Selected Topics - Prevention

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Ageing at UNSW Events Global policies and related documents Reports, guidelines and projects Educational resources Organisations and Networks UN and multinational Government Non Government	Academic Institutions with particular focus in this area Key Conferences, conference and workshop reports Conference reports Journals, Newsletters, Forums Bibliographies, Libraries Public Health bookshop

Events

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

Global policies and related documents

Reports, guidelines and projects

• Coverage of Cervical Cancer Screening in 57 Countries: Low Average Levels and Large Inequalities
  "Effective coverage rates for cervical cancer screening services are very low outside of developed countries, and women at the highest risk of developing cervical cancer are among the least likely to be screened. Coverage rates decline with advancing age, when cervical cancer incidence rates are the highest. Poor women, who likely have higher exposure to known cervical cancer biological risk factors such as smoking and unsafe sex, also show much lower coverage rates. Improving the effective coverage of cervical cancer screening or developing alternative ways to decrease cervical cancer mortality worldwide would have a considerable impact on decreasing the disease's burden as well as overall health inequalities. No one strategy will work everywhere, making it important to consider multiple strategies across — and likely within — countries." [PLoS Med June 2008 - 5(6): e132]
• Primary Prevention of Chronic Diseases: The Role of Nutrition
  This Public Health Nutrition Background Paper of July 2003 contains information for health professionals about nutrition as a determinant of chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer.
• The concept of prevention: a good idea gone astray?
  In this paper by B Starfield, J Hyde, J Gérvas and I Heath, the authors argue that,"over time, the definition of prevention has expanded so that its meaning in the context of health services is now unclear. As risk factors are increasingly considered to be the equivalent of 'diseases' for purposes of intervention, the concept of prevention has lost all practical meaning. This paper reviews the inconsistencies in its utility, and suggests principles that it should follow in the future: a population orientation with explicit consideration of attributable risk, the setting of priorities based on reduction in illness and avoidance of adverse effects, and the imperative to reduce inequities in health."
• The prevention of lifestyle-related chronic diseases: An economic framework
  This March 2008 paper by Franco Sassi and Jeremy Hurst for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD Health Working Paper No. 32) "provides an economic perspective on the prevention of chronic diseases, focusing in particular on diseases linked to lifestyle choices. The proposed economic framework is centred on the hypothesis that the prevention of chronic diseases may provide the means for increasing social welfare, enhancing health equity, or both, relative to a situation in which chronic diseases are simply treated once they emerge."
• WHO MONICA Project
  Established in the early 1980s in many Centres around the world to MONItor trends in CArdiovascular diseases (CHD event registration is obligatory, stroke optional), and to relate these to risk factor changes in the population over a ten year period. It was set up to explain the diverse trends in cardiovascular disease mortality which were observed from the 1970s onwards. There are total of 32 MONICA Collaborating Centres in 21 countries. The total population age 25-64 years being monitored is ten million men and women.

Educational resources

• Cancer Links
  An excellent, multi-lingual meta-site on cancer prevention and education - probably the best site available on the net
• Comprehensive Health Education Foundation (USA)
  "Committed to what health education can do for individuals and communities", this organisation covers a wide area of topics related to prevention and health education.
• Handbook of Injury and Violence Prevention
  "This comprehensive manual [edited by Doll, Bonzo, Mercy, Sleet and Haas] details injury and violence interventions that have proven to work effectively with vulnerable populations across all stages of life. It will benefit practitioners who manage, implement, or evaluate injury or violence prevention programs; policymakers who influence injury or violence prevention through legislation and other policies; university faculty who teach coursework in injury and violence prevention; and graduate students preparing to work in or with injury or violence prevention programs. The Handbook on Injury and Violence Prevention is a must read for all who strive to make our world safer and healthier."
• Prevention Yellow Pages
  A huge collection of links to prevention programs and resources, well-structured web-site
• Suicide Prevention: The Public Health Approach (USA)
  "The National Strategy for Suicide Prevention advocates a public health approach to suicide prevention. Public health is the science and art of promoting health, preventing disease, and prolonging life through the organized efforts of society. The public health approach is widely regarded as the approach that is mostly likely to produce significant and sustained reductions in suicide. It uses five basic evidence-based steps in a systematic way. These steps are applicable to any health problem that threatens substantial portions of a group or population."
• The Canadian Best Practices Portal for Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention
  The primary goals of the Canadian Best Practices Portal are to: 1) Develop and disseminate best practices information for chronic disease prevention and control interventions; 2) Provide decision makers with a comprehensive and standardized resource about best practices for chronic disease prevention and control; and 3) Create awareness of the overall Canadian Best Practices System through communication and marketing activities targeted to key audience: decision makers in practice, decision makers in policy development, decision makers in research

Organisations and Networks

UN and multinational

Government

• CDC Public Health Prevention Service (USA)
  “A unique 3-year service and training program that builds skills in program planning, implementation, and evaluation.”

Non Government

• International Taskforce for Prevention of Coronary Heart Disease
  "Serves the educational goals of the International Atherosclerosis Society and the World Heart Federation; its membership includes representatives from these organisations"

Academic Institutions with particular focus in this area

• American College of Preventive Medicine
• Stanford Center for Research in Disease Prevention

Key Conferences, conference and workshop reports

Coming conferences

Conference reports

Journals, Newsletters, Forums

• The Journal of Primary Prevention - A bimonthly journal, published 6 times per year, it “promotes understanding of primary prevention theory, practice and research. The journal publishes social/behavioral science articles on a variety of topics, including the promotion of mental health and social/emotional functioning, and the prevention of negative outcomes such as school failure, substance use/abuse, and violence. Research includes evaluations of school- and community-based programs, cross-cultural comparisons, curriculum/program and measure development, and meta-analyses.”

Bibliographies, Libraries

Public health bookshops

• Public Health bookshop