Useful Weblinks: Health, Illness and Well-being
Part 2: Social Determinants of Health, Illness and Well-being
This is the website of the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. It provides data on the health of Australians.
The 2010 Marmot Review Fair Society, Healthy Lives was an independent review into health inequalities in the UK. The site continues to report on many developments based on the approach advocated in the review, and provides links to other related European studies.
The Equality Trust conducts a program of public and political education designed to improve the understanding of, and create action on, income inequality. It is non-partisan, and draws heavily on the research of Wilkinson, Pickett and colleagues.
This is the Australian Government website on social inclusion policy and strategy. It provides resources, regular reports from the Australian Social Inclusion Board, and research papers.
The UN Millennium Development Goals (MDG) website gives an overview of the global action plan implementing the millennium goals. It provides a wealth of resources and current information concerning a range of MDG initiatives.
This is the central global resource for data on the social determinants of health. The Commission’s website contains a wealth of documents supporting the Closing the Gap report, and continues to be updated with fresh material on program developments and publications arising from the CSDH Report.
This website provides the latest Australian statistics on everything from health through to housing. It is a useful resource for any health-related studies.
Visit this website to access the latest ‘Australia’s Health’: a comprehensive profile of the nation’s health and welfare status.
This is the website for the Victorian Department of Health. Visit this website to obtain the latest health information relevant to Victoria.
This is the website for the Centre for Health and Society at the University of Melbourne. Visit this website for links to research investigating the social construction of health.
This is the website for the Public Health Agency of Canada. Visit this website for information on social factors impacting on health.
This is the website of the WHO’s Commission on Social Determinants of Health. It is a good source of discussions on social determinants and provides crucial background papers and reports as well as examples of actions in relation to social determinants.
The Society for Longitudinal and Life Course Studies is an international, multidisciplinary society. It aims to increase the visibility and influence of life course studies. The website has access to publications and links, including to the Longitudinal and Life Course Studies: An International Journal.
The Institute for Life Course and Aging is based at the University of Toronto. It focuses on ageing research from a life course perspective.
The Special Collaborative Centre 186: Status Passages and Risks in the Life Course is a research centre based at the University of Bremen. The website provides a link to an extensive bibliography and links to other organisations.
The Archive for Life Course Research is an archive for qualitative social science research and is available for life course researchers.
The International Centre for Life Course Studies in Society and Health is a UK-based centre with a focus on the UK birth cohort studies. The Centre is under the directorship of Mel Bartley and David Blane, two leading researchers in life course determinants.
Longitudinal and Life Course Studies: An International Journal ’s website has archived copies of past issues.
The Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy and Research at the Australian National University, 2011 Online Lecture Series is on ‘Measures of Indigenous wellbeing and their determinants across the life course’. There are 14 lectures, with a transcript, a copy of the presentation, and an audio file.
The National Health and Medical Research Council offers a set of guidelines as well as other information on cultural competency.
The Department of Human Services of Victoria has developed an Aboriginal cultural competency framework and matrix for working with the Indigenous community.
Close the Gap offers a variety of resources related to narrowing the disparity between Indigenous and non-Indigenous health in Australia.
The Department of Health of Victoria offers information and advice on working with individuals from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities.
This website is maintained by the National Stigma Clearinghouse and provides information on anti-stigma programs, resources, and research.
This website includes a collection of different sites that discuss issues relevant to deviance and criminology.
The website provides good discussions on the impact of stigma and discrimination on people living with HIV/AIDS.
This is a good website that provides information on news, research, and other material. It aims to provide information about how to combat and eradicate HIV/AIDS-related stigma.
This is an interesting blog that discusses deviance in the context of cosmetic surgery, which has been a popular trend among celebrities and movie stars and many others.
This website explores the notion of positive deviance, which is an interesting concept that readers might like to explore further.
The Communication Initiative Network connects people from all over the world so they can share their work in media communication to promote health, peace, and social development.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s ‘gateway’ to many health communication and social marketing resources.
Center for Communication Programs, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health promotes international public health through partnering organisations to assist them in health communication. This website links to many resources such as downloadable publications/reports and examples of health communication materials. www.populationmedia.org The Population Media Center works to improve global health through the use of entertainment education strategies. This website shares their current projects and links to many resources.
The Communication for Social Change Consortium is a non-profit organisation working globally to help people living in poor communities to communicate in such a way as to influence the change they need in their societies and in their lives.
Interesting examples of Australian social marketing interventions and their media materials.
Useful social marketing sites in the US and Canada.
The Public Health Advocacy Institute of WA.
This website provides a source for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The UDHR is available in English and other languages. For a plain language version see the website given above.
