From: The Communication Initiative (The CI)

With many thanks to Kier and 'The CI' Community ...

 

Dear Peter Jones,

Warm greetings from The Communication Initiative (The CI) - https://www.comminit.com

Thanks so much for contacting us on November 25th to submit/share your work. I am writing to let you know that we have added a summary of "Hodges' Model: The Sustainable Development Goals and Public Health - Universal Health Coverage Demands a Universal Framework" to The CI website. Please do me the favour of reviewing the summary here - https://www.comminit.com/global/content/hodges-model-sustainable-development-goals-and-public-health-universal-health-coverage-d - and sending along any feedback you may have. I will be glad to make the necessary changes promptly.

For more information on our editorial objectives and the principles that guide our posting of information, please see: https://www.comminit.com/global/content/editorial-policy-ci-global

In the future, this summary may be featured in our e-newsletters, including The Drum Beat and Drum Beat Clicks. If you wish to subscribe to these mailings so you can see when your work is featured and read about other relevant programmes and resources, simply log into your registration page: https://www.comminit.com/global/content/peter-jones-hodges-model

We plan to spread the word about this summary via social media and would appreciate it if you might do the same.

Kind regards,
Kier

Kier Olsen DeVries, MA
Senior Editor, The Communication Initiative
Editor, The Drum Beat
kdevries AT comminit.com
https://www.comminit.com
Facebook: The Communication Initiative Network
https://www.facebook.com/The-Communication-Initiative-Network-344005148956579/
https://twitter.com/warrencomminit

PJ - The paper in question (is listed in the bibliography - please see the blog's sidebar):

Jones P, Wirnitzer K. Hodges’ model: the Sustainable Development Goals and public health – universal health coverage demands a universal framework. BMJ Nutrition, Prevention & Health 2022;0:e000254. doi:10.1136/bmjnph-2021-000254

Medical sociology ... "food for thought" c/o POHG

I replied to the message copied below by Alex Scott-Samuel on the Politics of Health Group Mail List. Following up with respondents, I have copied Alex's reply and others:

----- Forwarded message -----

From: Alex Scott-Samuel <alexscottsamuel AT gmail.com>

To: "pohg AT jiscmail.ac.uk" <pohg AT jiscmail.ac.uk>

Sent: Saturday, 26 November 2022 at 13:05:25 GMT

Subject: [POHG] Illich

Just came across this from 19 years ago: still offers food for thought

 

[The graphic file downloaded should be legible. PJ]
 

*************************************

Politics of Health Group Mail List Messages

*************************************

Visit the PoHG website for lots of interesting links and publications: http://www.pohg.org.uk/

PoHG on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/282761111845400

Follow us on Twitter: @pohguk

You can subscribe to / unsubscribe from the PoHG mail list here: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/POHG

====================

On 26 Nov 2022, at 17:46, peter jones <h2cmng AT yahoo.co.uk> wrote:

Thanks Alex,

This is very useful - short but very sweet and as you say food for thought - especially in our (ongoing) consumptogenic age.

You've prompted a draft blog-post I will add an acknowledgement and link to POHG.

I've no evidence, that is reading, so what follows are thoughts ... musings ... but I keep wondering: what has happened to 'medical sociology'?

Is medical (health) sociology - history as a discipline?

Is there ongoing development - has the discipline morphed into others?

Is there a case to stress not only public health, but public MENTAL health? As I often do. Am I over-reacting?

In information technology there is talk of functionality being placed in wrappers. Has sociology been subsumed - it's there - but underneath - policy rhetoric (integrated, person-centred, holistic care)?

Who are the leading current figures - and recent equivalents of -

"Aaron Antonovsky (19 December 1923 – 7 July 1994) was an Israeli American sociologist and academic whose work concerned the relationship between stress, health and well-being (salutogenesis)."

Canguilhem

Virchow ...?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_sociology

Should I take heart by the arrival of the SDGs, and the recognition of not only the social determinants of health, but political and commercial too and others..?

I keep writing regarding the potential and utility of Hodges' model:

https://hodges-model.blogspot.com/search?q=sociology

Thanks again,

Peter
====

----- Forwarded message -----

From: Alex Scott-Samuel <alexscottsamuel AT gmail.com>

Cc: "pohg AT jiscmail.ac.uk" <pohg AT jiscmail.ac.uk>

Sent: Saturday, 26 November 2022 at 18:41:10 GMT

Subject: Re: [POHG] Illich - wither et al. ?

Interesting questions Peter. I sense that the answers are out there but not necessarily concentrated in this list. Although I retired from academic public health almost 7 years ago, I have no reason to think that what is now called the sociology of health and illness is not as strong as ever. The kind of places I would look are on the one hand journals such as Sociology of Health and Illness, Social Science & Medicine and Critical Public Health and on the other, popular outlets such as Laurie Taylor's Radio 4 programme Thinking Allowed. 

As far as I know the Medical Sociology Group of the British Sociological Association still exists and holds regular conferences. There has for many years been a Journal of Public Mental Health though it's a while since I've looked at it

Antonovsky's ideas were popular in the health promotion field as well as in academic social science. I remember that a number of people in the WHO Healthy Cities movement were interested in salutogenesis. I've not thought about it for many years but I was on a research group with Antonovsky in the mid 80s when he was developing his Sense of Coherence construct. I  I have to say that despite the attractiveness of problematising health rather than sickness, I never thought the sense of coherence was adequately or well theorised. I do recall seeing quite a few papers from people who rushed out to measure the coherence of people in various situations using the tool which Antonovsky produced. I don't know whether this kind of work continues nor whether it developed

All the best, Alex

=============

----- Forwarded message -----

From: Alderson, Priscilla <p.alderson AT ucl.ac.uk>

Sent: Saturday, 26 November 2022 at 18:55:08 GMT

Subject: Re: [POHG] Illich - wither et al. ?

