Selected Topics - Research

Events

• School of Public Health and Community Medicine, UNSW - Upcoming Events

Global policies and related documents

• Global Health Surveillance and the New International Health Regulations
  "The new International Health Regulations adopted by the World Health Assembly in May 2005 (IHR 2005) represents a major development in the use of international law for public health purposes. One of the most important aspects of IHR 2005 is the establishment of a global surveillance system for public health emergencies of international concern. This article assesses the surveillance system in IHR 2005 by applying well-established frameworks for evaluating public health surveillance. The assessment shows that IHR 2005 constitutes a major advance in global surveillance from what has prevailed in the past. Effectively implementing the IHR 2005 surveillance objectives requires surmounting technical, resource, governance, legal, and political obstacles. Although IHR 2005 contains some provisions that directly address these obstacles, active support by the World Health Organization and its member states is required to strengthen national and global surveillance capabilities."

Reports, guidelines and projects

• Best Resaerch for Best Health
  This report sets out the UK government's goals for medical research and development over the next five years.
• Building Effective Research Policy Networks: Linking Function and Form
  We know that networks matter for international development. This short paper, published by the ODI addresses some of the main characteristics of networks to identify a set of criteria worth looking into to explain how networks can better carry out their given functions. This paper is based on the same premise as previous work: that, ideally, the process of setting up networks needs to begin by defining the functions they want to play and then choosing their structure accordingly.
• Ethical issues in epidemiological research and public health practice
  "A rich and growing body of literature has emerged on ethics in epidemiologic research and public health practice. Recent articles have included conceptual frameworks of public health ethics and overviews of historical developments in the field. Several important topics in public health ethics have also been highlighted. Attention to ethical issues can facilitate the effective planning, implementation, and growth of a variety of public health programs and research activities. ...Published in Emerging Themes in Epidemiology 3:16, 2006 this article by Steven S Coughlin provides an overview of ethical issues in epidemiologic research and public health practice for readers who do not necessarily have an in-depth knowledge of public health ethics."
• Eurodad - Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers
• Evaluating Health Research Capacity: An Evidence-Based Tool
  “…An increasingly important goal of governments and external agencies in developing countries is the need for “capacity building” in health research. The goal of building capacity to improve the ability to conduct research, to use results effectively, and to promote demand for research. There is thus an urgent need for an evidence-based tool for determining whether the required infrastructure is present in a given setting, as well as for underpinning the design and evaluation of capacity-building programmes in health research. This article, published in PLoS Medicine Volume 3, Issue 8, describes the development and use of such a tool through analysis of published models and effective capacity-building principles, together with structured reflection and action by stakeholders at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi, Ghana.….”
• A Framework to measure the impact of investments in health research
  "This paper describes the approach taken by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research to develop a framework and indicators to measure the impact of health research. The development process included national and international consultations. Key methodology challenges and measurement requirements were identified. The framework that has resulted from this process includes definitions of key concepts, methodology, guidelines, identification of the different stakeholders for impact information and the individual concerns of each stakeholder group..."
• Incentivising Research and Development for the Diseases of Poverty
  This paper from the International Policy Network "...provides an overview of proposals intended to improve the prospects of developing new drugs for the diseases of poverty. Part 1 considers the need for new medicines in the wider context of addressing the diseases of poverty. Part 2 examines barriers to innovation. Part 3 considers various mechanisms for funding R&D into new drugs."
• International Clinical Trials Registry Platform
  "The World Health Organisations's International Clinical Trials Registry Platform is taking the lead in setting international norms and standards for trial registration and reporting. The Registry Platform consults with relevant stakeholders worldwide to produce consensus-based policies that uphold scientific and ethical principles on clinical trials but that are also practical and feasible."
• Mapping Knowledge Domains. US National Academy of Sciences - NAS Colloquium – 2004, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)
  A series of contributions on information visualisation and methods of mapping the connectivities of knowledge bases
• Monitoring and Evauation : Some Tools, Methods and Approaches
  This World Bank booklet presents a sample of Monitoring & Evaluation tools, methods and approaches, including several data collection methods, analytical frameworks, and types of evaluation and review. For each of these, a summary is provided of the following: their purpose and use; advantages and disadvantages; costs, skills, and time required; and key references. The booklet also discusses: Performance indicators, The logical framework (logframe) approach, Theory-based evaluation, Formal surveys, Rapid appraisal methods, Participatory methods, Public expenditure tracking surveys, Impact evaluation and Cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness analysis.
• No Development Without Research: A Challenge for research capacity strengthening
