Editorial

• Author: Arnauld Nicogossian,Bonnie Stabile
• Date: 01 September 2018
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/wmh3.277
• Published date: 01 September 2018

Editorial

Bonnie Stabile and Arnauld Nicogossian

Historical events and cultural practices, along with policymakers’ embrace of

economic principles, all play formative roles in policy development, implementa-

tion, and success in addressing health outcomes in populations globally. In this

issue of World Medical & Health Policy, our authors consider this complex interplay

of factors from various angles.

Petros, Abay, Desta, and O’Brien note the role of cultural factors in women’s

disempowerment, even in the face of intentional governmental and f‌inancial

institution policy interventions. Women, particularly those living in poverty, are

more likely than men to be exposed to adverse agricultural working conditions

and consume compromised grains, burdening them with increased health risks

on both counts. In order to reduce post-harvest loss in Ethiopia and improve

population health broadly, the authors argue that impediments to women’s

empowerment must be meaningfully addressed.

Despite the popularity of the adage “women and children f‌irst” it is more

often the case that these groups suffer disproportionately in many categories of

health and well-being. This is demonstrated in Petros et al.’s study of women and

men farmers in Ethiopia, and in Mazecaite-Vaitilaviciene and Owens’s service

evaluation of the oral health of children with disabilities in post-Soviet Lithuania.

Large-scale economic and political trends, even those that might be seen as

politically positive, such as the restoration of the independent state of Lithuania,

or the move toward a more market-based economy, can lead to disruptions that

can compromise populations, particularly those with overlapping identities of

marginalized groups. This study of oral health inequalities among children with

disabilities in Lithuania points to what the authors convincingly characterize as

an urgent need for policy reform.

Even when it can be demonstrated that economic eff‌iciencies are likely to

accrue from certain categories of policy interventions, such as the provision of

family planning in developing countries, historical and cultural factors hold sway

in shaping such policies to a great extent. Harris examines how consideration of

economic concepts such as eff‌iciency, externalities, access to information and

equity are also evident in policies providing for family planning in Uganda, Haiti,

World Medical & Health Policy, Vol. 10, No. 3, 2018

218

doi: 10.1002/wmh3.277

#2018 Policy Studies Organization