Continuing Streams of Policy Consciousness to Advance Global Health

• Published date: 01 June 2019
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/wmh3.305
• Date: 01 June 2019

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doi: 10.1002/wmh3.305

© 2019 Policy Studies Organization

Editorial

Continuing Streams of Policy Consciousness to Advance

Global Health

Bonnie Stabile

Whether planning for national‐level pandemics, managing chronic disease, or

improving access to health care, policy analysis can contribute to improving the

human condition by advancing understanding of the causes of societal ills, and

pointing toward solutions with the best chance of mitigating them.

World Medical & Health Policy’s founding objective was to bring knowledge and

evidence to bear on pressing problems of global health. Several streams of

scholarship have developed in WMHP’s first decade of quarterly issues, including

disaster preparedness, management of chronic disease, women’s health, substance

use and drug policy, and a concern with social determinants of health.

The current issue continues some of these central investigations. McKay, Boyce,

Chu‐Hsin, Tsai, and Katz endeavor to devise “An Evaluation Tool for National‐

Level Pandemic Influenza Planning,”expanding on a topic addressed in the

journal’s very first issue in fall 2009, with Koblentz’s piece on “The Threat of

Pandemic Influenza: Why Today Is Not 1918”(Koblentz, 2012). Bhangu et al. focus

on “Improving Triage Accuracy in First Responders”through “Measurement of

Short Structured Protocols to Improve Identification of Salient Triage Features,”

advancing a long‐term effort to inform disaster response and community resilience,

such as in Adams' (2016)article “Promoting Disaster Resilience Through Use of

Interdisciplinary Teams: A Program Evaluation of the Integrated Care Team

Approach.”

Bord et al.’s examination of “A Model of Chronic Disease Management: Israeli

Physicians’Approach to Cardiovascular Risk Factor Management”joins a

continuing thread on global interventions and outcomes. In 2016, Gusmano,

Rodwin, Weisz, and Ayoub (2016)examined “Health Improvements in BRIC Cities:

Moscow, São Paulo, and Shanghai, 2000–10,”showing large reductions in chronic

cardiovascular diseases in all three locales, and suggesting that national‐level

health reform, together with enhanced urban health infrastructure and health‐care

services, can contribute to health improvements where chronic disease is

concerned.