  This publication reviews the literature and surveys the successes and failures of research capacity strengthening in the health field, in the context of its potential to contribute to health, development and equity. It points very clearly to the need for all stakeholders in the field – funders, producers, users and beneficiaries of health research – to be organized into a health research system in which the resources, drivers and priorities are aligned to produce results that are needed, valued and utilised…
• Peer Review and the Relevance of Science
  "Underlying the question of the social relevance of science is the matter of decision-making and quality control in science, usually via the peer-review process. Peer review plays a central role in many of the key moments in science. It is the main form of decision-making around grant selection, academic publishing and the promotion of individual scientists within universities and research institutions. It also underpins methods used to evaluate scientific institutions. Yet peer review as currently practised can be narrowly scientific, to the exclusion of other pressing quality criteria relating to social relevance. It is often also controlled and practised by scientists to the exclusion of wider groups that might bring valuable perspectives. This article sets out to examine peer review through the lens of social relevance. It challenges peer review as currently practised and makes some suggestions for ways forward…..”
• Personal Histories in Health Research
  Over the past few decades, research in health and health care has been an important area of interest across a wide range of disciplinary perspectives. Those who have been engaged in these efforts often have rich stories to relate on how they became involved in this area, their views on the development of health and health care research, and the lessons they have learned. This collection brings together the personal histories of twelve eminent specialists in the field.
• Present status and future strategy for medical research in Europe
  This 2007 White Paper from the European Medical Research Councils examines how "to strengthen and improve European medical research, which in turn will result in better healthcare and improved human welfare. If funding for medical research in Europe is doubled within the next 10 years, and this is combined with the implementation of 'best practice' for collaboration and organisation of medical research, there will be major benefits for European society, with a better health, welfare and hospital treatment, and a thriving medical industry…."
• Priority Setting for Health Research: Toward a management process for low and middle income countries
  This paper presents discussion of a think tank consultation by the Council on Health Research and Development and health research managers from Brazil, South Africa, The Netherlands, The Philippines, the private sector, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and the Global Forum for Health Research. Rather than having priorities ‘reviewed’ and ‘set’ through a workshop or national activity that produces a plan reflecting the situation at one point in time, the discussion in this think tank examined what process is needed so that national health research priorities are managed in a dynamic way, and are measured, updated and can evolve with the reality of the national, operational and political context.
• Promising Practices in Research Use
  Many healthcare organizations would like to ensure they are routinely making better use of research as they develop policies or make day-to-day decisions. Promising Practices in Research Use highlights organizations that have invested their time, energy and resources to try and improve their ability to use research. Each story in this series highlights the experience of one organization in identifying an area to improve, developing a strategy to do so, and experiencing the benefits.
• Public Scholarship: A New Perspective for the 21st Century
  Stephen R. Graubard, Professor emeritus of history at Brown University, former editor of Daedalus, the journal of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2004, Carnegie Corporation of New York - “While we are told by countless critics, educators and pundits that we are living in the most “informed” of times—indeed, a time when we are bombarded by information from all sides, every minute, every hour of the day and night (and, perhaps even more worrisome, I’m sure there are those who are already working on ways in which they can have information reach us even while we sleep)—we are also, sadly, living in the least analytical and insightful of times. Thoughtful individuals, however, have almost always been concerned about how to transform raw information into useful, structured knowledge. According to Carlos Fuentes, for example, “the greatest challenge facing modern society and civilization is how to cope with and how to transform information to knowledge.”
• Qualitative Techniques for Health Equity Analysis: Technical Notes
  These Technical Notes published by the World Bank, outline, through worked examples, the issues that arise in the quantitative analysis of health equity. The first set of notes outline issues that arise in the measurement of key variables, such as health outcomes and living standards. The next set outline various generic tools that can be used to analyze a variety of questions. The final set outlines various applications of these and other techniques.
• Setting the stage for equity-sensitive monitoring of the maternal and child health Millennium Development Goals
  This study uses a population based survey to analyse several indicators and stratifiers to demonstrate that establishing a helath equity baseline is necessary and feasible. The data reveal that inequities are complex and interactive; inference cannot be drawn about the nature and extent of inequalities in health outcomes from a single stratifier or indicator.
• Social Sciences and Humanties in Health Research
  This Candian report provides an overview of the role of the social sciences and humanities in health research. It provides a snapshot of fields of study and innovative approaches to understanding and addressing health issues.
• Statistics Canada - Health Indicators Vol.2 (November 2003)

