Xenotransplantation: consent, public health and charter issues

There is a growing body of literature and commentary analyzing the ethical and public policy concerns associated with xenotransplantation. While this technology holds great promise to provide an almost limitless supply of organs for transplantation, there remains grave concern about possible public health ramifications. As a result, it has been recommended that patients who undergo xenotransplantations will need to agree, inter alia, to a lifetime of close health monitoring, participation in an international database and autopsy upon death. It has been suggested that this agreement would transform the nature of informed consent into a "binding contract." Though such draconian measures are understandable given the magnitude of the risks involved, would existing common law and legislation allow their implementation? This paper analyzes relevant Canadian consent and public health law in the context of the xenotransplantation. Canada is a country with a particularly rich body of informed consent jurisprudence--jurisprudence firmly rooted (rightly or not) in the ethical principle of autonomy. In this climate, many of the suggested monitoring strategies would find little support from Canadian law. Before xenotransplantations proceed, policy makers must be sensitive to the legal barriers which exist to the implementation [of] effective public health measures. Effective surveillance programs will require novel approaches to consent and the enactment of specific public health laws.     

科学发展观——我国公共政策评估的首要标准

公共政策评估标准是开展公共政策评估的前提。为了更有效、更科学地开展公共政策评估活动,应设立正确的首要标准。科学发展观标准应当成为我国公共政策评估的首要标准。科学发展观标准是对以往我国公共政策评估标准的纠正和完善,符合我国社会主义国家公共政策的本质要求,顺应公共政策的发展趋势。坚持科学发展观作为我国公共政策评估的首要标准能有效提升我国公共政策质量,推进我国社会主义和谐社会建设进程。     

科学发展观视域下的公共政策创新

为适应创新型国家建设、构建和谐社会的需要,公共政策必须及时创新。科学发展观为公共政策理念创新、内容创新和政策手段创新指明了方向。因此,在实现公共政策创新目标的过程中,政策主体必须深入学习与实践科学发展观,实现政策理念的转变;废旧立新并举,实现政策内容的切换;创新政策运行机制,实现政策目标的转换。     

HIV vaccines: current challenges and future directions

Volume seven of the Review will mark the tenth anniversary of the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network with a series of articles that describe past developments and future directions in several areas of policy and law related to HIV/AIDS. The following article is the first of these, discussing current challenges and future directions in the development of and access to HIV vaccines. It argues that governments are under public health, ethical, and legal obligations to develop and provide access to HIV vaccines. It further explains what is required for governments to fulfill their obligations: additional commitment and resources for HIV vaccine development in the context of increased global research and development regarding diseases of the poor; increased support and advocacy for partnerships to develop HIV vaccines; enhanced regulatory capacity in every country to review, approve, and monitor HIV vaccines; and assurance of global supply of, procurement of, delivery of, and access to vaccines in the context of efforts to increase global access to public health measures and technologies.     

Charter rights & health care funding: a typology of Canadian health rights litigation

Canadian health consumers have increasingly relied on the Charter of Rights and Freedoms to demand certain therapies and reasonably timely access to care. Organizing these cases into a 5-part typology, we examine how a rights-based discourse affects allocation of health care resources. First, successful Charter challenges can, in theory, lead to courts granting and enforcing positive rights to therapies or to timely care. Second, courts may grant a right to certain health services; however, subsequently government fails to deliver on this right. Third, successful litigation may create negative rights, i.e. rights to access care or private health insurance without government interference. Fourth, consumers can fail in their legal pursuit of a right but galvanize public support in the process, ultimately effecting the desired policy changes. Lastly, a failed lawsuit can stifle an entire advocacy campaign for the sought-after therapies. The typology illustrates the need to examine both legal and policy outcomes of health right litigation. This broader analysis reveals that the pursuit of health rights seems to have caused largely a regressive rather than progressive impact on Canadian Medicare.     

