To examine existing definitions of health and health inequalities and to synthesise the most useful of these using explicit rationale and the most parsimonious text.

The benefits of local production of pharmaceuticals in Africa for local access to medicines and to effective treatment remain contested. There is scepticism among health systems experts internationally that production of pharmaceuticals in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) can provide competitive prices, quality and reliability of supply. Meanwhile low-income African populations continue to suffer poor access to a broad range of medicines, despite major international funding efforts. A current wave of pharmaceutical industry investment in SSA is associated with active African government promotion of pharmaceuticals as a key sector in industrialization strategies. We present evidence from interviews in 2013-15 and 2017 in East Africa that health system actors perceive these investments in local production as an opportunity to improve access to medicines and supplies. We then identify key policies that can ensure that local health systems benefit from the investments. We argue for a 'local health' policy perspective, framed by concepts of proximity and positionality, which works with local priorities and distinct policy time scales and identifies scope for incentive alignment to generate mutually beneficial health-industry linkages and strengthening of both sectors. We argue that this local health perspective represents a distinctive shift in policy framing: it is not necessarily in conflict with 'global health' frameworks but poses a challenge to some of its underlying assumptions.

Poor health and health behaviors are associated with divorce. This study investigates the degree to which six health indicators and health behaviors among husbands and wives are prospectively related to divorce, and whether spousal similarities in these factors are related to a reduced risk of marital dissolution. Theoretically, a reduced risk is possible, because spousal similarity can help the couple's adaptive processes.

Mental health is a complex condition, highly related to emotion. The COVID-19 pandemic caused a significant spike in depression (from isolation) and anxiety (event related). Mobile Health (mHealth) and telemedicine offer solutions to augment patient care, provide education, improve symptoms of depression, and assuage fears and anxiety.

Female sex workers (FSWs) are vulnerable to sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and other types of health problems and they also encounter socio-economic difficulties. Efforts to develop effective health intervention programs for FSWs have been hampered by a lack of information on why FSWs do not seek or delay seeking treatment for STIs. To further understand their reasons, our study applied a qualitative approach to explore perceptions of health and ill-health among FSWs in Savannakhet province in Laos.

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) have an immense potential to transform healthcare as already demonstrated in various medical specialties. This scoping review focuses on the factors that influence health data poverty, by conducting a literature review, analysis, and appraisal of results. Health data poverty is often an unseen factor which leads to perpetuating or exacerbating health disparities. Improvements or failures in addressing health data poverty will directly impact the effectiveness of AI/ML systems. The potential causes are complex and may enter anywhere along the development process. The initial results highlighted studies with common themes of health disparities (72%), AL/ML bias (28%) and biases in input data (18%). To properly evaluate disparities that exist we recommend a strengthened effort to generate unbiased equitable data, improved understanding of the limitations of AI/ML tools, and rigorous regulation with continuous monitoring of the clinical outcomes of deployed tools.

Social determinants of health (SDOH) influence child health. However, most previous studies have used individual, small-set, or cherry-picked SDOH variables without examining unbiased computed SDOH patterns from high-dimensional SDOH factors to investigate associations with child mental health, cognition, and physical health.

The floating population in China consists primarily of internal immigrants and represents a typical health vulnerable group. Poor health literacy has recently become an obstacle in the accessibility and utilization of health services for the vulnerable population, leading to adverse health outcomes. This study aimed to examine whether health literacy affected health outcomes in China's floating population and whether health service utilization had a mediating effect between health literacy and health outcomes.

The phrase "from bench to bedside to curbside" is a common definition of translational research among health disparities researchers. Health Education Specialists can make important contributions to the field of clinical translational medicine, particularly in light of U.S. health care reform and a renewed emphasis on medical home or health care home models.Health Education Specialists have the training and experience to engage in and facilitate translational research, as well as the opportunity to learn from the translational efforts of other professions and enhance our research, practice, and community partnerships through translational efforts. In this paper, a Translational Health Education Research framework for health education researchers is suggested to foster increased translational efforts within our profession as well as to promote interdisciplinary collaborations to translate a variety of health-related research. A conceptual framework adapted from translational health disparities research that highlights the level and scope of translational research necessary for changes in practice and policy is also provided.

