The World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centre for Knowledge Translation and Health Technology Assessment in Health Equity is currently in the process of updating and expanding its Equity-Oriented Toolkit for Health Technology Assessment (HTA). The toolkit is based on a needs-based model of health technology assessment. It provides tools that explicitly consider health equity at each of the four steps of health technology assessment: burden of illness, community effectiveness, economic evaluation, and knowledge translation and implementation. The Centre has recently received seed funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research to update the toolkit via a series of workshops targeting both academics and policy makers. This will allow a debate on the tools to be included – or not – at each step. The Centre is exploring the plausibility of incorporating health impact assessment within the toolkit.
Useful Resources
The Equity-Oriented Toolkit is currently in the process of being updated and expanded. It is based on a needs-based model of health technology assessment (HTA). It provides tools that explicitly consider health equity at each of the four steps of HTA: burden of illness, community effectiveness, economic evaluation, knowledge translation and implementation. It also incorporates concepts of health impact assessment within the HTA process. The World Health Organization is seeking suggestions on validated and widely disseminated HTA tools that explicitly consider health equity and that are relevant to the toolkit. These tools may be specific analytical methods such as the Disability-Adjusted Life Years, checklists such as the Health Impact Screening Checklist, software programmes such as the Harvard Policy Maker, databases such as The Cochrane Library. Visit the website to make your suggestions.
The new EU online platform, Capacity4Dev, is part of the European Commission’s ambitious ‘Backbone Strategy’ to reform technical cooperation. The Commission envisions the new portal as an essential tool in reforming technical cooperation programmes that support capacity development, public sector reform and other themes. The site, which will be developed through 2009, provides a forum for all Commission staff, partner countries, other donors, academics and civil society representatives to share ideas and expertise. By joining Capacity4Dev, you get access to useful capacity development tools, feature articles on current topics of interest and academic papers. Registration is free.
Quality assured research synthesis documents from a selected set of publishers who focus is on supporting evidence-informed decision-making on issues relevant to international development. This Guide provides access to a set of quality assured research synthesis documents specifically intended to assist evidence-informed decision-making in development policy and practice. They are selected by the Eldis team from a limited set of "approved" publishers who have been assessed to ensure a robust methodological approach to quality assurance. The Guide also provides a space for discussion on some of the debates on what constitutes "evidence", the use of different methods for quality assessment and the various approaches to impact evaluation
This tool attempts to document the most importance evidence regarding sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) in a way that is useful to organisations with limited time and resources, working in the day-to-day practice of SHRH education for young people. It has been tested in workshops in South Africa and Pakistan partner organisations who implement SRHR/HIV interventions for young people. This tool is for project managers who either design new programmes or who evaluate existing programmes. It focuses on the planning of SRHR/ HIV prevention interventions for young people and consists of 28 indicators for successful/ effective education programmes. The indicators are based on existing theories and evidence and are based on the Intervention Mapping framework. The tool looks at different approaches such as a theory and evidenced approach and a rights-based approach and then outlines six tools to support the following planning and implementation processes: involvement; needs assessment/situation analysis; objectives; evidence-based intervention design; adoption and implementation; and monitoring and evaluation.
AfroCyberPunk is a blog dedicated to exploring the future of Africa through various expressions of Afrofuturism in science and speculative fiction across all forms of media, relevant news and current events about ongoing socioeconomic, political, and technological developments, as well as academic discourses on issues and trends concerning the future of this incredibly diverse continent. As Africa enters a new phase of accelerated development, this blog aims to create a unique conceptual space in which to explore the various scenarios the continent is likely to encounter in the near and distant future, and to imagine how people might begin to address the enormous challenges and incredible opportunities that may soon become reality.
This webpage provides links to external funders that give small, unrestricted grants internationally to directly support community-based organisations and groups. The grants are intended to help small, local organisations firmly establish themselves as civil society institutions within their community. Grants amounts are less than US$20,000.
More than 120 million women worldwide want to prevent pregnancy, but they and their partners are not using contraception. The aim of this World Health Organisation (WHO) handbook is to help these people by enabling health care providers to give better care in this regard. According to WHO, reasons for the unmet need for family planning are many: services and supplies are unavailable; fear of social disapproval or partner’s opposition; worries of side effects and health concerns; and lack of knowledge. The handbook highlights that family planning methods can be effective when properly provided, and when providers allow clients to choose their own contraceptive method and provide them with support and quality information. Many continuing clients need little support, and for them convenient access is key. The handbook contains specific guidance on twenty family planning methods and addresses many of providers’ different needs, from correcting misunderstandings to managing side effects. It also covers related health issues that may arise in the context of family planning.
Climate change is resulting in poorer health outcomes, increasing mortality and is a driver of health inequities. This fact sheet on climate change and health is part of the Climate Fast Facts series of the United Nations Climate Action team discusses how health is well placed to be a significant part of the solution; the positive health impacts from stronger climate change action can motivate stronger global ambition; how health systems which are resilient to climate change can help protect their populations from the negative impacts (in the short and longer terms); and how sustainable low carbon health systems can make a substantial contribution to reducing national and global emissions.
This internal webinar co-hosted by IDS and FHS as part of the FHS webinar series looks at a number of social media tools to support both research and research uptake.