Educational resources

• Canadian Institute of Health Information - Health Indicators
• Centres for Medicare and Medical Services (USA)
• ChildStats.gov - America's Children 1999 - Health Indicators
• Demographic Entrapment
  A web-site by Maurice King (University of Leeds) and Charles Elliott (Cambridge University) on which they argue that "[t]here is strong evidence to suggest that large parts of the world, including most of Africa and parts of South Asia, are demographically trapped' in that communities there have exceeded, or are expected to exceed,
  - the carrying capacity of their local ecosystems, and
  - their opportunities for migration, and
  - the ability of their economies to produce the necessary goods and services which they can exchange for food and other necessities.
  When this happens, they are faced with starvation and slaughter"
• Directory of Grants and Fellowships in Global Health Sciences
  "The beginning of the 21st century has witnessed a tremendous expansion and vitalization of the field of global health. Organizations never before engaged in the endeavor of global health research have entered the field, while long-standing supporters have redoubled their efforts. The interest of undergraduate students, graduate students, and incipient researchers, both in the U.S. and abroad, is perhaps at its greatest ever. The Fogarty International Center (FIC) of the U.S. National Institutes of Health has compiled this directory as a service to students and researchers around the world."
• Discussion paper: "Development of National Public Health Indicators"
• Funding Roadmap
  The Funding Road Map is provided by the Canadian Coalition for Health Research. The Road Map contains summary information about funding sources for global health projects, both within Canada and internationally, including eligibility criteria, application procedures and contact information. It includes funding sources that support specifically global health research, as well as those that support global research projects that involve health elements and global health projects that involve research elements.
• GreyLIT Network
  Developed by the Department of Energy's Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI), in collaboration with DOD/DTIC, NASA, and EPA, the GrayLIT Network is a portal for technical report information generated through federally funded research and development projects. The GrayLIT Network makes the gray literature of U.S. Federal Agencies easily accessible over the Internet. It taps into the search engines of distributed gray literature collections, enabling the user to find information without first having to know the sponsoring agency.
• Health Impact Assessment Guidance
  Developed by the Institute of Public Health in Ireland on behalf of the Ministerial Group on Public Health, this document describes Health Impact Assessment (HIA) and the steps involved in HIA. It gives advice based on the experience of HIA practitioners and provides tools to help carry out these steps and adapt HIA to local circumstances.
• Healthy Anchorage Indicators
  "Helping Anchorage to measure its health and quality of life - a Project of the Anchorage Department of Health and Human Services Community Health Promotion Program. HAI's purpose is to provide information about how our community is doing health-wise—information that will help us make smarter choices about our personal health and the health of our community"
• Healthy People - Leading Health Indicators
  The Leading Health Indicators (LHIs) established by Healthy People 2010 will be used to measure the health of the Nation over the next 10 years.
• Hesperian Foundation
  The Hesperian Foundation is a non-profit publisher of books and educational materials that help people take the lead in their own health care and organize to improve health conditions in their communities.
• Indicators of child and youth well-being
  from: Trends in the Well-Being of America's Children and Youth: 1996, published by the Department of Health and Human Services
• International Data Base (IDB)
  A resource offered by the US Census Bureau, "a computerized data bank containing statistical tables of demographic, and socio-economic data for 227 countries and areas of the world"
• Joint Canada/United States Survey of Health - The Daily, Wedensday 2 June 2004
• MAPI Research Institute - Distribution of Health Outcomes Instruments - a good questionnaire resource.
• Medical Geography Page - "Medical Geography can be defined as the branch of Human Geography concerned with the geographic aspects of health (status) and health care (systems). It seeks, along with 'sister' disciplines such as Medical Anthropology, Medical Sociology and Health Economics, to broaden our understanding of the various factors which affect the health of populations"