Courts and health policy: judicial policy making and publicly funded health care in Canada

The 1982 Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms provided political actors with the opportunity to make rights-based challenges to public policy decisions. Two challenges launched by providers and consumers of health care illuminate the impact of judicial review on health care policy and the institutional capacity of courts to formulate policy in this field. The significant impact of rights-based claims on cross-jurisdictional policy differences in a federal regime is noted.     

一事一议财政奖补政策效应分析与建议——以黑龙江省为例

一事一议财政奖补政策有效地利用了公共财政,并有偏重地无偿资助农村公益事业结构中较为薄弱的环节,形成了政府在准公共产品领域推动农村公益事业投资的引导机制,体现了地方政府对村级公益事业领域管理的宗旨与目的,促进了农村一事一议制度的有效开展和农村小型公益事业建设的快速发展。文章认为,该政策在试点的过程中需要简化奖补程序、调整奖补办法、因地制宜制定奖补标准,并通过完善政策来进一步推动村级公益事业建设。     

论科学发展观对公共决策的有限性改进

公共决策是公共管理活动的重要环节,它直接受发展观念的影响与指导,一种新发展观念与理论的提出,势必对决策产生深远的影响。科学发展观是对发展观的重大创新,根据决策有限性理论,科学发展观对公共决策的价值观念、决策体制、评价标准等将在理念与实践层次上产生极其重要的影响与作用。     

公共关系学视野下公安微博的开通与管理

公安微博经过四年多的发展已经渐趋成熟,在当前的警察公共关系构建中具有重要的作用和意义,但也存在一些问题。要进一步提高公安微博工作的水平,就须遵循公共关系学的基本规律,公安微博的开通者应当具备相应的公共关系能力,管理机构应当具备较高的组织管理能力。     

论科学发展观与教育政策的创新

科学发展观具有丰富而深刻的内涵,是指导教育发展的总政策.对于现阶段我国教育事业的发展而言,落实科学发展观,关键在于实现教育的科学发展.为此,需要适时调整、变革与更新教育政策,从而为教育的科学发展提供更坚实的政策保障与支持.     

试论惠农政策的执行力

提高惠农政策的执行力是贯彻落实科学发展观的需要,然而在惠农政策的落实过程中,却存在执行不力,投入资金总量不足,地方配套资金＂缺位＂等诸多问题,严重影响惠农政策的效果。为此,应加强政府自身建设,提高惠农政策的有效性,建立决策科学、执行有力的惠农政策实施机制,以增强政府的执行力,提高惠农政策的有效性。     

如何科学评估公共政策? ——政策评估中的反事实框架及匹配方法的应用

公共决策科学化依赖于科学的公共政策评估。随着国外公共政策评估研究越来越依赖于旨在评估政策因果效应的因果推断方法,国内公共政策学者也开始进行初步尝试,但是如何有效选择和运用因果推断方法开展政策评估研究仍有待系统梳理。本文介绍了公共政策评估方法的反事实框架,精确定义了公共政策的因果效应。在此基础上,本文将匹配方法总结为距离测算与配对两个步骤,并详细阐述了协变量匹配、粗糙完全匹配、马氏距离匹配、倾向值匹配和熵平衡匹配的原理,比较了不同方法的优势与劣势。结合公共政策评估的前沿实证研究,本文介绍了如何具体运用匹配方法进行政策评估研究。本文还探讨了应用匹配方法的注意事项,包括匹配方法的适用性、匹配与回归的关系、匹配方法对样本数量的要求及是否允许放回等。     

Overlooked connections: policy development and implementation in state-local relations

Increased public demand for health services, combined with fiscal and operating restraints, has led to the need for programs that will operate efficiently and effectively to achieve their objectives. Establishing such programs requires an understanding of the factors that contribute to their development and implementation. This in turn requires a greater understanding of the policy formulation and policy implementation processes. This paper uses a case study of Michigan's State/Local Cost Sharing Program to explore how policy formulation links to and influences implementation; it considers the interaction between the administrative and political processes and how they are affected by shifting power relations, constituencies, and the environment, and how in turn these affect program leadership and operating policies. The paper develops a model as a framework for monitoring the course of the program through the policy cycle and recommends that the policy process be considered as dynamic, interactive, and evolutionary. The case study approach allows for a greater understanding of the phases of the process, their interaction, and their impact on specific policy outcomes.     