Dear Peter,

My book Critical Realism for Health and Illness Research: A Practical Introduction (Policy Press 2021) reviews the main traditions in medical sociology and critically updates sociology research that is relevant to the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. The medical sociologists are the largest subgroup among all UK sociologists.

best wishes

Priscilla

Priscilla Alderson PhD,  Professor Emerita,  

Social Research Institute, University College London,
18 Woburn Square, London WC1H ONR p.alderson AT ucl.ac.uk     

http://iris.ucl.ac.uk/iris/browse/profile?upi=DPALD60  

   

Alderson P. 2021 Critical Realism for Health and Illness Research. Policy Press. 

Winner of the IACR Cheryl Frank award 2022.

Children’s consent to heart surgery research website:  

https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/departments-and-centres/centres/social-science-research-unit/consent-and-shared-decision-making-healthcare/heart-surgery

Alderson, P. and Morgan, J. 2022 Realist by inclination, childhood studies, dialectic and bodily concerns: an interview. Journal of Critical Realism, 10.1080/14767430.2022.2068261
Alderson P, Morrow V. 2020 The Ethics of Research with Children and Young People: A Practical Handbook. SAGE.

=============

 

----- Forwarded message -----

From: Eileen O'Keefe <e.okeefe57 AT gmail.com>

To: Alex Scott-samuel <alexscottsamuel AT gmail.com>;

Cc: Professor Lesley Doyal <l.doyal AT bristol.ac.uk>

Sent: Sunday, 27 November 2022 at 19:52:16 GMT

Subject: Lesley Doyal

Dear Peter and Alex

 

Lesley Doyal set the agenda simultaneously with Illich with her Political Economy of Health. She continues to lead the pack re socially produced global inequities in health, eg her Living with HIV and Dying with AID: diversity, inequality and human rights in the global pandemic. Routledge Global Health Series. 2013.

Cheers

Eileen O’Keefe

===========

<->

By way of background:

I've always been impressed (in awe of) and reassured by 'medical sociology', the pioneers (as above), as a discipline, and in terms of sociology's explanatory potential.

Another - not so much an 'explanation' but an avenue to explore, has long been the continuum of care (yes, just one initially?). This spans the need for compassion, empathy, rapport, allied with the importance of hands - in nursing, medicine, surgery ... their being steady, vision true with rapid, safe, reliable, effective judgement and decision-making. In short, the need for humanistic and mechanistic synergy. Finding, and taking up Hodges' model perhaps this can account for the idea of holistic bandwidth(?).

It is an exaggeration surely, but it feels like I made two simultaneous connections in first reading psychology and philosophy. These are mind - body, and the way that many in society are 'remote' from science (knowledge), for a variety of reasons. Sociology can help account for those reasons.

Seeing (literally) the potential of visualization (as posted on W2tQ and in papers) in the 1970s, in 1990s research programs were dedicated to facilitate the development and application of visualization in the humanities. Visualization should not just be the preserve of high energy physics, bio-science and proteomics ... (although the attraction to what is 'quantifiable' is understandable). This is the question that drives this effort (I think!).

So the 'humanities' still have a requirement in information systems, informatics and literacy terms, and Hodges' model can, I believe, offer a way forward.

The replies above are much appreciated and I will follow them up.

Editorial: "COP27 climate change conference: urgent action needed for Africa and the world" c/o HIFA

Dear HIFA colleagues,

Chris Zielinski and colleagues achieved a remarkable feat by publishing a climate emergency editorial simultaneously in more than 250 journals. What does this tell us about communicating health research to policymakers?

https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/early/2022/10/18/bjsports-2022-106442

The point was 'to demonstrate the united will of the medical profession, including all areas (nursing, mental health, veterinary medicine, etc.), to combat the health effects of climate change'.

The key message of the authors is to urge 'wealthy nations to finally step up', particularly to realise 'the promised target of providing US$100 billion of climate finance a year... ensuring these resources focus on increasing resilience to the existing and inevitable future impacts of the climate crisis, as well as on supporting vulnerable nations to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions'.

The message is supported by a well-worded case, and by a string of references to published research.

The piece is jointly authored by the editors of medical journals, which was presumably a deliberate decision to emphasise solidarity rather than including climate scientists and others.

In relation to 'communicating health research to policymakers' the exercise suggests more can be achieved when scientists work in solidarity and cooperatively than individually and in competition.

It will be interesting to see what happens at COP27. Will there be major steps forward along the lines that this editorial calls for? If so, what were the key contributing factors to the decisions made? One suspects the shared voices of 250-plus journals will play an important role. Moreover, their solidarity and cooperation is in place and ready to take on the next major advocacy challenge.

Best wishes, Neil

Joint Coordinator, HIFA Communicating health research https://www.hifa.org/projects/new-effective-communication-health-research-policymakers

Neil Pakenham-Walsh, Global Coordinator HIFA, www.hifa.org neil AT hifa.org Global Healthcare Information Network: Working in official relations with WHO

Tides: Tackling Inequalities and Discrimination Experiences in health Services

individual
|

INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

humanistic ----------------------------------------------- mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

|

group
 

 

"What is the TIDES study?

The Tackling Inequalities and Discrimination Experiences in health Services (TIDES) study investigates how discrimination experienced by both patients and healthcare practitioners may generate and perpetuate inequalities in health and health service use. The TIDES study is funded by the Wellcome Trust and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)."

