay between policy, food environment, and individual food purchase and consumption [...].
Topics: Diet; Diet, Healthy; Health Promotion; Food; Health Policy; Nutrition Policy
PubMed: 37299477
DOI: 10.3390/nu15112514 -
Sante Publique (Vandoeuvre-les-Nancy,... Jun 2021Health impact assessment (HIA) is rapidly growing in France. It shows similarities with other approaches, such as the evaluation of public policies (EPP), with which it...
INTRODUCTION
Health impact assessment (HIA) is rapidly growing in France. It shows similarities with other approaches, such as the evaluation of public policies (EPP), with which it can sometimes be mistaken for.Purpose of research: The aims of this article are to identify the similarities and differences between HIA and EPP and to assess the extent to which HPA skills are transferable to HIA.
RESULTS
The two approaches share common features: they are both based on principles and values that structure practice; they produce a judgement at the end of an argumentation process; they follow the same thinking process and use similar tools. However, HIA has specific features that justify the strengthening of skills, particularly in relation to its participatory dimension.
CONCLUSIONS
The two approaches have more similarities than differences due to their evaluative nature. The competences acquired in PPE are transferable to HIA and the evaluator at the crossroads of the two exercises can revisit and enrich his practice in PPE.
Topics: France; Health Impact Assessment; Health Policy; Humans; Public Health; Public Policy
PubMed: 34372639
DOI: 10.3917/spub.211.0047 -
Sante Publique (Vandoeuvre-les-Nancy,... Jun 2021Health impact assessment (HIA) is a prospective approach that consists of identifying the potential consequences, both negative and positive, of an intervention on the...
Health impact assessment (HIA) is a prospective approach that consists of identifying the potential consequences, both negative and positive, of an intervention on the health of populations with the aim of improving it. Identified as a specific practice in 1999, it rapidly gained in popularity and was progressively deployed on all continents with variations in terms of implementation strategies, area of application, scales of implementation, modes of governance, institutions and actors involved. It is currently booming in France and Quebec, where it is generating real expectations with regard to the issues of health inequalities, democracy and the coordination of sectoral policies. This article, based on our research, provides a brief portrait of HIA in France and introduces questions on the strengths, limitations and added-value of the approach. This special issue sheds light on the practice through applications in different fields and contexts, emphasizes the methodological, political and social issues related to the process as well as the challenges to be met in order to strengthen the potential of HIA to improve decision-making and develop policies and projects that promote health.
Topics: France; Health Impact Assessment; Health Policy; Health Promotion; Humans; Policy; Quebec
PubMed: 34372643
DOI: 10.3917/spub.211.0007 -
Nursing Science Quarterly Jul 2022This essay is about health policies. Included are the definition of health policy, the descriptions of the concepts of a conceptual model of nursing and health policy,...
This essay is about health policies. Included are the definition of health policy, the descriptions of the concepts of a conceptual model of nursing and health policy, and examples of various sources of health policies. A central thesis of this essay is that practice guidelines are largely unrecognized as health policies. This thesis provides the connection between the abstract idea of a health policy and what is done in nursing practice. The essay concludes with examples of research questions about nursing and health policies.
Topics: Health Policy; Humans; Models, Theoretical
PubMed: 35762047
DOI: 10.1177/08943184221092444 -
Harm Reduction Journal Feb 2022In this essay, I show that notwithstanding the undeniable colonial origins of punitive drug policies around the world, such policies have figured in nationalist projects...
In this essay, I show that notwithstanding the undeniable colonial origins of punitive drug policies around the world, such policies have figured in nationalist projects and populist platforms in various postcolonial states, and today they are viewed as local responses to the 'drug problem.' Instead, it is harm reduction and other efforts to reform drug policies that are seen as a colonial, or Western, imposition. I argue that to overcome such perceptions, there is a need to decolonize harm reduction alongside decolonizing drug policies. I conclude by offering recommendations toward this move, including involving Global South actors in leadership positions within the harm reduction movement, supporting pilot harm reduction programs in postcolonial states, and highlighting local scholarship.
