Governing industry involvement in the non-communicable disease response in Kenya

Abstract Background In low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), multinational companies have become increasingly involved in addressing public health challenges. Dealing with companies as partners in health sector development creates new challenges for governments. We sought to develop an approach to assess the existence and effectiveness of governance structures that can ensure that industry-led public health initiatives contribute to development. Methods We developed a governance assessment tool based on the principles of the Paris Declaration for Aid Effectiveness and other related agreements. We applied it to the case of pharmaceutical companies’ involvement in the Kenyan response to non-communicable diseases (NCDs). We gathered data for analysis through 46 stakeholder interviews and reviewing documents. Results The Kenyan government has informal norms in place regarding program governance and strategy, but it has yet to issue formal regulations. While enabling elements exist that support initiatives to develop in alignment with these norms, implementation is often hindered by a lack of resources. Currently, broad stakeholder support for filling these gaps has created a window of opportunity for action. Conclusion The application of the proposed assessment tool illustrates its viability for assisting companies and governments alike in defining governance needs for industry-led public health initiatives. Our findings in Kenya provide example considerations for LMICs working to integrate industry-led public health programs into the health system. Bilateral and multilateral donors also have important roles in strengthening LMICs’ capacities to govern multinational corporations’ contributions to NCDs in particular, and development in general.

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Governing Industry Involvement in the Non-Communicable Disease Response in Kenya

10.21203/rs.3.rs-447595/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Tobias Buender ◽

Veronika J. Wirtz ◽

Catherine Karekezi

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Multinational Corporations ◽

Assessment Tool ◽

Communicable Disease ◽

Health Sector ◽

Aid Effectiveness ◽

Paris Declaration ◽

Middle Income ◽

Health Initiatives ◽

Public Health Initiatives

Abstract BackgroundIn low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), multinational companies have become increasingly involved in addressing public health challenges. Dealing with companies as partners in health sector development creates new challenges for governments. We sought to develop an approach to assess the existence and effectiveness of governance structures that can ensure that industry-led public health initiatives contribute to development.MethodsWe developed a governance assessment tool based on the principles of the Paris Declaration for Aid Effectiveness and other related agreements. We applied it to the case of pharmaceutical companies’ involvement in the Kenyan response to non-communicable diseases (NCDs). We gathered data for analysis through 46 stakeholder interviews and reviewing documents.ResultsThe Kenyan government has informal norms in place regarding program governance and strategy, but it has yet to issue formal regulations. While enabling elements exist that support initiatives to develop in alignment with these norms, implementation is often hindered by a lack of resources. Currently, broad stakeholder support for filling these gaps has created a window of opportunity for action.ConclusionThe application of the proposed assessment tool illustrates its viability for assisting companies and governments alike in defining governance needs for industry-led public health initiatives. Our findings in Kenya provide example considerations for LMICs working to integrate industry-led public health programs into the health system. Bilateral and multilateral donors also have important roles in strengthening LMICs capacities to govern multinational corporations’ contributions to NCDs in particular and development in general.

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Complaint-Oriented “Services”: Shelters as Tools for Criminalizing Homelessness

The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science ◽

10.1177/0002716221996703 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 693 (1) ◽

pp. 264-283

Author(s):

Chris Herring

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

San Francisco ◽

Homeless People ◽

Public Spaces ◽

Health Initiatives ◽

Public Health Initiatives

This article argues that the expansion of shelter and welfare provisions for the homeless can lead to increased criminalization of homeless people in public spaces. First, I document how repression of people experiencing homelessness by the police in San Francisco neighborhoods increased immediately after the opening of new shelters. Second, I reveal how shelter beds are used as a privileged tool of the police to arrest, cite, and confiscate property of the unhoused, albeit in the guise of sanitary and public health initiatives. I conclude by considering how shelters increasingly function as complaint-oriented “services,” aimed at addressing the interests of residents, businesses, and politicians, rather than the needs of those unhoused.

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Advancing precision public health using human genomics: examples from the field and future research opportunities

Genome Medicine ◽

10.1186/s13073-021-00911-0 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Megan C. Roberts ◽

Alison E. Fohner ◽

Latrice Landry ◽

Dana Lee Olstad ◽

Amelia K. Smit ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Precision Medicine ◽

Behavioral Science ◽

Public Health Research ◽

Future Research ◽

Human Genomics ◽

Precision Public Health ◽

Genomics Research ◽

Health Initiatives ◽

Public Health Initiatives

AbstractPrecision public health is a relatively new field that integrates components of precision medicine, such as human genomics research, with public health concepts to help improve population health. Despite interest in advancing precision public health initiatives using human genomics research, current and future opportunities in this emerging field remain largely undescribed. To that end, we provide examples of promising opportunities and current applications of genomics research within precision public health and outline future directions within five major domains of public health: biostatistics, environmental health, epidemiology, health policy and health services, and social and behavioral science. To further extend applications of genomics within precision public health research, three key cross-cutting challenges will need to be addressed: developing policies that implement precision public health initiatives at multiple levels, improving data integration and developing more rigorous methodologies, and incorporating initiatives that address health equity. Realizing the potential to better integrate human genomics within precision public health will require transdisciplinary efforts that leverage the strengths of both precision medicine and public health.

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Evaluating the impact of public health initiatives on trends in fecal occult blood test participation in Ontario

BMC Cancer ◽

10.1186/1471-2407-14-537 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 14 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Gladys N Honein-AbouHaidar ◽

Linda Rabeneck ◽

Lawrence F Paszat ◽

Rinku Sutradhar ◽

Jill Tinmouth ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Blood Test ◽

Fecal Occult Blood Test ◽

Occult Blood ◽

Fecal Occult Blood ◽

Occult Blood Test ◽

Fecal Occult ◽

Health Initiatives ◽

The Impact ◽

Public Health Initiatives

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Effectiveness of a community-based Tai Chi program and implications for public health initiatives

Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation ◽

10.1016/j.apmr.2004.10.020 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 86 (4) ◽

pp. 619-625 ◽

Cited By ~ 22

Author(s):

Alice Y. Jones ◽

Elizabeth Dean ◽

Rhonda J. Scudds

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Tai Chi ◽

Community Based ◽

Health Initiatives ◽

Public Health Initiatives

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From Prussia to China: Japanese Colonial Medicine and Gotō Shinpei’s Combination of Medical Police and Local Self-Administration

Medical History ◽

10.1017/s0025727300005378 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 55 (3) ◽

pp. 343-347 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Christos Lynteris

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Colonial Medicine ◽

Republican China ◽

Self Administration ◽

Japanese Colonialism ◽

Health Initiatives ◽

Historical Investigation ◽

Key Issues ◽

Japanese Colonial ◽

Public Health Initiatives

Recent historical investigation into the rise of ‘biopolitical modernity’ in China has shed some surprising light. While it was long thought that British public health initiatives entered China via Hong Kong, the recent work of Ruth Rogaski, Philippe Chemouilli and others has established that it was actually early Japanese colonialism that played the crucial role. It was the Meiji Empire's hygiene reform projects in Taiwan and Manchuria that provided the model for Republican China. Curiously overlooked by medical historians has been one of the major early works of Japanese public health that directly inspired and guided this colonial medical enterprise. This was that of the Japanese health reformer and colonial officer, Gotō Shinpei (1857–1929), and it was undertaken in Munich as a doctoral thesis under the supervision of Max von Pettenkofer. In this article, I focus on the way in which Shinpei dealt in his thesis with the relations between centralisation and local self-administration as one of the key issues facing hygienic modernisation and colonial biopolitical control.

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