• Medical Statistics World-Wide - a website which has collected epidemiological and bio-statistical resources available on the Net - a nice shortcut though it's Anglo-Saxon-biased
• Michigan Department of Community Health - Critical Health Indicators
• New Mexico Department of Health - Health Indicators
• NHS Scotland - Clinical Indicators Support Team - contains links to Health Indicator and Outcomes resources
• OpenEpi - Epidemiological Calculators
  "OpenEpi provides statistics for counts and person-time rates in descriptive and analytic studies, stratified analysis with exact confidence limits, matched pair analysis, sample size calculations, random numbers, chi-square for dose-response trend, sensitivity, specificity and other evaluation statistics, R x C tables, and links to other useful sites."
• Public Health Information and Data: A Training Manual
  This training manual provides instruction to those assisting members of the public health workforce on issues related to information access and management. The topics covered include "...Staying informed of developments and events relating to public health, finding reliable and authoritative consumer oriented materials to support health education, retrieval of statistical information and access data sets relevant to public health and retrieve and evaluate information in support of evidence based practice."
• Redefining Progress
  "seeks to shift the prevailing definition of progress, from one based exclusively on a growing economy, to one that resonates with people's sense of the quality of their lives. We believe that, as it stands today, our society faces a troubling future. By using traditional financial measures as our primary compass, we steer society on a course that all too frequently points us away from progress"
  - National Indicators Project
  - Community Indicators Project
• Requiem
  "Our civilization is dying from "system" problems; problems such as the population explosion, natural resource depletion, and war. Problems which have no technical solutions. Moreover, our system problems have no current political solutions. If there is any hope at all, it is that people will come to understand the key systems in their world and then find the courage to make the hard decisions necessary for survival. We must find political means to abandon the competitive, consumptive social system -- or we shall perish" - this is an extremely rich resource, highly recommended
• Research Matters in Governance Equity and Health Videos
  This page provides access to videos produced by International Development Research Centre, Canada's Research Matters in Governance, Equity and Health. The first video 'Does Research Matter?' was filmed at the 2004 Global Forum for Health Research. "Making Research Matter" and "Researching the Rollout" examine the project " Public Sector Anti-Retroviral Therapy" currently underway in the Free State, South Africa.
• Resources for Methods and Evaluation in Social Research
  "The focus is on "how-to" do evaluation research and the methods used: surveys, focus groups, sampling, interviews, and other methods. Most of these links are to resources that can be read over the web"
• Supercourse: Epidemiology, the Internet and Global Health
  "Designed to provide an overview on epidemiology and the Internet for medical- and health-related students around the world".
• The Security Demographic - Population and Civil Conflict in the Post Civil War Period
  "Do the dynamics of human population — rates of growth, age structure, distribution and more — influence when and where warfare will next break out? The findings of this report suggest that the risks of civil conflict (deadly violence between governments and non-state insurgents, or between state factions within territorial boundaries) that are generated by demographic factors may be much more significant than generally recognized, and worthy of more serious consideration by national security policymakers and researchers. Its conclusions — drawn from a review of literature and analyses of data from 180 countries, about half of which experienced civil conflict at some time from 1970 through 2000 — argue that: Recent progress along the demographic transition — a population’s shift from high to low rates of birth and death — is associated with continuous declines in the vulnerability of nation-states to civil conflict. If this association continues through the 21st century, then a range of policies promoting small, healthy and better educated families and long lives among populations in developing countries seems likely to encourage greater political stability in weak states and to enhance global security in the future."
• US-Demography
• WHO - Consultation on Increased Investments in Health Outcomes for the Poor, October 2003
• WWW Virtual Library: Epidemiology