The economic and moral implications of family burden are well recognised. What is less understood is whether or how family health and family burden relate to personal mental health. This study examines family health and perceived family burden as predictors of personal mental health, taking personal and sociodemographic factors into consideration.

Health literacy as a concept is gaining importance in European countries, although it is still not adequately addressed among health personnel. Health literacy supports the self-management of patients in maintaining and improving health, which could decrease the burden on health systems in Europe. However, health professionals lack adequate knowledge about health literacy and the skills to promote health literacy among their patients.

Health literacy (HL) is defined as the ability to process health-related information to make decisions to maintain health and improve quality of life. A growing number of studies demonstrate that people with lower HL are less likely to use preventive services but more likely to use curative, emergency, or hospital care.

Resilient health system (RHS) is crucial to achieving universal health coverage (UHC) and health security. However, little is known about strategies towards RHS to improve UHC and health security. This systematic review aims to synthesise the literature to understand approaches to build RHS toward UHC and health security.

The number of Internet users searching for health-related issues increases significantly every year. The aim of this study was to investigate whether and how the information about health and disease obtained from the Internet by patients influenced them and how different e-health services can affect the patients' choice of the doctor. The research was based on a national survey conducted among 1000 Polish adults. The study was carried out with the use of the computer-assisted telephone interviews (CATI). The study showed that e-health facilities are increasingly affecting the patient's choice of doctor. Among the highest rated factors, the possibility of setting the date of appointment online and practice's own website were indicated. Information on health and disease obtained from the Internet influenced respondents in many areas. Almost half of health Internet users (HI-users) wanted to change their diet and increase healthy physical activity under the influence of health information obtained online. Regarding health decision making, health information obtained from the Internet caused 45% of HI-users to make an appointment to see a doctor, and 40% of them had questions concerning diagnosis and treatment. Information on health and disease obtained from the Internet undoubtedly affects patient behaviour and health decisions they make.

Serious educational games have shown effectiveness in improving various health outcomes. Previous reviews of health education games have focused on specific diseases, certain medical subjects, fixed target groups, or limited outcomes of interest. Given the recent surge in health game studies, a scoping review of health education games is needed to provide an updated overview of various aspects of such serious games.

At the MDG Summit in September 2010, the UN Secretary-General launched the Global Strategy for Women's and Children's Health. Central within the Global Strategy are the ambitions of "more money for health" and "more health for the money". These aim to leverage more resources for health financing whilst simultaneously generating more results from existing resources - core tenets of public expenditure management and governance. This paper considers these ambitions from a human resources for health (HRH) perspective.

As part of efforts to expand Health in All Policies (HiAP) in Washington State in the U.S., the Washington State Board of Health (BOH) received statutory authority in 2006 to conduct Health Impact Reviews (HIRs). HIRs analyze the potential impacts of proposed legislation and budget decisions on health and health disparities. Public health professionals who are aware of HIRs are interested in adopting a similar process in their states; however, there is limited information about HIRs, how they are perceived, and how they could advance HiAP.

No abstract available

The study aims to evaluate the impact of socioeconomic status, general health and oral health parameters on Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL), Oral Health-Related Quality of Life (OHRQoL) and mental health in elderly urban residents of South-Western Poland.

Standards for Research (StaR) in Child Health, founded in 2009, addresses the current scarcity of and deficiencies in pediatric clinical trials. StaR Child Health brings together leading international experts devoted to developing practical, evidence-based standards to enrich the reliability and relevance of pediatric clinical research. Through a systematic "knowledge to action" plan, StaR Child Health creates opportunities to improve the evidence base for child health across the world. To date, six standards have been published and four more are under development. It is now time to use these standards. Improving the design, conduct and reporting of pediatric clinical trials will ultimately advance the quality of health care provided to children across the globe.