My source:

https://twitter.com/tides_study/status/1387089743742177289?s=20

TEDxNHS #1 – Why teaching a man how to fish won’t solve food poverty

individual

|

INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

humanistic ----------------------------------------------- mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

|

group

Friedrich	1845
Engels  “social murder ...	... meeting too early a death."

My source:

Friedrich Engels described “social murder” in 1845 as meeting too early a death. We have reached the widened inequality tipping point & life expectancy in the UK is falling. Are we ok with food banks? complicit to social murder? Join us tonight @TEDxNHS to examine solutions. pic.twitter.com/a4ivC0LKoy

— Jemma Gilbert 🏳️‍🌈 🏳️‍⚧️ (she/her) (@Jemima_G) March 23, 2021

https://www.tedxnhs.com/tedxnhs-unlocked/

Does “#AI” stand for Augmenting Inequality in the era of Covid-19 healthcare? c/o BMJ

Fig 1 Cascading effects of health inequality and discrimination manifest in the design and use of artificial intelligence (AI) systems [BMJ]

Original graphic surgically re-rendered as per the knowledge (care) domains of Hodges' model:

individual

|

INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

humanistic ----------------------------------------------- mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

|

group

My source:

Does “#AI” stand for Augmenting Inequality in the era of Covid-19 healthcare? | via @bmj_latest https://t.co/P3zgVBeI4p

— Rob McCargow #MoveForJack (@RobMcCargow) March 16, 2021

Fully funded PhD opportunity: Power

individual

|

INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

humanistic ----------------------------------------------- mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

|

group

	'Power' How power is exercised here ...

[The above is my addition, and is not an endorsement]

Power as a social determinant of health inequalities (supervised by Mhairi Mackenzie and Sharon Greenwood at the University of Glasgow and Dr Gerry McCartney, Head of the Scottish Public Health Observatory at Public Health Scotland).

This PhD aims to deliver academic and policy learning about how power shapes health and health inequalities at a societal level and methodological learning about collaborative autoethnography as a means of generating data from/with elite participants. The findings will be used to develop learning materials for those engaged in the health inequalities field and to contribute to Public Health Scotland’s ongoing work programme in understanding power as a fundamental driver of health inequalities (HI).

In its proposed focus and methodological approach, the PhD draws on three ideas within the health inequalities literature:

• Power is not properly understood as a determinant of health and HI – it appears as a relatively amorphous concept whose multiple mechanisms have not been sufficiently delineated; this means that potential policy levers remain obscured.
• Those working within HI themselves sit within power structures and, as such, are a group whose understanding of power is important to explore. They have opportunities to influence policy debates, experience barriers created through power structures and, it is argued, despite commitment to resolving the problem, themselves benefit from the so-called ‘poverty industry’.
• Researching concepts such as HI with professional elites is difficult when professionals have well-practiced repertoires of responses.

There is evidence that using non-standard research approaches in the field of HI can bring original perspectives to bear.

Using a novel methodological approach (collaborative autoethnography) the study will:

• Explore how academic/policy elites working within the HI field:

1. Understand the mechanisms through which different types of power impact on health outcomes and HI.
2. Reflect on and conceptualise the power which they deploy or otherwise benefit from within their own personal/professional lives.

• Generate learning about hidden and actionable levers of power relevant to HI. 
• Develop learning sets for use with professionals in the HI field.
• Generate learning about researching with elite participants.
  

https://www.sgsss.ac.uk/studentship/power-as-a-social-determinant-of-health/

Mhairi Mackenzie,
Professor of Public Policy,
Urban Studies, School of Social & Political Sciences, University of Glasgow,
Email: mhairi.mackenzie AT glasgow.ac.uk

AND:

Deputy Director (Studentships and External Communications) of the Scottish Graduate School Social Sciences: Doctoral Training Partnership
Sgoil Cheumnaichean Saidheans Sòisealta na h-Alba: Com-pàirteachas Trèanaidh Dotaireachd
University of Edinburgh


A selection of recently published papers:

Mackenzie, M., Skivington, K., Fergie, G. (2020) “The State They’re In”: Unpicking Fantasy Paradigms of Health Improvement Interventions as Tools for Addressing Health Inequalities. Social Science & Medicine. 256. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.113047

Mackenzie, M., Gannon, M., Stanley, N., Cosgrove, K., Feder, G. (2019) ‘You certainly don't go back to the doctor once you've been told, “I'll never understand women like you.”’ Seeking candidacy and structural competency in the dynamics of domestic abuse disclosure. Sociology of Health & Illness 41(6): 1159-1174. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9566.12893

Mackenzie, M., Bradley, L., Gannon, M., Cosgrove, K., Barton, D., Feder, G., Stanley (N) (2019) What might normalisation process theory bring to policy implementation studies? Learning lessons and uncovering questions through a case study of the profound implementation failure of a new policing policy’. Social Policy & Administration 53 (3): 449-463 DOI: 10.1111/spol.12467

Mackenzie, M., Hastings, A., Babbel, B., Simpson, S. and Watt, G. (2017) Proportionate universalism as a route to mitigating health inequalities? Exploring political, policy and practice uncertainties in times of austerity. In: Fee, D. and Kober-Smith, A. (eds.) Inequalities in the UK: New Discourses, Evolutions and Actions. Emerald Publishing Limited. ISBN 9781787144804,