This website gives an up-to-date list of regional instruments relevant to health and human rights.
International Network for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: Runs a general listserv and a variety of discussion groups, including Discussion Group on the Human Right to Health.
People’s health movement campaign on right to health.
People’s health movement campaign on women’s access to health.
Global Lawyers and Physicians—Working Together for Human Rights. Global Lawyers and Physicians is a not-for-profit non-government organisation that focuses on health and human rights issues. Their website contains much in the way of publications, etc., and a health and human rights database, with a vast set of links.
Deakin Health Economics (DHE) was established in late 2006 and forms part of a Strategic Research Centre in Population Health at Deakin University. The expertise and standing of the research team is affirmed by an impressive track record in both competitive grants (national and international), commissioned research and publications. With a staff of 16 health economists, including nine senior researchers, DHE is a strong centre of excellence in applied economic appraisal. The site describes the research program and links to publications, and provides staff to contact for further information.
The Centre for Health Economics (CHE), Faculty of Business and Economics, Monash University, has been at the forefront of health economics teaching and research in Australia for more than 13 years. Its more than 600 publications represent a significant part of the country’s total health economics output. The overriding goal of the Centre is to undertake and promote highquality health economics research and teaching activities, with both a national and international focus.
The Centre for Health Economics Research and Evaluation (CHERE) is a Key University Research Centre of the University of Technology, Sydney. CHERE is a joint initiative of the Faculties of Business and Nursing, Midwifery and Health at the University of Technology, Sydney, in collaboration with Sydney South West Area Health Service. It was established as a UTS Centre in February 2002. CHERE’s aim is to contribute to the development and application of health economics and health services research through research, teaching and policy support. CHERE is recognised nationally and internationally as a centre of excellence in health economics and health services research.
The UK Centre for Health Economics (CHE-UK) is a specialist health economics research unit within the University of York. CHE was established in 1983 and has continually expanded since its inception. Providing research of worldwide repute, its principal areas of activity include economic evaluation of health technologies, outcome measurement, primary care, and resource allocation.
The Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine (CEBM) has been established in Oxford as the first of several centres around the UK whose broad aim is to promote evidence-based healthcare and provide support and resources to anyone who wants to make use of them. Their prospectus outlines the specific aims of the Centre and the goals they have identified, as well as the means they propose to use in achieving those goals. www.york.ac.uk/inst/crd/welcome.htm The Centre for Reviews and Dissemination (CRD) was established in January 1994 to provide the UK National Health Service (NHS) with important information on the effectiveness of treatments and the delivery and organisation of healthcare. The CRD, by offering rigorous and systematic reviews on selected topics, a database of good-quality reviews, a dissemination service, and an information service, helps to promote research-based practice in the NHS. CRD collaborates with a number of health research and information organisations across the world and is a UK member of the International Network of Agencies for Health Technology Assessment (INAHTA). CRD produces a database of HTA projects and publications.
The Health Economics Research Group (HERG) at Brunel University, UK, aims to undertake high-quality, policy-relevant research and to contribute to the development of evaluation methodologies. The current research program has a unifying focus on economic evaluation of health technologies. www.aihw.gov.au The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare is Australia’s national agency for health and welfare statistics and information. It publishes many reports and discussion papers, drawing on a wide range of data collections—its two flagship publications, ‘Australia’s Welfare’ and ‘Australia’s Health’, are published bi-annually. These publications provide a comprehensive review of health statistics in Australia. Many of these publications are available on the website.
The Australian Department of Health and Ageing (DHA) website provides information on Commonwealth Government policies and programs as well as links to related national and international health sites. Many publications, including annual reports and budget papers, are available on the website free of charge. In addition, there is a service that provides links to the most requested information for student assignments.
Like the Australian Department of Health and Ageing, the Victorian Department of Human Services (DHS) also has a very useful publications area which is often worth a look. Other state departments of health would also have useful publications available on their websites.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) website provides access to a range of health and nonhealth statistics, publications, and papers. For example, Australia’s current key economic and social indicators, including the Consumer Price Index and Average Weekly Earnings, are widely used in economic analysis. Another service is AusStats, a web-based service providing the full standard ABS product range (both free and charged material).
The Health Insurance Commission (HIC) is Australia’s primary health information management and payment agency. This site contains information about HIC, including its Charter of Care, information on HIC’s global services, recent media releases, and recruitment information. In addition, pharmaceutical expenditure data and other health-related statistics are available on the website.
This website is the home of the Primary Healthcare Research and Information Centre. You can use it to keep up to date with policy reforms in general practice in Australia.
This web page is the home of the Public Health Information Development Unit. You can use it to access data on socio-economic status and health in Australia.
This is the home page for the WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health.