Public criminologies

Research Summary Public scholarship aspires to bring social science home to the individuals, communities, and institutions that are its focus of study. In particular, it seeks to narrow the yawning gap between public perceptions and the best available scientific evidence on issues of public concern. Yet nowhere is the gap between perceptions and evidence greater than in the study of crime. Here, we outline the prospects for a public criminology, conducting and disseminating research on crime, law, and deviance in dialogue with affected communities. We present historical data on the media discussion of criminology and sociology, and we outline the distinctive features of criminology—interdisciplinary, a subject matter that incites moral panics, and a practitioner base actively engaged in knowledge production—that push the boundaries of public scholarship. Policy Implications Discussions of public sociology have drawn a bright line separating policy work from professional, critical, and public scholarship. As the research and policy essays published in Criminology & Public Policy make clear, however, the best criminology often is conducted at the intersection of these domains. A vibrant public criminology will help to bring new voices to policy discussions while addressing common myths and misconceptions about crime.     

我国政策性银行运作模式比较及改革探析

政策性银行的金融服务作为准公益物品,具有公与私物品的两种特性,这决定了政策性银行的运作模式必须是政府与市场的有机结合.由于经营理念、运作模式等方面的差别,经过多年的发展,我国政策性银行之间出现了较大的绩效差异.为提升我国政策性银行的运作绩效,我们须从制度完善、政银分离、治理网络和竞争合作四个方面探索有效的改革路径.     

新公共管理理论对我国建设服务型政府的启示

新公共管理理论是西方国家在特定的政治、经济和科学技术发展下的政府管理改革的必然产物,它在一定程度上反映了西方公共行政改革的发展态势,也在一定程度上促进了西方各国经济和社会的发展,在缓解经济和政治危机方面取得了巨大成效。目前,我国正在进行服务型政府建设,因此,有必要借鉴西方新公共管理的某些理论来推动我国的服务型政府建设。     

U.S. policy on health inequities: the interplay of politics and research

What is the relationship between scientific research and government action in addressing health inequalities in the United States? What factors increase the impact of scientific research on public policy? To answer these questions, we focus on racial and ethnic disparities in health status and health care in the United States. We first review the history of the disparities issue to elucidate how the continual and persistent interplay between political action and scientific research drives government policy. We then analyze two recent government-sponsored reports about racial and ethnic disparities to understand the strategic consequences of issue framing. We draw lessons about how disparities research can have a greater impact on public policy.     

公众认同、政治抉择与死刑控制

限制和废除死刑已经成为席卷全球的当代刑事政策运动与刑罚改革潮流。死刑的存废、去留 ,并不取决于其自身无法辩明的正义性 (或非正义性 )以及无法证实或证伪的威慑性。它在根本上是一个受集体意识的公众认同以及政治领袖的政治意志左右的政策选择问题。集体意识对死刑的广泛认同为死刑制度提供了正当性和合法性资源 ,但集体意识具有两面性 ,是交织着理智与情感、意识与潜意识、理性与非理性、正义与非正义的矛盾统一体。政治领袖要尊重与反映民意 ,更应当善解与引导民意 ,运用政治智慧 ,作出科学的死刑决策 ,使死刑政策、死刑制度与死刑的适用成为一种理性的实践和实践的理性     

加拿大“以公民为中心”的行政改革及其启示

本文在分析了加拿大行政改革的战略选择及其原因的基础上,从水平方向、垂直方向和电子化方向这三个方面介绍了加拿大行政改革的战略步骤,并总结了加拿大行政改革值得我们学习和借鉴之处。