Healthy voting: The effect of self-reported health on turnout in 30 countries

Based on five rounds of European social survey (ESS), we examine both the direct and indirect effect of health, channelled by social connectedness, on turnout in 30 countries. Our analysis is the first attempt to make a comprehensive account of the magnitude of health in electoral participation. The results show that health has an effect on turnout and that it is notably larger among older people. The impact of health is partly mediated by social connectedness, which suggests that attenuated health may weaken an individual's social network which in turn depresses voting.     

Welcome baby programs

SUMMARY

Several successful prevention programs are recognized as exemplars of implementation. Complicated multidimensional interventions with different goals and directed at different target populations have been conducted with a high degree of fidelity using a common set of strategies. Future research priorities involve identifying the specific factors that promote implementation and determining what levels of implementation are necessary to achieve maximum program impact.     

强制治疗精神疾病患者的程序法研究——基于国内六部地方性法规的实证分析

对精神疾病患者实施强制治疗程序包括强制送治程序和强制治疗程序,由于该程序涉及到对人身自由的限制,应该严格遵循法治行政的原则。不过,国内各地所制定的六部精神卫生条例,赋予该程序的法根据并不充足;同时,程序法上的规定也并非十分完善。因此,我国应该尽快制定《精神卫生法》,详细规定强制治疗的程序,为保障精神疾病患者的权益提供坚实的法律根据。     

经济危机下我国农村卫生保健投资的意义与内容——基于人口学视角的分析

中国政府应对金融危机的四万亿的投资中,包含用于医疗卫生、文化教育事业的投资400亿。长期以来,受我国城乡医疗卫生资源可用性差距的影响,城乡居民健康水平存在着较大的差距。因此,充分利用这一契机来增加对农村卫生保健的投资将具有巨大的人口学意义。在投资内容上,要改变以往单独对硬件的投资,使硬件和软件都成为投资的内容。     

浙江省江山市2005—2008年非法行医行政处罚案例分析

为对非法行医现象和行政处罚情况进行分析,从而为做好非法行医查处工作提出建议。我单位通过对江山市2005-2008年共86起非法行医行政处罚案例,从案由、违法主体类别、处罚情况等进行研究。研究结果显示,86例行政处罚中,以农村和城乡结合部为据点,以未取得《医疗机构执业许可证》擅自执业最多,其次是使用非卫生技术人员从事医疗卫生技术工作：主体类别以个体为主;罚款平均为每件次2994元,处罚额度过低。打击非法行医任务重、难度大,社会关注度高,需要加大执法力度,加强部门联动,加快社区卫生服务能力建设和完善合作医疗制度,强化培训,实行责任追究,建议修改相关法律法规,有效打击非法行医。     

Joining it up? Health and Wellbeing Boards in English Local Governance: Evidence from Clinical Commissioning Groups and Shadow Health and Wellbeing Boards

Statutory responsibility for health care and social care has long been separated between National Health Service (NHS) bodies and local government authorities. Repeated policy attempts to promote service integration through collaboration between such authorities have achieved little. The latest of such policy interventions are the Health and Wellbeing Boards (HWBs) established by the 2012 Health and Social Care Act (HSCA) alongside a range of other organisational innovations, including Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs). These organisations await full legal and operational status but have begun to develop structures and processes. HWBs are intended to lead the integrated assessment of local needs to inform both NHS health and local authority social care commissioners. We undertook detailed qualitative case studies in eight CCGs during 2011–2012 and here report observational and interview data related to CCGs’ perspectives and observations of early HWB developments. We found that developing HWBs vary greatly in their structure and approach, but we also identified a number of significant issues that are familiar from earlier research into health and social care integration. These include heavy dependence on voluntary agreements to align the strategic plans of the many different new statutory bodies; a significant role for mundane organisational processes in determining the extent of effective co-operation; and problems arising from factors such as size and the arrangements of local boundaries.     

Protect Our Children: Vaccination Exemptions Can Establish Child Abuse and Neglect

The need to protect public health has increased as the anti‐vaccine movement is on the rise. Exemptions to vaccination requirements have become more lax, and parents find ways to avoid vaccinating their children, thereby exposing not only their children to the dangers of serious diseases, but other children as well. This Note proposes a federal statute mandating that parents subject their children between the ages of infancy and 6 to acquire vaccinations for all diseases recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention unless a licensed physician recommends otherwise.     

The nearest relative in the Mental Health Act 2007: still an illusionary and inconsistent safeguard?

Abstract

The role of nearest relative (NR) is intended as a safeguard in the Mental Health Act 1983 (as amended in 2007) to curb the excesses of professional discretion and protect patients from unwarranted compulsory hospitalisation. It is unique to the mental health compulsory detention process in England and Wales. There are, however, evident tensions in the role and a lack of clarity surrounding the precise functions of the NR. There is also some uncertainty and confusion among practitioners about the scope of the NR involvement, and government plans announced recently to review mental health legislation will include a focus on the role of family and carers in the care of detained patients. Despite long-standing concerns about the role, there is remarkably little published research available to date on its use and effectiveness, in so far as evaluating the extent to which it provides an adequate safeguard for patients, as intended by the legislation. This article will briefly explore the background to the role, highlight some of the difficulties and tensions within it and conclude with some observations about where further research and reform may be needed to provide greater protection and clarity for patients, relatives and health and social care practitioners.