Topics: Harm Reduction; Humans; Public Policy
PubMed: 35114995
DOI: 10.1186/s12954-022-00593-w -
European Journal of Clinical Nutrition Feb 2021Nutrition and health care are the most efficient and cost-effective ways to promote growth and prevent diseases. The dramatic decrease in the prevalences of stunting and... (Review)
Review
Nutrition and health care are the most efficient and cost-effective ways to promote growth and prevent diseases. The dramatic decrease in the prevalences of stunting and malnutrition in China is the result of rapid economic development and nutrition efforts. The improvement in the Chinese populations' overall health status is consistent with the United Nation Sustainable Development Goal of "ending hunger, achieving food security and improving nutrition." Recent healthy policies, such as "Outline of the Healthy China 2030 Plan" and "Healthy China Action Plan (2019-2030)," pivot the shift from medical care to nutrition and health promotion, which sets a series of actions and goals that point out direction to China's nutrition policy improvement in the next decade. This paper systematically summarizes the China's nutrition policy environment and governance, implementation and actions of a series of food and nutrition policies, as well as available professional development and public education relevant to the field of nutrition. The challenges and prospects of nutrition actions are also addressed to pave a path for future policy-making and better nutrition improvements to successfully achieve Healthy China 2030.
Topics: China; Health Policy; Humans; Nutrition Policy; Nutritional Status; Sustainable Development
PubMed: 33219269
DOI: 10.1038/s41430-020-00765-6 -
Journal of Nutrition Education and... Oct 2021
Topics: Food Services; Health Policy; Humans; Policy; School Health Services; Schools; Water
PubMed: 34629161
DOI: 10.1016/j.jneb.2021.08.015 -
Pediatric Clinics of North America Aug 2023Policy solutions to address child health equity, with evidence to support the policies, are presented. Policies address health care, direct financial support to... (Review)
Review
Policy solutions to address child health equity, with evidence to support the policies, are presented. Policies address health care, direct financial support to families, nutrition, support for early childhood and brain development, ending family homelessness, making housing and neighborhoods environmentally safe, gun violence prevention, LGBTQ + health equity, and protecting immigrant children and families. Federal, state, and local policies are addressed. Recommendations of the National Academy of Science, Engineering, and Medicine and the American Academy of Pediatrics are highlighted when appropriate.
Topics: Child; Humans; Child, Preschool; United States; Health Equity; Policy; Child Welfare; Health Policy
PubMed: 37422319
DOI: 10.1016/j.pcl.2023.04.003 -
The International Journal on Drug Policy Mar 2021Recent years have seen the emergence of a policy consensus around the need for fundamental reforms of global drug policies. This is reflected in the call for...
Recent years have seen the emergence of a policy consensus around the need for fundamental reforms of global drug policies. This is reflected in the call for 'development-oriented drug policies' that align and integrate drug policies with development and peacebuilding objectives, as captured in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These calls have been important in acknowledging the damage caused by the war on drugs and in drawing attention to how drugs are inextricably linked to wider development and peacebuilding challenges. Yet there is surprisingly limited academic research that looks critically at the drugs-development-peace nexus and which asks whether the goals of a 'drug-free world', 'sustainable development' and 'the promotion of peace' are commensurate with one another, can be pursued simultaneously, or are indeed achievable. This articles studies these policy fields and policy-making processes from the geographical margins of the state - frontiers and borderland regions - because they offer a privileged vantage point for studying the contested nature of policymaking in relation to the drugs-development-peace nexus. We set out a historical political economy framework to critically assess the assumptions underlying the integrationist agenda, as well as the evidence base to support it. By developing the notion of a policy trilemma we are critical of the dominant policy narrative that 'all good things come together', showing instead the fundamental tensions and trade-offs between these policy fields. In exploring the interactions between these policy fields, we aim to advance discussion and debate on how to engage with the tensions and trade-offs that this integrationist agenda reveals, but which have to date been largely ignored.
Topics: Humans; Pharmaceutical Preparations; Policy Making; Public Policy; Sustainable Development
PubMed: 33483206
DOI: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2021.103115