HEIA tools: inclusion of migrants in health policy in Canada

2018 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 697-705 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin Pottie ◽  
Branka Agic ◽  
Douglas Archibald ◽  
Ayesha Ratnayake ◽  
Marcela Tapia ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Health Policy ◽  
Impact Assessment ◽  
Health Equity ◽  
Policy Development ◽  
Health Inequities ◽  
Migrant Communities ◽  
Migrant Populations ◽  
Health Practitioners

Abstract This paper introduces the Migrant Populations Equity Extension for Ontario’s Health Equity Impact Assessment (HEIA) initiatives. It provides a mechanism to address the needs of migrant populations, within a program and policy framework. Validation of an equity extension framework using community leaders and health practitioners engaged in HEIA workshops across Ontario. Participants assessed migrants’ health needs and discussed how to integrate these needs into health policy. The Migrant Populations Equity Extension’s framework assists decision makers assess relevant populations, collaborate with immigrant communities, improve policy development and mitigate unintended negative impacts of policy initiatives. The tool framework aims to build stakeholder capacity and improve their ability to conduct HEIAs while including migrant populations. The workshops engaged participants in equity discussions, enhanced their knowledge of migrant policy development and promoted HEIA tools in health decision-making. Prior to these workshops, many participants were unaware of the HEIA tool. The workshops informed the validation of the equity extension and support materials for training staff in government and public health. Ongoing research on policy implementation would be valuable. Public health practitioners and migrant communities can use the equity extension’s framework to support decision-making processes and address health inequities. This framework may improve policy development and reduce health inequities for Ontario’s diverse migrant populations. Many countries are now using health impact assessment and health equity frameworks. This migration population equity extension is an internationally unique framework that engages migrant communities.

scholarly journals Sharpening our public health lens: advancing im/migrant health equity during COVID-19 and beyond

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefanie Machado ◽  
Shira Goldenberg
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Equity ◽  
Clinical Training ◽  
White Supremacy ◽  
Research Training ◽  
Migrant Health ◽  
Structural Racism ◽  
Migrant Communities ◽  
Migrant Populations ◽  
Global Pandemic

Abstract Background Differential impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic have brought deeply rooted inequities to the forefront, where increasing evidence has shown that racialized immigrant and migrant (im/migrant) populations face a disproportionate burden of COVID-19. Im/migrant communities may be worst affected by lockdowns and restrictive measures, face less opportunity to physically distance or stay home sick within ‘essential’ jobs, and experience severe barriers to healthcare. Insufficient attention to experiences of racialized im/migrants in current pandemic responses globally highlights an urgent need to more fulsomely address unmet health needs through an anti-racist, equity-oriented lens. This commentary aims to highlight the need for public health and clinical training, research, and policy to thoughtfully prioritize im/migrant health equity during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic. Main text Global pandemic responses have neglected im/migrants by continuing to ignore or insufficiently address inequities, exacerbating COVID transmission, xenophobia, and occupational injustice. Deaths, illness, stress, and other negative outcomes of the overlapping epidemics of COVID-19 and structural racism disproportionately borne by racialized im/migrants suggest the urgent need for action. As evidence mounts about how im/migrants have been left behind in times of crises, we need enhanced focus on health equity within COVID-19 research and interventions, including research that examines and pursues structural interventions necessary to mitigate these impacts, and that identifies patterns and harms of xenophobic policy, structural racism, and white supremacy in shaping im/migrant health outcomes. We must also strengthen anti-racist and equity-oriented curriculum within health education, and ensure sufficient attention to the needs of im/migrant communities within public health, clinical, and research training. Conclusion The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated and rendered more visible the deeply rooted health and social inequities faced by racialized im/migrants across diverse settings. We argue for a greater emphasis on equity-focused and anti-racist im/migrant health research, interventions, and training. Policymakers and practitioners must ensure that healthcare policies and practices do not exacerbate inequities, and instead meaningfully address unmet needs of communities, including racialized im/migrants. Ethical and respectful community engagement, commitment and collaboration with global, national, and local communities, policymakers, academics, and educators, as well as accountability across sectors, is critical.