Mackenzie, M., Collins, C., Connolly, J., Doyle, M. and McCartney, G. (2017) Working-class discourses of politics, policy and health: 'I don't smoke; don't drink. The only thing wrong with me is my health'. Policy and Politics, 45(2), pp. 231-249. (doi:10.1332/030557316X14534640177927)

Mackenzie, M., Hastings, A., Babbel, B., Simpson, S. and Watt, G. (2017) Tackling and mitigating health inequalities – policymakers and practitioners 'talk and draw' their theories. Social Policy and Administration, 51(1), pp. 151-170. (doi:10.1111/spol.12154)

My source: POHG

Moral injury: Individual - Collective: 'Global'

INDIVIDUAL

|

INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

humanistic ----------------------------------------------- mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

|

GLOBAL POPULATION

	A year ago, #COVID19 emerged & sparked a pandemic. Life-saving vaccines have been developed. What happens next is up to us. If we don't #ACTogether, the 🌍 is on the brink of a catastrophic moral failure & the price will be paid with lives & livelihoods in the poorest countries. pic.twitter.com/QkriFnNfEC — Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) January 18, 2021

Sources:

Several news sources.

Patient Safety Learning

Book: "The Third Pillar"

The Third Pillar

individual

|

INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

humanistic ----------------------------------------------- mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

|

group - population

COMMUNITY

MARKETS

STATE

My source (including):
Crabtree, J. (2019) Dangerous days for capitalism, Life&Arts, FT Weekend, 9-10 March, p.9.

Inverse Care Law ... at Social Care's Door

Since 2015 I've had four 'conversations' with the doctors at A&E upon mum's attendance and subsequent admission on a couple of occasions. Initially, I was surprised if not shocked by the speed with which the 'conversation' followed on treatment, the extent of this and the question of resus. The further interactions were still emotionally jarring, even when expected and telegraphed. I also understand: to an extent. Repeated chest infection or urine infection had resulted in confusion, delirium that varied. on one occasion, at the nursing home there was also suddenly talk of a diagnosis of dementia, which prompted social services to wonder, like family and staff, where exactly this diagnosis had come from and investigate. (Another post?)

Mum has been very poorly, most recently in November. What surprised and shocked was the 'conversation' at the end of the bed when I knew mum - with mental capacity at that time was most likely listening. The primacy of person-centredness seemed to be by-passed. I suggested the doctor ask mum since once hydrated she would be fine. There has been a sense of a script being followed with some pressure - urgency behind it, if not a 'prescription'. I empathised with the doctors, often FY1 FY2; such matters are never easy. Now amid COVID-19 there is alarm as social care are challenged with taking on a new role, for which they are ill-equipped. 

In health care you are always conscious of the inverse care law, it seems there is another care law in operation that gives cause to worry for those who cannot advocate for themselves or have no independent advocate. Perhaps there is another inverse law that runs concurrently concerning ethics. Triage, is real. Objectively, as a nurse you think "Am I being selfish?". But, as eldest son - absolutely not. These conversations, and the future aside, the doctors and team as a whole have worked (absolute) wonders for which mum and the family will always be grateful.

Be Well, Be Safe All.

 

individual

|

INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

humanistic ----------------------------------------------- mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

|

group - population

"There should be no wrong door and every  service should reverse the ...	... Inverse Care Law, which simply states those people in need of health and social care the most  get them the least."
https://www.smithsltd.co.uk/doors/composite	By MrPanyGoff - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=19702555

A comment at The King’s Fund, by Lord Victor Adebowale.

Partnership Working, Time to Talk, Drink and Drugs News, October 2018, pp.10-11
https://drinkanddrugsnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/DDN-October-2018.pdf

If anyone has a photo of a red door at a care or nursing home that I can display above please let me know.

Global Health Literacy Summit 2020

SAVE THE DATE: 26 - 28 October 2020

Where: Kaohsiung Taiwan

Why: To unite people all over the world, foster knowledge exchange, and promote action to advance health literacy

How:  IHLA Interest Group call for abstracts open now.  General call for abstracts opens soon.

Dear HIFA,

The International Health Literacy Association (IHLA) is a non-profit, member-based organization dedicated to the professional development of its members and the continued growth and development of the health literacy field. IHLA was formed in 2016, incorporated in 2017, launched a website and published its first member newsletter in 2018. IHLA now has more than 1,000 members in 80+ countries. Membership is FREE!

To become a member go to http://www.i-hla.org

In spring 2019, the IHLA Executive Board issued a call for proposals to co-host the first
 IHLA Global Health Literacy Summit 2020
http://www.i-hla.org/summit-2020

After a careful review of five EXCELLENT proposals, E-DA Healthcare Group, I-Shou University in Kaohsiung Taiwan earned the honor to host the meeting. In 10 months, IHLA members from around the world will meet in person, share their work, and learn from others locally and globally.

An immediate way to tailor the association to meet your needs is to join an IHLA Interest Group. Interest groups are run by and for members; they emerge and dissolve as health literacy topics and pursuits become relevant. In this way, IHLA Interest Groups keep the organization enduring and relevant. Interest groups (as described in IHLA's Constitution and Bylaw) have programming rights at the Global Health Literacy Summit and play a vital role in shaping the organization at large.

Here are the next steps for IHLA Interest Groups and the Global Health Literacy Summit 2020.

• Encourage Interest Group members to plan and submit research, practice, policy-oriented panels or workshop proposals for the 2020 Global Health Literacy Summit
• Interest Group Chairs and Co-chairs create a peer review process/subcommittee to screen proposals
• Interest Groups select proposals to forward to the Global Health Literacy Summit 2020 Program Committee by February 27, 2020
• Starting in March, the Summit Program Committee conducts a peer review process and either accepts proposals as submitted, or suggests changes
• The IHLA Program Committee has an open call for other proposals, which may lead to an opportunity to supplement interest group sessions - if needed.