Organisations and Networks

UN and multinational

• European Association of Population Studies
  "an international and multidisciplinary forum for the study of Europe's population. It stimulates the interest in population issues among governments, national and international organizations and the general public. To this end, EAPS fosters the exchange and dissemination of population-related information"
• UNESCAP Population Program- Reproductive Health Indicators
• Unicef - Monitering and Statistics - comprehensive set of economic and social statistics, by country/territory
• United Nations Population Information Network (POPIN)
  "Founded: 9 May 1979, by resolution 1979/33 of the United Nations Economic and Social Council. Commenced operations January 1981. To identify, establish, strengthen and coordinate population information activities at international, regional and national levels; to facilitate and enhance the availability of population information in collaboration with the regional commissions, the specialized agencies and the NGO population community; and to provide a forum for the exchange of experiences among developed and developing countries on population information issues"
• WHO Database in PRSPs
  “How do Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers – PRSPs – reflect health? Are they leading to the creation of more "pro-poor" health policies in low-income countries? To greater recognition of the role of health in economic development? This database will help to answer these questions. Using the original PRSP document as its reference point, the database provides an analysis of the health component of each country’s PRSP from a poverty perspective. In addition, it summarizes what PRSPs say about the health challenges in a particular country, the proposed health strategies to meet those challenges, and the mechanism to monitor progress.”
• WHO Department of Reproductive Health and Research
• WHO/ AFRO Division of Non-Communicable Diseases
• WHO Statistical Information Service (WHOSIS)
• WHO Library and Information Netwroks for Knowledge
  “ …The WHO Library and Information Networks for Knowledge (LNK) provides comprehensive library and information services on WHO-produced recorded information in print and other media. In addition, library services give access to worldwide health, medical and development information resources to WHO headquarters, regions and country offices, ministries of health and other government offices, health workers in Member States, other UN and international agencies, and diplomatic missions. The WHO library programmes help regions and developing countries achieve self-sufficiency in providing information services to the health sector. …”
• WHO: Weekly Epidemiological Record

Government

• Australian Institute of Health and Welfare
• Florida Dept. of Health: Health Statistics - Global Demography Project at the National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis (USA)
• Office of Research Integrity (USA)
  'The Office of Research Integrity (ORI) promotes integrity in biomedical and behavioral research supported by the Public Health Service (PHS) at about 4,000 institutions worldwide. ORI monitors institutional investigations of research misconduct and facilitates the responsible conduct of research through educational, preventive, and regulatory activities. ..."