Glossary of health equity in the context of environmental public health practice

2019 ◽  
Vol 73 (9) ◽  
pp. 806-809 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen Rideout ◽  
Dianne Oickle
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Equity ◽  
Public Health Practice ◽  
Health Sector ◽  
Health Inequities ◽  
Environmental Public Health ◽  
The Social ◽  
Health Practitioners ◽  
Canadian Context ◽  
Public Health Practitioners

Health equity is increasingly present as an overarching goal in public health policy frameworks across the globe. Public health actions to support health equity are challenging because solutions to the root causes of health inequities often lie outside of the health sector, and a specific role for environmental public health practitioners has not been clearly articulated. The regulatory nature of the environmental public health profession means that their role is particularly ambiguous. Still, environmental public health practitioners are well situated to identify and respond to factors that contribute to health inequities because of their role as front-line professionals who interact with a wide cross-sector of the population. This Glossary, rooted primarily in the Canadian context but drawing on lessons from elsewhere, describes environmental public health regulatory practice in relation to health equity, including approaches that practitioners can use to contribute to addressing the social determinants of health.

Voluntary food fortification policy in Australia: did ‘formal’ stakeholder consultation influence the outcome?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bronwyn Ashton ◽  
Cassandra Star ◽  
Mark Lawrence ◽  
John Coveney
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Policy Process ◽  
Policy Development ◽  
Food Fortification ◽  
Policy Debate ◽  
Stakeholder Consultation ◽  
Regulatory Decision ◽  
Food Regulation ◽  
Ministerial Council

Summary This research aimed to understand how the policy was represented as a ‘problem’ in food regulatory decision-making in Australia, and the implications for public health nutrition engagement with policy development processes. Bacchi’s ‘what’s the problem represented to be?’ discourse analysis method was applied to a case study of voluntary food fortification policy (VFP) developed by the then Australia and New Zealand Food Regulation Ministerial Council (ANZFRMC) between 2002 and 2012. As a consultative process is a legislated aspect of food regulatory policy development in Australia, written stakeholder submissions contributed most of the key documents ascertained as relevant to the case. Four major categories of stakeholder were identified in the data; citizen, public health, government and industry. Predictably, citizen, government and public health stakeholders primarily represented voluntary food fortification (VF) as a problem of public health, while industry stakeholders represented it as a problem of commercial benefit. This reflected expected differences regarding decision-making control and power over regulatory activity. However, at both the outset and conclusion of the policy process, the ANZFRMC represented the problem of VF as commercial benefit, suggesting that in this case, a period of ‘formal’ stakeholder consultation did not alter the outcome. This research indicates that in VFP, the policy debate was fought and won at the initial framing of the problem in the earliest stages of the policy process. Consequently, if public health nutritionists leave their participation in the process until formal consultation stages, the opportunity to influence policy may already be lost.

scholarly journals Public health decisions in the COVID-19 pandemic require more than ‘follow the science’

2021 ◽  
pp. medethics-2020-107134
Author(s):  
Thana Cristina de Campos-Rudinsky ◽  
Eduardo Undurraga
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Health Policy ◽  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Empirical Data ◽  
Public Health Policy ◽  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
Ethical Reasoning ◽  
Reliable Data ◽  
Good Decision

Although empirical evidence may provide a much desired sense of certainty amidst a pandemic characterised by uncertainty, the vast gamut of available COVID-19 data, including misinformation, has instead increased confusion and distrust in authorities’ decisions. One key lesson we have been gradually learning from the COVID-19 pandemic is that the availability of empirical data and scientific evidence alone do not automatically lead to good decisions. Good decision-making in public health policy, this paper argues, does depend on the availability of reliable data and rigorous analyses, but depends above all on sound ethical reasoning that ascribes value and normative judgement to empirical facts.

scholarly journals Health inequities and technological solutions during the first waves of the COVID-19 pandemic in high-income countries

2021 ◽  
pp. 175797592098418
Author(s):  
Muriel Mac-Seing ◽  
Robson Rocha de Oliveira
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Equity ◽  
Vulnerable Populations ◽  
Health Inequities ◽  
High Income ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Health Priorities ◽  
Economic Systems ◽  
And Control ◽  
Political Decisions

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in massive disruptions to public health, healthcare, as well as political and economic systems across national borders, thus requiring an urgent need to adapt. Worldwide, governments have made a range of political decisions to enforce preventive and control measures. As junior researchers analysing the pandemic through a health equity lens, we wish to share our reflections on this evolving crisis, specifically: (a) the tenuous intersections between the responses to the pandemic and public health priorities; (b) the exacerbation of health inequities experienced by vulnerable populations following decisions made at national and global levels; and (c) the impacts of the technological solutions put forward to address the crisis. Examples drawn from high-income countries are provided to support our three points.