For more information, please view this video:  https://youtu.be/RLKlkGPdhHo

Or contact Interest Group Chairs directly via email:  See list of Interest Groups, Chairs/Co-chairs, and email addresses<http://www.i-hla.org/about/interest-groups/

Also, please see below the Global Health Literacy Summit 2020 Principles of Participation, which apply to all IHLA Interest Groups and Members.

1. Interest group proposals must be peer reviewed by a subcommittee of 2-4 interest group members appointed by interest group chairs.
2. All interest group members should have an opportunity to be considered as a reviewer.
3. Reviewer names must be disclosed to interest group members.
4. Presenters in selected sessions must commit to attend the IHLA Global Health Literacy Summit 2020 prior to submission to the Summit Program Committee.
5. Each interest group is encouraged to use a template developed by the IHLA Summit Program Committee to review submission abstracts.
6. It is unethical to charge or receive money as well as in-kind contributions for abstract submissions and peer review.
7. It is unethical to lobby or influence the members of peer review subcommittees regarding the status of any abstract submission.
8. Research submissions must be original research. In addition, accepted submissions will be retracted if found to be plagiarized.
9. Discrimination is prohibited based on national origin, religion, ethnicity, gender, or any other socio-demographic variable.
10. Interest group sessions are open to all attendees.  As such, interest group sessions should be as welcoming as possible to all IHLA Global Health Literacy Summit 2020 attendees.

Sincerely,

Teresa Wagner  Teresa.wagner AT unthc.edu
Rob Logan  logrob AT gmail.com
Sabrina Kurtz-Rossi  sabrina.kurtz_rossi AT tufts.edu

G.D.P. Capitalism pp. A.M. Holistic ...

One pivot-point or several?

INDIVIDUAL

|

INTER-PERSONAL : SCIENCES

HUMANISTIC -------------------------------------------------- MECHANISTIC

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

|

GROUP

"A more holistic approach to 'growth' needs to evolve ... Growth mania -	Demographics: Population Growth  GDP per capita - new measures? "nominal GDP growth, supported by population growth,
... looking to capture societal and environmental benefits and costs". "borrowing from the future while destroying the environment". socio -	[and profit] growth" Gross Domestic Product [GDP] Sustainability - economics

This week there has been a major focus on Self  Care Week.

Lars Münter brought to my attention the need for an 'Economy of Wellbeing'. 

Jenkins's item in the FT refers to Milton Friedman, shareholders and stakeholders. The latter seems to be an over-used term in healthcare and health services, but there is learning in comparing and contrasting the two.

The climate emergency will change capitalism. 

Perhaps, what we need is not just an:

'Economy of Wellbeing'

as 'Economies of Wellbeing'

The presiding orientation of which must be circular.

See also:
The Friedman Doctrine, or Shareholder Theory; and Stakeholder Theory. 

My source:
Patrick Jenkins, Fund chiefs call for shift in capitalism, FT Weekend, 16-17 November 2019, p.4.

Review: v "Climate Change and the People's Health"

Climate Change and the People's Health

At just over 30 pages chapter 3 the last is also the shortest, we all hope this does not reflect the length of the future?

Chapter 3. Challenges and Future Prospects

Before beginning to review Chapter 3 I need to revisit the closing sentences of the preceding chapter's conclusion - if you 'get' Hodges' model you will understand why:

"I [Friel] pick up on these ideas of complexity in chapter 3, arguing that how we understand and characterize these phenomena depends on our standpoint and also evolves as knowledge develops and available evidence accumulates. Given those complexities, responding to climate change and health inequity requires the development of policies that transcend doctrinal boundaries and draw on insights from a range of disciplines, including those in the sciences, social sciences, and humanities". p.112.

I hope you can see and will please excuse my reference to Hodges' model, but I've another.

Friel refers to how research is primarily based upon reductive pathologizing and needs to shift [ ;-) ] "towards research that is attentive to, and actively engaged with, policymaking processes". (p.114).

In Hodges' model, the Sciences and Politics are mechanistic, the sciences invariably (with some exceptions) reductive and the 4Ps I have attributed to the model as follows:

1. SCIENCES -PROCESS
2. POLITICAL - POLICY
3. SOCIOLOGY - Practice
4. INTRA- INTERPERSONAL - Purpose

(As in a previous part of this review I have been wondering how policy can (best) permeate the other care (knowledge) domains?)

Being where this review is posted I would be remiss not to state this, picking up on Friel's thought.

OK, let us get back on track. Taking the lead from chapter 2, in Chapter 3 Friel argues the need to take research, advocacy, and policy forward to address environmental degradation, social justice and health equity by breaking down the disciplinary, sectoral and various silos that exist in the many systems that are encountered. Systems research can increase our understanding and the evidence base. Interesting to note also then solutions can be crafted. (p.113). The evidence base on more equal societies is discussed. With the stress on systems research, systems and systems thinking are explained briefly and referenced. As will already be obvious I am all for the plurality of disciplinary approaches that is needed, but as Friel will conclude this, with systems science, and improved understanding of policy processes (hybridised: is this the Green Marshall Plan that is referred to?) to counter the resistance to change that is already being experienced now (p.115).

Perhaps above, I have fallen into Friel's trap. I have been caught out as a model monger (p.115)?

Scale is a concurrent consideration in Hodges' model, as with Friel's account of systems thinking. To macro- meso- and micro-levels let us add nano, there is much still unclear from the presence of plastics and other pollutants in the environment. The arrival of eco-epidemiology is to be applauded (p.116).

