Priority Setting in Health Care with Disease and Treatment Risks

This paper deals with the issue of priority setting in health care under uncertainties about the severity of the illness and the effectiveness of medical treatment. We examine the effect of a disease uncertainty(a treatment uncertainty) on the allocation of health care resources in the presence of a treatment risk(a disease risk) and identify preference conditions under which the social planner allocates more resources to higher risk population. We allow for the simultaneous presence of two risks and investigate the joint effect of two-source uncertainties on health care allocation when the two risks are either small or positively quadrant dependent. The effect of inequality aversion on health care allocation is also analyzed by introducing an equity weighting function. Our work extends the previous model of health care priority to two-risk framework and provides new insights into the problem of health care decision making under uncertainty.

Setting Agricultural Research Priorities： The Case for the Agricultural Sector in Swaziland

The study determined the research priorities in Swaziland agricultural sector. Data collection used existing documents on agricultural research prioritizing, Nominal Group Technique and modified Delphi technique, with analysis of data using content categorization and, group and individual ranking of submissions. Findings showed the agricultural priorities from national policies are tied-up with mitigating the effects of HIV and AIDS on food security, reduction of poverty and, sustainable development. The findings also revealed forty-three field crops areas needing research. Seven horticulture areas and eleven livestock sector areas were of high priority. A considerable number of research areas in field crops, horticulture and livestock indicated that the current research system has not adequately addressed research needs, despite efforts made by the private sector, University of Swaziland and Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, for Swaziland to achieve self-sufficiency in food production. Recommendation was that the identified research priorities should be used as basis for directing the limited resources in conducting agricultural research. The participation of all stakeholders would facilitate efficient use of resources and facilitate collaboration amongst research institutions. The University of Swaziland should develop research priorities aligned with national policies and objectives, to facilitate funding for research by both government and donor agencies.

IVPP Set out Its Future Priorities

The Institute of VertebratePaleontology andPaleoanthropology (IVPP) ofthe Chinese Academy of Sciences(CAS), founded as early as in 1929,stun the world in the 1930s with itsdiscoveries of fossilized Peking Manskulls. After its more than seven-decade development, the institute isnow become a well-known researchcenter for vertebrate paleontology,paleoanthropology, and stratigraphyin the world. During the

Building a pathway to One Health surveillance and response in Asian countries

To detect and respond to emerging diseases more effectively,an integrated surveillance strategy needs to be applied to both human and animal health.Current programs in Asian countries operate separately for the two sectors and are principally concerned with detection of events that represent a short-term disease threat.It is not realistic to either invest only in efforts to detect emerging diseases,or to rely solely on event-based surveillance.A comprehensive strategy is needed,concurrently investigating and managing endemic zoonoses,studying evolving diseases which change their character and importance due to influences such as demographic and climatic change,and enhancing understanding of factors which are likely to influence the emergence of new pathogens.This requires utilisation of additional investigation tools that have become available in recent years but are not yet being used to full effect.As yet there is no fully formed blueprint that can be applied in Asian countries.Hence a three-step pathway is proposed to move towards the goal of comprehensive One Health disease surveillance and response.

Supporting and strengthening research on urban health interventions for the prevention and control of vector-borne and other infectious diseases of poverty:scoping reviews and research gap analysis

Background:More than half of the world’s population currently lives in urban settlements that grow both in size and number.By 2050,approximately 70%of the global population will be living in urban conglomerations,mainly in low-and middle-income countries.Mobility,poverty,different layers of inequalities as well as climate variability and change are some of the social and environmental factors that influence the exposure of human populations in urban settings to vector-borne diseases,which pose eminent public health threats.Accurate,consistent,and evidencebased interventions for prevention and control of vector-borne and other infectious diseases of poverty in urban settings are needed to implement innovative and cost-effective public policy and to promote inclusive and equitable urban health services.Main body:While there is growing awareness of vector-borne diseases epidemiology at the urban level,there is still a paucity of research and action being undertaken in this area,hindering evidence-based public health policy decisions and practice and strategies for active community engagement.This paper describes the collaboration and partnership of the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases(TDR)hosted by the World Health Organization(WHO)and the“VEctor boRne DiseAses Scoping reviews”(VERDAS)Research Consortium as they joined efforts in response to filling this gap in knowledge and evidence by supporting the development of a series of scoping reviews that highlight priority research gaps and policy implications to address vector-borne and other infectious diseases at the urban level.Conclusions:The set of scoping reviews proposed in this special issue presents a critical analysis of the state-of-the-art of research on urban health interventions for the prevention and control of vector-borne and other infectious diseases of poverty.The authors of the 6 reviews highlighted severe gaps in knowledge and identified organizational and theoretical limitations that need to be urgently tackled to improve cities preparedness and vector control response.The more pressing need at present is to ensure that more implementation research on vector-borne diseases in urban settings is conducted,addressing policy and practice implications and calling for more political commitment and social mobilization through adequate citizen engagement strategies.