-
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 -
The Australian Journal of Rural Health Feb 2021
Topics: Delivery of Health Care; Health Policy; Humans; Leadership; Public Health; Public Policy; Speech
PubMed: 33631051
DOI: 10.1111/ajr.12729 -
International Journal of Environmental... Feb 2023Given the cost-effective nature of promoting desirable behaviors among individuals and societies, national and local governments have widely applied the nudge concept in... (Review)
Review
Given the cost-effective nature of promoting desirable behaviors among individuals and societies, national and local governments have widely applied the nudge concept in various public policy fields. This viewpoint briefly explains the concept of nudge and presents the trend of nudge application in public health policy with illustrative examples. While most academic evidence on its effectiveness has been derived from Western countries, there is a significant accumulation of cases of nudge practices in non-Western countries, including the Western Pacific nations. This viewpoint also provides tips for designing nudge interventions. We introduce a simple, three-step procedure for this purpose: (1) identify target behavior, (2) determine friction and fuel of the behavior, and (3) design and implement a nudge-as well as the behavioral process map and the EAST framework.
Topics: Humans; Choice Behavior; Health Behavior; Public Policy; Motivation; Health Policy
PubMed: 36900972
DOI: 10.3390/ijerph20053962 -
The Lancet. Respiratory Medicine Apr 2023
Topics: Humans; Anaphylaxis; Canada; Vaccines; Public Policy; Health Policy
PubMed: 37000715
DOI: 10.1016/S2213-2600(23)00037-1 -
International Journal of Environmental... Sep 2019Policy action in the coming decade will be crucial to achieving globally agreed upon goals to decarbonize the economy and build resilience to a warmer, more extreme... (Review)
Review
Policy action in the coming decade will be crucial to achieving globally agreed upon goals to decarbonize the economy and build resilience to a warmer, more extreme climate. Public health has an essential role in climate planning and action: "Co-benefits" to health help underpin greenhouse gas reduction strategies, while safeguarding health-particularly of the most vulnerable-is a frontline local adaptation goal. Using the structure of the core functions and essential services (CFES), we reviewed the literature documenting the evolution of public health's role in climate change action since the 2009 launch of the US CDC Climate and Health Program. We found that the public health response to climate change has been promising in the area of assessment (monitoring climate hazards, diagnosing health status, assessing vulnerability); mixed in the area of policy development (mobilizing partnerships, mitigation and adaptation activities); and relatively weak in assurance (communication, workforce development and evaluation). We suggest that the CFES model remains important, but is not aligned with three concepts-governance, implementation and adjustment-that have taken on increasing importance. Adding these concepts to the model can help ensure that public health fulfills its potential as a proactive partner fully integrated into climate policy planning and action in the coming decade.
Topics: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S.; Climate Change; Environmental Policy; Health Planning; Health Policy; Public Health; United States
PubMed: 31487789
DOI: 10.3390/ijerph16183232 -
The Hastings Center Report Jul 2020Pain policy is not drug policy. If society wants to improve the lives of people in pain and compress the terrible inequalities in its diagnosis and treatment, we have to...
Pain policy is not drug policy. If society wants to improve the lives of people in pain and compress the terrible inequalities in its diagnosis and treatment, we have to tailor policy to the root causes driving our problems in treating pain humanely and equitably. In the United States, we do not. Instead, we have proceeded to conflate drug policy with pain policy, relying on arguably magical thinking for the conclusion that by addressing the drug overdose crisis, we are simultaneously addressing the pain crisis. This is a category error, decades of commitment to which have resulted mostly in a worsening of both public health problems. Disentangling our problems in treating pain fairly and equitably from our problems with drugs and substance use is the only path to humane and ethical policy for each.
Topics: Analgesics, Opioid; Chronic Pain; Drug Overdose; Health Policy; Humans; Public Health; Public Policy; United States
PubMed: 33448422
DOI: 10.1002/hast.1170 -
Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs Jan 2020U.S. policymakers and public health practitioners lack composite indicators (indices) to assess and compare the restrictiveness of state-level alcohol policy...
OBJECTIVE
U.S. policymakers and public health practitioners lack composite indicators (indices) to assess and compare the restrictiveness of state-level alcohol policy environments, conceptualized as the presence of multiple policies in effect in a particular place and time. The purposes of this study were to characterize the alcohol policy environment in each U.S. state and Washington, DC, in 2018, and to examine changes during the past 20 years.
METHOD
State-specific Alcohol Policy Scale (APS) scores from 1999 to 2018 were based on 29 policies, after weighting each present policy by its efficacy and degree of implementation. Modified APS scores were also calculated on the basis of two sets of mutually exclusive policy subgroups.
RESULTS
APS scores in 2018 varied considerably between states, ranging from 25.6 to 67.9 on a theoretical scale of 0 to 100; the median score was 43.5 (based on a 0-100 range), and 43 states had scores less than 50. The median change in state APS scores from 1999 to 2018 was positive (+4.9, range: -7.4 to +10.3), indicating increases in the restrictiveness of policy environments, with decreases in only five states. The increases in APS scores were primarily attributable to the implementation of stronger impaired-driving laws, whereas policies to reduce excessive drinking were unchanged. There was no correlation between states' excessive drinking policy scores and their impaired-driving scores (r = .05, p = .74).
CONCLUSIONS
Based on this policy scale, few states have restrictive policy environments. Although states adopted policies targeting impaired driving during the study period, there was no change in policies to reduce excessive drinking.
Topics: Alcohol Drinking; Automobile Driving; District of Columbia; Humans; Public Policy; United States
PubMed: 32048602
DOI: 10.15288/jsad.2020.81.58 -
Gaceta Medica de Mexico 2022Bioethics, as a reference framework for collective decision-making in plural societies, represents a valuable tool for the development, implementation and evaluation of...
INTRODUCTION
Bioethics, as a reference framework for collective decision-making in plural societies, represents a valuable tool for the development, implementation and evaluation of public policies in order to address structural deficiencies and contexts of vulnerability that disproportionately affect certain sectors of the population.
OBJECTIVE
To provide guidelines for the strengthening of actions, programs and public policies aimed at addressing the ethical dilemmas and challenges faced by health personnel.
METHODS
A documentary research process was carried out on the moral context faced by health personnel at the federal level.
RESULTS
Health budget programs show important gaps in their design, implementation or evaluation, which give rise to various ethical and human rights problems.
CONCLUSIONS
Given the difficulty for reaching agreements or generating common understanding with regard to public health problems, bioethics contributes to a systematic approach to the challenges of the National Health System, for the safeguarding of the human rights of users, as well as of the integrity of its institutions.
Topics: Bioethics; Health Policy; Human Rights; Humans; Mexico; Public Health; Public Policy
PubMed: 35894742
DOI: 10.24875/GMM.M22000656 -
American Journal of Public Health Oct 2021
Topics: Humans; Public Policy; Workplace
PubMed: 34529450
DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2021.306368 -
The Behavioral and Brain Sciences Aug 2023I greatly respect the authors of the target article. However, in contrast to the target article's assertion, practitioners of behavioral public policy are indeed...
I greatly respect the authors of the target article. However, in contrast to the target article's assertion, practitioners of behavioral public policy are indeed involved in developing and promoting systemic solutions. Its "i-frame"/"s-frame" distinction is incoherent, unhelpful, and obscures promising future directions for behavioral public policy. Its content and presentation undermine its stated goals and encourage sweeping dismissals of the field.
Topics: Humans; Public Policy; Behavior
PubMed: 37646275
DOI: 10.1017/S0140525X23000924