Any mention of 'systems' takes me to the Health System Redesign book I reviewed over a year ago on W2tQ. This is a very useful companion to "Climate Change ..." but is not referenced here. Box 3.1 'Systems Approach to Childhood Obesity Prevention' brought home the connection and the visual representation referred to (p.120). I could readily go off again with Friel's section on Politics, Policies, and Processes (p.122). Thank goodness for this - I feel better now - as Friel "shamelessly plugs" personal involvement with a research program at the CRE (p.124). The Centre for Research Excellence in the Social Determinants of Health Equity needs to be, not just on the 'map' (Sciences - located geographically) but affecting policies, practices and purposes (individual and organisational). Friel provides several references - very useful and timely. I will reference this, as I'll explain next time. Again the much needed call for a move from reductionist pathologizing.

Box 3.3 Policy Principles for the World We Want is simplistic (like Hodges' model), but if delivered would be very impactful in terms of the positive change (p.128) that would ensue. Against p.134 my note is "It's a small world!" I'm not sure if this a reference to the Disney song as a perverse consumptagenic global eco-anthem, or to Schumacher? What could be noted (p.134) is the potential role of blockchain in assuring land tenure and ownership. This technology is much vaunted in health, education and the obvious application of economics. In terms of developing nations protection of land rights is critical (even as I write and you read). The chapter closes on policy from "The first 1000 days of Life" to "Health in All Policies" which I reflected upon as "Policies in All the (#h2cm) Domains"? How do we do this? There are avenues as Friel writes of macroeconomics and progressive policy development. There is much on the Social Development Goals and how cities (despite the critique on urbanization) are working together internationally to mitigate climate change effects, even as some governments fail to meet set objectives and global agreements.

The print and layout is excellent, a content listing of sections complements the index (invaluable). The next book I've to review has no index.

Small book, big ideas - correct on both counts and a very informative if rightly troubling read.
One last plea. Do buy this book, but don't leave it on your shelf; read it. There is no excuse, it's small, but your ideas on climate change and the people's health will grow!

I would like to thank OUP

CHAD ZIMMERMAN │ Senior Editor, Medicine and Public Health

Oxford University Press │ 198 Madison Avenue │ New York, NY

and Prof. Nancy Krieger for the review copy and Prof. Sharon Friel for engagement on twitter and RTs.

While I appreciate I make the request to review and this places absolutely no obligation on others, it helps a lot when a publisher / author / conference organiser ... acknowledges the effort - even just a thank you. As ever, the thanks is in the learning gained, not the thanks lost. Many do - lift a hand, nod their head ... of course, making this even more worthwhile here. TY


Chapter 1. Climate Change, Global Justice, and Health Inequities

Chapter 2. It's a Consumptagenic World: Producing Climate Change, Exacerbating Health Inequities


Friel, S. (2019) Climate Change and the People's Health, Oxford University Press, New York

Review: iv "Climate Change and the People's Health"

Climate Change and the People's Health

Whatever your educational philosophy when a book offers new concepts that is welcome learning. Learning enhanced when the concept, as is often the case, is a hybrid of terms.

Chapter 2 It's a Consumptagenic World looks at the veritable production of climate change. Our dependence on fossil fuels not just for our transport, but the transport of food and agricultural products is explored. Perhaps there is a political irony in the former slogan of education, education, education amid relentless growth, growth, growth. At least now there is a constant message regards there being "No Planet 'B'".

If chapter 1 considered food security, this chapter attends to the industrial food system. Once again the themes are first introduced and related back. Very interesting here is the rise of urbanisation and the drivers for this. In chapter 1 I noticed the word shift. Nurses are one occupational group that recognise this word only too well. Here though it is the shifts in population that is very worrying. Especially so when many people may be putting themselves in harm's way as chapter 1 described. It is encouraging to see references going back to the 1940s. There is an evidence trail.

Current economic systems seems to reward monopolies and creates externalities (p.60). Unfortunately there is a lack of evidence in the production of pollution if remediation is to be sought. The emission of greenhouse gases where products are produced may be remote from where they are consumed. Friel argues for accountability at the origin of products not where they are consumed. Such externalities are 'out of the box' and need to be put back in the box and properly accounted for - (ecological governance). Often industrial concerns also follow the cheapest ('best value?') labour markets, relocating when needed.

Friel really annoyed me. Yes, in a positive way. Figure 2.2 compares a range of consumer goods and how their cost has changed over time; food, housing, health care, versus technology, media goods for example (p.68). The need for sustainable health care services is a constant topic it seems (Centres of research, journal special issues, conferences, twitter chats...), but when the essentials of living are so expensive does this not undermine and load - displace the disparity - the inequity no-less on to the health sector, its workforce and funding? It is as if the scientific-economic-industrial complex is saying to the health care (and social care) sector "Carry This!". There is no choice. It is a consequence of the society in which the bulk of us live. As Friel writes, processed foods lend themselves to concentrated control of supply chains which can introduce pricing volatility (p.78). The price of good quality nutritional food is a health inequality (p.76); figure 2.3  (p.77) illustrates the system.

While reading I thought of how amid the emotional, social and economic ravages of dementia we talk (well some of us ...) of organisational memory, while having forgotten what 'local' means. The rise of glocalism and the pursuit of growth - at any price it seems - in some quarters even prompts a re-evaluation of philanthropy in the 21st relative to the 19th and 20th? I found myself wondering how we would recognise a shift (the shift) in the market's thinking when watching the business TV channels CNBC, Bloomberg and similar ilk? The consumptagenic system has an effect on organisational memory, it is a behaviour known as perseveration; repetition of the word: profit. For all the thoughts provoked in me, this book is not a capitalism bashing exercise. Far from it, it deals objectively with what remains a sad and dangerous reality.

