Policy and Health

This rich volume provides a comprehensive look at how policy leads to better health in Asia. Leading RAND thinkers, working in different disciplines, create an all-encompassing framework for students, scholars, and policymakers, clarifying what is known and still needs to be known about how policy and practice lead to better health outcomes in developing countries. Drawing on their broad experience, the authors explore the health effects of macroeconomic development, education, and technology. After making compelling arguments about the need for policymakers to use and demand evidence-based policy, they investigate the epidemiology of persistent infectious diseases and the rapid ascendancy of chronic diseases in the elderly, showing how effectively appropriate clinical medicine addresses illness and promotes well-being. Emphasis is placed on examining equity-improving solutions to ascertain how and where they have helped the poor, women, and other vulnerable populations. The book concludes with a discussion of politics, priorities, the private sector, and what role health departments should play to translate policy objectives into better health.

• Fullest, most up-to-date survey available on Asian and Pacific health systems and policy • Cross-disciplinary perpective embraces public policy, health, medicine, comparative institutional systems • Numerous tables, figures, boxed material

Foreword by Dean T. Jamison; Preface; Tables; Figures; Boxes; 1. Overview: the role and responsibility of governments in the health sector; 2. Evidence-based policy: using data to inform policy and improve health outcomes; 3. Prioritizing medical interventions: defining burden of disease and cost-effective interventions in the pursuit of universal primary care; 4. Financing and allocating public expenditures: leveraging public resources to meet objectives and increase private participation; 5. Toward better equity and access: persistent poverty, inadequate interventions, and the need for better data and solutions; 6. Government and the improvement of health behaviors; 7. Implementing policy objectives: the role and responsibilities of the ministry of health; Acronyms; Data Notes and Glossary - Chapter Two; References; Authors; Index.

‘Policy and Health provides the policymaker, the analyst, and the student with a comprehensive, thoughtful and lively discussion of today’s most pressing issues in health. Peabody and his impressive team of scholars deliver a valuable combination of a simple and robust framework together with a thorough assessment of the scientific evidence. This book helps us to understand how public policy can secure better health. It is required reading for all who are interested in health and development.’ Dr. Richard B. A. Feachem CBE, The World Bank

‘Finally there is a book that crosses disciplinary lines and fills a large gap in the academic development literature. Policy and Health seamlessly bridges clinical, financial, and management issues. What makes this book so remarkable is that it also critically examines macro policy issues without ignoring fundamental principles in medicine or economics.’ Professor Jacques van der Gaag, University of Amsterdam

‘The clear thinking and thoughtful writing in Policy and Health: Implications for Development in Asia simultaneously tell how much can be accomplished and how much there is to learn. This book never loses its focus or its scientific rigor. Drawing on experience in Asia, policymakers and accomplished scholars alike will find this essential reading - it is perhaps one of the most comprehensive references for health sector policy I have ever seen.’ Dr. Margaret Chan, Director of Health, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region