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Mexican health reforms: global lessons, local solutions
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Lancet/Global Forum essay competition winners 2006
For further details of the competition see http://www. globalforumhealth.org For all winning essays see http://www.thelancet.com/ collections/essay_competition
Earlier this year, the Geneva-based Global Forum for Health Research and The Lancet launched their first joint essay competition. The competition was open to professionals younger than 30 years old working on, or interested in, the broad spectrum of health research. We received over 100 eligible entries, 55 of which were from women. The essays were written by young people of 30 different nationalities: 55 of them live in high-income countries (almost 53%), 14 in middle-income countries (13%), and 35 in low-income countries (34%). The overall standard was extremely high and a wide variety of topical issues were tackled, including HIV/AIDS, poverty, politics, health systems, gender, and violence. The diversity of subjects chosen and quality of entries made for stiff competition. We are pleased to announce that the four winners are: John Amuasi from Ghana, Lara Devgan from the USA, Horacio Ruiseño Escudero from Mexico, and Ayesha Sania from Bangladesh. In addition to the winning entries, two essays were highly commended:
Svetha Venkatram from India and Timothy Yang from Singapore. Another 26 entrants were commended. For their prize, the four winners will be taking part in Forum 10, the Global Forum’s 2006 annual meeting, whose overall theme was the title of the competition: “Combating disease and promoting health”. Forum 10 is to be held in Cairo, Egypt, from Oct 29 to Nov 2. The winning essays are published on The Lancet’s website this week and a selection of shortlisted essays will be published on the Global Forum’s website as well as in print form, in time for Forum 10. Encouraged by this year’s success, we will be running the competition again next year, with the theme “Equitable access: research challenges for health in developing countries”. Full details of this competition will be posted on the Global Forum and Lancet websites in 2007. Sarah Ramsay The Lancet, London NW1 7BY, UK
Mexican health reforms: global lessons, local solutions See Series page 1524
1480
This week, The Lancet begins a six-part examination of the health reforms that have taken place in Mexico under the Presidency of Vicente Fox (2000–06), and, specifically, Julio Frenk, his Minister of Health. This series is unprecedented for The Lancet. We have never before commissioned such a detailed examination of one health system. And we have never before worked with one government, together with independent healthpolicy scientists, to host a conference (which was held in Mexico City on Oct 4–6, 2006) to present and critique analyses of those reforms. The papers we publish have been peer-reviewed in their first draft format. They were also further reviewed and revised at the conference itself, which invited international health-policy experts to discuss the results of Mexico’s reforms in the context of the predicaments faced by other nations. Why should a medical journal give so much time and space to the challenges faced by one country? The purpose of this programme of work is to document in detail a country’s health-reform process to illustrate how evidence can be used to guide policy development, to generate public debate and support for radical reform,
and, ultimately, to advance health outcomes.1 Over the next 6 weeks we will be looking at what has worked in Mexico—and what remains to be done. And we will attempt to draw global lessons from these experiences. The Lancet seeks similar collaborations with other nations to demonstrate how evidence can be used to initiate, support, and even accelerate progress on health and human development. Advances in health and wellbeing will not come from grand global promises alone. These promises will only be realised through the intricate detail of policy reform at the country level. The Lancet’s goal, as it has been with all of its recent series (eg, child, newborn, and maternal survival), is to make the technical and evidential connection between the international and national spheres. It is between these axes of understanding that we see grounds for optimism and a foundation for action. Richard Horton The Lancet, London NW1 7BY, UK 1
Frenk J, Horton R. Evidence for health-system reform: a call to action. Lancet 2006; 368: 3–4.
www.thelancet.com Vol 368 October 28, 2006
Lancet/Global Forum essay competition winners 2006
For further details of the competition see http://www. globalforumhealth.org For all winning essays see http://www.thelancet.com/ collections/essay_competition
Earlier this year, the Geneva-based Global Forum for Health Research and The Lancet launched their first joint essay competition. The competition was open to professionals younger than 30 years old working on, or interested in, the broad spectrum of health research. We received over 100 eligible entries, 55 of which were from women. The essays were written by young people of 30 different nationalities: 55 of them live in high-income countries (almost 53%), 14 in middle-income countries (13%), and 35 in low-income countries (34%). The overall standard was extremely high and a wide variety of topical issues were tackled, including HIV/AIDS, poverty, politics, health systems, gender, and violence. The diversity of subjects chosen and quality of entries made for stiff competition. We are pleased to announce that the four winners are: John Amuasi from Ghana, Lara Devgan from the USA, Horacio Ruiseño Escudero from Mexico, and Ayesha Sania from Bangladesh. In addition to the winning entries, two essays were highly commended:
Svetha Venkatram from India and Timothy Yang from Singapore. Another 26 entrants were commended. For their prize, the four winners will be taking part in Forum 10, the Global Forum’s 2006 annual meeting, whose overall theme was the title of the competition: “Combating disease and promoting health”. Forum 10 is to be held in Cairo, Egypt, from Oct 29 to Nov 2. The winning essays are published on The Lancet’s website this week and a selection of shortlisted essays will be published on the Global Forum’s website as well as in print form, in time for Forum 10. Encouraged by this year’s success, we will be running the competition again next year, with the theme “Equitable access: research challenges for health in developing countries”. Full details of this competition will be posted on the Global Forum and Lancet websites in 2007. Sarah Ramsay The Lancet, London NW1 7BY, UK
Mexican health reforms: global lessons, local solutions See Series page 1524
1480
This week, The Lancet begins a six-part examination of the health reforms that have taken place in Mexico under the Presidency of Vicente Fox (2000–06), and, specifically, Julio Frenk, his Minister of Health. This series is unprecedented for The Lancet. We have never before commissioned such a detailed examination of one health system. And we have never before worked with one government, together with independent healthpolicy scientists, to host a conference (which was held in Mexico City on Oct 4–6, 2006) to present and critique analyses of those reforms. The papers we publish have been peer-reviewed in their first draft format. They were also further reviewed and revised at the conference itself, which invited international health-policy experts to discuss the results of Mexico’s reforms in the context of the predicaments faced by other nations. Why should a medical journal give so much time and space to the challenges faced by one country? The purpose of this programme of work is to document in detail a country’s health-reform process to illustrate how evidence can be used to guide policy development, to generate public debate and support for radical reform,
and, ultimately, to advance health outcomes.1 Over the next 6 weeks we will be looking at what has worked in Mexico—and what remains to be done. And we will attempt to draw global lessons from these experiences. The Lancet seeks similar collaborations with other nations to demonstrate how evidence can be used to initiate, support, and even accelerate progress on health and human development. Advances in health and wellbeing will not come from grand global promises alone. These promises will only be realised through the intricate detail of policy reform at the country level. The Lancet’s goal, as it has been with all of its recent series (eg, child, newborn, and maternal survival), is to make the technical and evidential connection between the international and national spheres. It is between these axes of understanding that we see grounds for optimism and a foundation for action. Richard Horton The Lancet, London NW1 7BY, UK 1
Frenk J, Horton R. Evidence for health-system reform: a call to action. Lancet 2006; 368: 3–4.
www.thelancet.com Vol 368 October 28, 2006