If it were not for the realist and critical perspectives that must also be present, the efforts of technologists, policy makers and researchers (urban informatics) and others to create Smart cities would seem to guarantee success. The discussion on cities (pp. 93-112), their sustainability, projected populations and the health inequities arising from them is very illuminating. In a teaching situation there is a lot to engage students, not just in the 'city' but in the text overall.


Chapter 1. Climate Change, Global Justice, and Health Inequities

Chapter 3. Challenges and Future Prospects


Friel, S. (2019) Climate Change and the People's Health, Oxford University Press, New York

Review: iii "Climate Change and the People's Health"

So to the book proper ...

When a book's Forward has 19 references you are primed for many more. The Introduction reinforces this expectation and also defines concepts, specifically health inequality and health inequity. I'm also bound to be drawn-in by a text that:

"... calls for interdisciplinary responses that employ knowledge and analytical tools from across the sciences, social sciences, and even the humanities". p.xxii.

That 'even' is priceless, in terms of the relationship between social sciences and the humanities and the prospective role (that is already being applied?) they will play in solutions, vis-à-vis the communication of climate change and public (mental) health themes using the arts, media, creativity, history and communities.

The Introduction provides a brief primer on global action on the Social Determinants of Health [SDoH] and climate change. A critique of key policies, programmes and reports is provided leading to the arrival of the Sustainable Development Goals. The politics of the above is discussed, with shortcomings and avenues of progress noted. The three chapters to follow are described and as befits a 'small' book we are informed of what the book does not address. The book's focus is climate change. For a text on population growth and transition to alternate energy sources readers should look elsewhere.

Chapter 1. Climate Change, Global Justice, and Health Inequities

The book uses 'Boxes' asides to elaborate on certain points, e.g. Box 1.1 The Earth System. There are tables and figures too. Many make for troubled 'reading' and not for reasons of size or legibility. The text is dense in terms of the information delivered, but that is to be expected. This is serious stuff. "Climate Change - (really) Is a Global Justice Issue" p.16.

While in the open source and open access movements we celebrate the Commons, Friel points to the way that climate change has the characteristics of a "global commons" problem. p.16. Politics permeates the book as noted in post ii.

 individual

|

INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

humanistic ----------------------------------------------- MECHANISTIC

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

|

group - population

	"Together, the least-developed and developing economies contributed, since the mid-eighteenth century, less than 25% of global cumulative CO2 emissions (Lykkeboe and Johansen, 1975)". p.16.

The problem of having all states adopt the same transformative behaviour is described mechanistically.

There is presently no mechanism. 

Ethics is brought up as it must be in the years, decades to follow. (I was minded to think of Maslow's hierarchy applied to the whole of humanity: now that would be a great levelling. p.20.) Now, there is a new measure beyond the perverse capitalism debate. Why should people be able to live in luxury at the expense of even the basic needs of other peoples being met? Intergenerational inequity has a small section of its own (p.22). Those with the means will be able to move, to mitigate the impacts of climate change. Millions of others are effectively trapped by geography, health inequities and life chances. So many are without political and economic power to make for positive change.

As I was working on a paper on h2cm, SDoH and the SDGs the update on health inequity within and between countries was very welcome (p.24). On "food consumption gaps" I wondered about the plethora of 'gaps' that must exist and (sadly) operate in climate change and people's health (p.28). Globally foodborne disease is not uncommon, but to this degree (p.29)? With an estimated 3,037 deaths annually in the United States. Key health issues are discussed, malnutrition, non-communicable diseases, air pollution - ambient and indoor. A point about Bourdieu (1989) and an individual's life choices, is bound to remind me of 'life chances' within Hodges' model. This is what lies behind the idea of the "Health Career". This is not the professional's career, but the varying status of a person's health and wellbeing through their life (and even before birth and approaching end of life). Friel's discussion of Michael Marmot et al. (1991) and the "Whitehall studies demonstrated that, in addition to maternal security, a  range of psychosocial factors are important for health and are contributors to health inequities, including social support, social capital and social cohesion". p.33.

There are conceptual models for SDoH, the Eco-Social Model of Health, which obviously keeps me turning the pages (p.34).  Friel notes historically how environmental epidemiology has tended towards being reductive and mechanistic in approach, rarely taking onboard the influence of social, economics and political contexts. I scribbled the following as a review quote:

"Appreciation of this global scale and of the range of influences on human health required a significant conceptual as well as a methodological shift". p.35.

New epistemologies are needed: enter eco-epidemiology. Time is a factor in integrating our view of disease and disease prevention. I visualise this as a series of frames for an individual, the same for a community. Many of the figures are Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. I have not read the book "The Uninhabitable Earth - Life After Warming, By David Wallace-Wells, but a review declared a depressing quality in the scenarios rendered. I had this in mind noting the statistics and reporting that Friel provides. This is worrying too - future rates of mortality - the overall increase; those attributable to specific effects - diarrhea, childhood undernutrition, heat exposure and more... (p.38). There's a small Box on the Disability-Adjusted Life Year. The effect on sea level rise, food production, heat stress, the movement of disease vectors are the subject of the remainder of chapter 1. This is a sobering read, but necessary. Bizarrely - a contribution to global ecoliteracy: medicine for eco-anxiety?

To be continued ...