Non Government

• AIDPEOPLE
  Aidpeople.org is an online community for people involved in humanitarian aid and development work, enabling them to keep in touch, network, find infornation and share knowledge.
• European Clearing House on Health Outcomes (ECHHO) - funded by the European Commission as part of its BIOMED program
• Canadian Health Services Research Foundation
  The Canadian Health Services Research Foundation supports the evidence-based management of Canada's healthcare system by facilitating knowledge transfer and exchange - bridging the gap between research and healthcare management and policy.
• Centre for Collaborative Research in Health Outcomes and Policy (CRHOP)
• Irish Clearing House on Health Outcomes
  The general aim is: to enable those engaged in evaluating the impact of their practice and those who have an interest in the effect of current practice on the health status of the Irish population, to have access to a range of information and advice
• National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health (Australia)
• New England Research Institutes (NERI)
  Small research institute of the highest quality; drop in and learn more about a different type of epidemiology and public health research, strong women's research institute
• Network for Integrated European Population Studies (NIEPS) - " brings together for the first time national population institutes in Europe. They form a platform, which aims at promoting a dialogue on policy relevant domains of population and family dynamics on the one hand and socio-economic processes on the other"
• NSW Health Centre for Health Research in Criminal Justice
  The Centre for Health Research in Criminal Justice (CHRCJ) was formed in 2003 and arose out of the need to establish a centre of excellence to conduct quantitative research in the areas of prisoner health, and health matters that impact on, and are impacted on by, the criminal justice system. The CHRCJ is the only organisation in the world devoted to the study of prisoner health issues; its work is recognised at the national and international level.
• Population Council
  "a nonprofit, nongovernmental research organization established in 1952, seeks to improve the wellbeing and reproductive health of current and future generations around the world and to help achieve a humane, equitable, and sustainable balance between people and resources"
• Population Reference Bureau (USA)
  "founded in 1929 and is America's oldest population organization. We are a nonprofit, nonadvocacy, educational organization. We work with both public and private sector partners to increase the amount, accuracy and usefulness of information concerning changes in population and the impact those changes may have"

Academic Institutions with particular focus in this area

• Australian National University: Demography Program
  Rich resources on population development, public health
• Center for Demographic Studies (Duke University)
  "Primary focus of our research is statistical analysis into long term care of the elderly population, in specific those 65 years of age and older"
• Center for Demography and Ecology (University of Wisconsin, USA)
  "A multi-disciplinary faculty research cooperative for social scientific demographic research whose membership includes sociologists, rural sociologists, economists, and historians. Current and planned research activities of CDE focus on population composition and distribution within the United States, especially on changes in family structure and process and social inequality, but the total range of research and training activities of CDE members is far broader in content and scope"
• Centre for Health Outcomes and PharmacoEconomic Research - located at the University of Arizona
• Center for Health Quality, Outcomes, and Economic Research (CHQOER) - located at Boston University
• Centre for Health Outcomes and Policy Research - located at the University of Pennsylvania
• Centre for Health Outcomes, Policy and Evaluation Studies (HOPES) - located at Ohio State University
• European Center for Medical Informatics, Statistics and Epidemiology
  Based at the Charles University in Prague (Czech Republic), the Center aims: "1) to create and European teaching network for higher education in medical informatics, statistics and epidemiology, to organize and launch graduate and postgraduate education on international level, and 2) to initiate international joint research and development programs in the interdisciplinary field of medical informatics, statistics and epidemiology, to cooperate closely with health care sector"
• Family Health Outcomes Project (FHOP) - located at UCSF (USA) - Health Indicators
• College of Population Studies, Chulalongkorn University (Thailand)
• Population Studies Center of the University of Michigan - one of the oldest in the USA with a strong interdisciplinary component
• Population Studies Center of the University of Pennsylvania - rich demographic resources of particular interest to public health
• University of North Carolina - Program on Health Outcomes
• University of California, San Fransisco - Family Health Outcomes Project (FHOP)

Key Conferences, conference and workshop reports

Coming conferences

Conference reports

Journals, Newsletters, Forums

• BMC Medical Research Methodology
  BioMed Central Medical Research Methodology is an open access journal publishing original peer-reviewed research articles in methodological approaches to healthcare research. Articles on the methodology of epidemiological research, clinical trials and meta-analysis/systematic review are particularly encouraged, as are empirical studies of the associations between choice of methodology and study outcomes.
• Global Public Health
  Global Public Health is a new peer-reviewed journal that hopes to energetically engage with key public health issues that have come to the fore in the global environment — mounting inequalities between rich and poor; the globalization of trade; new patterns of travel and migration; epidemics of newly-emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases; the HIV/AIDS pandemic; the increase in chronic illnesses; escalating pressure on public health infrastructures around the world; and the growing range and scale of conflict situations, terrorist threats, environmental pressures, natural and human-made disasters.

Bibliographies, Libraries

Public health bookshops

• Public Health bookshop