The Role of Citizen Science in Promoting Health Equity

2021 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa G. Rosas ◽  
Patricia Rodriguez Espinosa ◽  
Felipe Montes Jimenez ◽  
Abby C. King
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Citizen Science ◽  
Health Equity ◽  
Healthy Eating ◽  
Mobile Applications ◽  
Health Inequities ◽  
Annual Review ◽  
Publication Date ◽  
Scientific Process

While there are many definitions of citizen science, the term usually refers to the participation of the general public in the scientific process in collaboration with professional scientists. Citizen scientists have been engaged to promote health equity, especially in the areas of environmental contaminant exposures, physical activity, and healthy eating. Citizen scientists commonly come from communities experiencing health inequities and have collected data using a range of strategies and technologies, such as air sensors, water quality kits, and mobile applications. On the basis of our review, and to advance the field of citizen science to address health equity, we recommend ( a) expanding the focus on topics important for health equity, ( b) increasing the diversity of people serving as citizen scientists, ( c) increasing the integration of citizen scientists in additional research phases, ( d) continuing to leverage emerging technologies that enable citizen scientists to collect data relevant for health equity, and ( e) strengthening the rigor of methods to evaluate impacts on health equity. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Public Health, Volume 43 is April 2022. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

scholarly journals Understanding needs and barriers to using geospatial tools for public health policymaking in China

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dohyeong Kim ◽  
Yingyuan Zhang ◽  
Chang Kil Lee
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Policy ◽  
Policy Development ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Geographical Information Systems ◽  
Geographical Information ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Adoption And Implementation ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Geospatial Tools

Despite growing popularity of using geographical information systems and geospatial tools in public health fields, these tools are only rarely implemented in health policy management in China. This study examines the barriers that could prevent policy-makers from applying such tools to actual managerial processes related to public health problems that could be assisted by such approaches, e.g. evidence-based policy-making. A questionnaire-based survey of 127 health-related experts and other stakeholders in China revealed that there is a consensus on the needs and demands for the use of geospatial tools, which shows that there is a more unified opinion on the matter than so far reported. Respondents pointed to lack of communication and collaboration among stakeholders as the most significant barrier to the implementation of geospatial tools. Comparison of survey results to those emanating from a similar study in Bangladesh revealed different priorities concerning the use of geospatial tools between the two countries. In addition, the follow-up in-depth interviews highlighted the political culture specific to China as a critical barrier to adopting new tools in policy development. Other barriers included concerns over the limited awareness of the availability of advanced geospatial tools. Taken together, these findings can facilitate a better understanding among policy-makers and practitioners of the challenges and opportunities for widespread adoption and implementation of a geospatial approach to public health policy-making in China.

scholarly journals The challenge of bringing evidence in decision-making for public health emergencies: can preparedness reach out to HTA?

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
C E Chronaki ◽  
A Miglietta
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Policy Development ◽  
Digital Health ◽  
Resource Planning ◽  
Public Health Emergency ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Public Health Emergencies ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Evidence Based Decision Making

Abstract Evidence-based decision-making is central to public health. Implementing evidence-informed actions is most challenging during a public health emergency as in an epidemic, when time is limited, scientific uncertainties and political pressures tend to be high, and reliable data is typically lacking. The process of including data for preparedness and training for evidence-based decision making in public health emergencies is not systematic and is complicated by many barriers as the absence of common digital tools and approaches for resource planning and update of response plans. Health Technology Assessment (HTA) is used with the aim to improve the quality and efficiency of public health interventions and to make healthcare systems more sustainable. Many of today's public health crises are also cross-border, and countries need to collaborate in a systematic and standardized way in order to enhance interoperability to share data and to plan coordinated response. Digital health tools have an important role to play in this setting, facilitating use of knowledge about the population that can potentially affected by the crisis within and across regional and national borders. To strengthen the impact of scientific evidence on decision-making for public health emergency preparedness and response, it is necessary to better define and align mechanisms through which interdisciplinary evidence feeds into decision-making processes during public health emergencies and the context in which these mechanisms operate. Activities and policy development in the HTA network could inform this process. The objective of this presentation is to identify barriers for evidence-based decision making during public health emergencies and discuss how standardization in digital health and HTA processes may help overcome these barriers leading to more effective coordinated and evidence-based public health emergency response.

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