Chapter 2. It's a Consumptagenic World: Producing Climate Change, Exacerbating Health Inequities

Chapter 3. Challenges and Future Prospects


Friel, S. (2019) Climate Change and the People's Health, Oxford University Press, New York.

Review: ii "Climate Change and the People's Health"

Climate Change and the People's Health

You could read this excellent little book in a couple of hours, but me being me ...

Part of a Series of 'Small Books, Big Ideas' in population health this is an important and timely text of a type that sadly will need to be a constant stream. Constant, not only to keep the message and issue in people's consciousness, but to update the research of a still new interdisciplinary field. Not only that but some sense (measure) of the socio-economic-political state must be realised to identify change (progress). This small book argues for the big change in attitudes, behaviours and systems that must follow.

The book prompts me to imagine the day (whether or not in my future) when the media can report on the gradual reverse of climate change? We have heard of positive changes in the size and behaviour of the Antarctic ozone layer for example; only for progress to be challenged once again. It is not enough to hope for our children, their children ...  and the biosphere of Earth.

The book has just three chapters in 146 pages; 188 pages including the references and index. The 'small' quality relates not only to page number but a hardback size of 18 x 15 cms, such that my copy has been on tour (petrol car and alone) over the summer. A Forward by Nancy Krieger refers to the book series as a whole and points to the political dimensions and how inevitably practitioners must be part of this 'game'. Not just what we oppose but what people stand for. The dynamism in this field is apparent in the reference to expressed opposition alone given rise to despair. This book is very current (2019) but 'eco-anxiety' did not make the index, such is the pace of events (Greta Thunberg). This is not a criticism but speaks of the dynamism and hope that action can (and must) bring as Krieger writes. The fact of this being a political struggle is acknowledged by Friel in the conclusion.

This is not just important but critical. You should never generalise and many nurses (for example) are politically very literate and Active. They seek to protect, sustain and improve the values, the health and health care systems they hold dear. Many other nurses focus on the 'job' of caring. The thought follows that while politics starts in the staff-room and rota; the Politics begins in the ward office and the various meetings and committees. They conclude that they'll leave that to others. For all healthcare workers we can no longer take this stance. Population health demands a population response.

To be continued (of course you don't have to wait to obtain your copy - this is essential reading):

Chapter 1. Climate Change, Global Justice, and Health Inequities

Chapter 2. It's a Consumptagenic World: Producing Climate Change, Exacerbating Health Inequities

Chapter 3. Challenges and Future Prospects


Friel, S. (2019) Climate Change and the People's Health, Oxford University Press, New York

New Special Issue from Global Public Health

From: Global Public Health
Sent: Monday, May 20, 2019 10:41 AM
Subject: New Special Issue from Global Public Health

Please join Global Public Health in celebrating the launch of our newest special issue:

Social inequities and contemporary struggles for collective health in Latin America

This special issue considers the legacy of the Latin American Social Medicine and Collective Health (LASM-CH) movements and other key approaches—including human rights activism and popular opposition to neoliberal governance—that have each distinguished struggles for collective health in Latin America during the 20th and now into the 21st century.

At a time when global health worldwide has been pushed to adopt increasingly conservative agendas in the wake of global financial crisis, the rise of radical-right populist politics, and the rupture of liberal democratic regimes, attention to legacies of Latin America’s epistemological innovations and social movement action are especially warranted. Examining the nexus of activism, policy, and health equity, the collection advances understanding of health politics in the region and the lessons they offer.

This special issue includes four Free Access articles. We invite you to share the links to these articles (see below) and details about the special issue across your networks.

Richard Parker, Editor in Chief

Featuring 4 Free Access Papers

Social inequities and contemporary struggles for collective health in Latin America
Emily E. Vasquez, Amaya Perez-Brumer, and Richard G. Parker

Social Medicine and International Expert Networks in Latin America, 1930-1945
Eric Carter

Latin American social medicine across borders: South–South cooperation and the making of health solidarity
Anne-Emanuelle Birn & Carles Muntaner

Revisiting the social determinants of health agenda from the global South
Elis Borde & Mario Hernández

My source:
Spirit of 1848 Listserve. WWW.SPIRITOF1848.ORG

Word use & implications for research - 'Population health' by Canales, Drevdahl & Kneipp (2019)

individual

|

INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

humanistic ----------------------------------------------- mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

|

group - POPULATION

individual health a. INTERVENTION in Individual behaviour 4Ps - PURPOSE My word use - (contribution to and affected by a community of practice)    scale Begin: Planetary Health End:	interventions   Length and quality of life  academia - evidence-base b. INTERVENTION in a healthcare sector Public Health as a discipline - word use SMALL-scale:  health promotion and disease prevention FROM: individual CLINICAL - sub-groups TO: group - population  A data dictionary? 4Ps - PROCESS
language use - 'pop. health' meaning? Social and Society Does the community have a role in local health population management? a. and b. insufficient to address - social determinants and health inequities root - societal and structural levels History Community activists for Social Determinants of Health 4Ps - PRACTICE SOCIO-	TOTAL POP. [health systems Pop.] population health management 4Ps - POLICY political & economic systems low-income LARGE-scale: community initiatives that attempt to reduce inequities by challenging poverty and racism SDOH - inc: food supply, housing, economic and social relationships, transportation, education, and health care -ECONOMIC

Canales, M.K., Drevdahl, D.J., Kneipp, S.M., (2019) Moving Words, Moving Meanings: The Discourse of Population Health, Journal of Professional Nursing, 35, 2, 71-73, ISSN 8755-7223,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.profnurs.2019.02.007
(http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S8755722319300201)