Policy
[Health Policy] Building of the global movement for health equity: from Santiago to Rio and beyond
SummaryHealth inequalities are present throughout the world, both within and between countries. The Commission on Social Determinants of Health drew attention to dramatic social gradients in health within most countries and made proposals for action. These inequalities are not inevitable. The purpose of this article is to report on activity that has taken place worldwide after the report by the Commission on Social Determinants of Health. First, we summarise the global situation.
[Series] Drug policy and the public good: evidence for effective interventions
SummaryDebates about which policy initiatives can prevent or reduce the damage that illicit drugs cause to the public good are rarely informed by scientific evidence. Fortunately, evidence-based interventions are increasingly being identified that are capable of making drugs less available, reducing violence in drug markets, lessening misuse of legal pharmaceuticals, preventing drug use initiation in young people, and reducing drug use and its consequences in established drug users. We review relevant evidence and outline the likely effects of fuller implementation of existing interventions.
[Perspectives] The rise, fall, and revival of recovery in drug policy
The British Government's recent drug strategy, Reducing Demand, Restricting Supply, Building Recovery: Supporting People to Live a Drug-Free Life (2010), focuses on recovery from addiction. The strategy claims that it has recovery at its heart. Long-term extended treatment using methadone or other substitute prescribing, without a definite endpoint, is now out of favour. Many addicts say that they want to come off drugs and so the Government aims to facilitate that desire. This so-called new abstentionism has been a controversial change in the drug field.
[Comment] Science and consensus for health policy making in Japan
After World War 2 and the Korean War, Japan gained political stability by merging two conservative parties in 1955, then capitalised on this stability to promote economic growth. What emerged was an interdependent system that satisfied major political groups by funding benefits from tax money rather than by weighing objectively social benefits and costs. This system succeeded in an era of prosperity, but Japan now has a rapidly ageing population, enormous financial deficits, and slow economic growth.
The College of Psychiatric and Neurologic Pharmacists is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education as a provider of continuing pharmacy education. The 2012-2013 APNA Endorsed Psychiatric Pharmacotherapy Review Course is a knowledge-based course and will provide up to 20 contact hours (2.0 CEUs) of continuing education credit.