Measuring Population Health Discussion

Your responses must highlight and describe (in separate paragraphs): 1) the most important concepts and terms from the reading(s) and videos selected for that week, 2) connections to previous readings, 3) connections to real life events (current events or personal experiences), and 4) at least two open-ended questions related to the content of the readings.

Policy & practice Measuring health inequalities in the context of sustainable development goals Ahmad Reza Hosseinpoor,a Nicole Bergen,b Anne Schlotheubera & John Grovea Transforming our world: the 2030 agenda for sustainable development promotes the improvement of health equity, which entails ongoing monitoring of health inequalities. The World Health Organization has developed a multistep approach to health inequality monitoring consisting of: (i) determining the scope of monitoring; (ii) obtaining data; (iii) analysing data; (iv) reporting results; and (v) implementing changes. Technical considerations at each step have implications for the results and conclusions of monitoring and subsequent remedial actions. This paper presents some technical considerations for developing or strengthening health inequality monitoring, with the aim of encouraging more robust, systematic and transparent practices.

We discuss key aspects of measuring health inequalities that are relevant to steps (i) and (iii). We highlight considerations related to the selection, measurement and categorization of dimensions of health inequality, as well as disaggregation of health data and calculation of summary measures of inequality. Inequality monitoring is linked to health and non-health aspects of the 2030 agenda for sustainable development, and strong health inequality monitoring practices can help to inform equity-oriented policy directives. Introduction In 2015, 193 nations committed to the United Nations sustainable development goals (SDGs), defined in Transforming our world: the 2030 agenda for sustainable development.1 The SDGs are based on the principle of advancing equity and leaving no one behind in the process of economic, social and environmental development. The health-related targets of the SDG agenda, emphasized under SDG 3, reiterate this call for equity, with the overarching aim of ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all at all ages. The SDGs require concerted efforts across diverse stakeholders within and outside the health sector to achieve improvements in the many conditions that affect health and the opportunity for health, such as poverty, gender discrimination, lack of educational opportunities, degradation of the natural environment and poor working conditions.

As countries work to improve health and its determinants in the SDG era, national monitoring of health inequalities will be a priority. Identifying health inequalities (differences in health across population subgroups) is an important part of addressing health inequities (differences in health that are deemed unfair or ethically problematic). Monitoring health inequalities helps countries to track progress towards SDG 3 and other health-related goals, and ensure that disadvantaged or hard-to-reach populations are not left behind.2,3 Thus, health inequality monitoring generates evidence to inform equityoriented policies, programmes and practices that align with the intersectoral nature of the SDGs.4,5 For instance, progress towards universal health coverage – whereby people receive the health services they need without suffering financial hardship – requires monitoring of how essential health services are being expanded to serve the general public as well as the most disadvantaged population subgroups.3,6 Over the past decades, issues surrounding health inequality have gained attention in the domains of policy-making and academic research,7 initially in high-income countries, but increasingly too in low- and middle-income countries. The first widespread efforts to highlight social gradients in health emerged in the 1960s and 1970s in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. For example, the longitudinal Whitehall Studies began in the late 1960s, exploring inequalities in mortality among British civil servants by employment grade.8 Health inequalities gained traction in the political agendas of the 1980s and 1990s through the 1980 Black report, which was instrumental in bringing political attention, both nationally and internationally, to health inequalities in the United Kingdom.9

Subsequent reports reinforced the importance of addressing health inequalities.10,11 In particular, the final report of the Commission on Social Determinants of Health12 and other initiatives that emerged in the 2000s and 2010s13,14 brought renewed urgency to address health inequalities, now reflected in the 2030 agenda for sustainable development.1 The development of theoretical approaches and measurement techniques for health inequality monitoring largely stemmed from the fields of social epidemiology and health economics, with several key works published in the 1990s and 2000s.15–19 Contributions from other academic disciplines, including public health and the social sciences, continue to strengthen and shape current approaches to health inequality monitoring. Approaches that were primarily developed for use in high-income countries in Europe and North America have been adapted to be applicable across diverse geographical settings and in lower-income countries. The World Health Organization (WHO) has developed a multistep approach to monitoring health inequalities that can be applied at a national level to support SDG monitoring.20 The approach can also be applied at global or subnational levels, depending on the setting of interest. The five steps include: (i) determining the scope of monitoring for a given health topic, including relevant indicators of health and appropriate criteria for subgroup disaggregation

Important information for writing discussion questions and participation

Welcome to class

Hello class and welcome to the class and I will be your instructor for this course. This is a -week course and requires a lot of time commitment, organization, and a high level of dedication. Please use the class syllabus to guide you through all the assignments required for the course. I have also attached the classroom policies to this announcement to know your expectations for this course. Please review this document carefully and ask me any questions if you do. You could email me at any time or send me a message via the “message” icon in halo if you need to contact me. I check my email regularly, so you should get a response within 24 hours. If you have not heard from me within 24 hours and need to contact me urgently, please send a follow up text to

I strongly encourage that you do not wait until the very last minute to complete your assignments. Your assignments in weeks 4 and 5 require early planning as you would need to present a teaching plan and interview a community health provider. I advise you look at the requirements for these assignments at the beginning of the course and plan accordingly. I have posted the YouTube link that explains all the class assignments in detail. It is required that you watch this 32-minute video as the assignments from week 3 through 5 require that you follow the instructions to the letter to succeed. Failure to complete these assignments according to instructions might lead to a zero. After watching the video, please schedule a one-on-one with me to discuss your topic for your project by the second week of class. Use this link to schedule a 15-minute session. Please, call me at the time of your appointment on my number. Please note that I will NOT call you.

Please, be advised I do NOT accept any assignments by email. If you are having technical issues with uploading an assignment, contact the technical department and inform me of the issue. If you have any issues that would prevent you from getting your assignments to me by the deadline, please inform me to request a possible extension. Note that working fulltime or overtime is no excuse for late assignments. There is a 5%-point deduction for every day your assignment is late. This only applies to approved extensions. Late assignments will not be accepted.

If you think you would be needing accommodations due to any reasons, please contact the appropriate department to request accommodations.

Plagiarism is highly prohibited. Please ensure you are citing your sources correctly using APA 7th edition. All assignments including discussion posts should be formatted in APA with the appropriate spacing, font, margin, and indents. Any papers not well formatted would be returned back to you, hence, I advise you review APA formatting style. I have attached a sample paper in APA format and will also post sample discussion responses in subsequent announcements.

Your initial discussion post should be a minimum of 200 words and response posts should be a minimum of 150 words. Be advised that I grade based on quality and not necessarily the number of words you post. A minimum of TWO references should be used for your initial post. For your response post, you do not need references as personal experiences would count as response posts. If you however cite anything from the literature for your response post, it is required that you cite your reference. You should include a minimum of THREE references for papers in this course. Please note that references should be no more than 5 years old except recommended as a resource for the class. Furthermore, for each discussion board question, you need ONE initial substantive response and TWO substantive responses to either your classmates or your instructor for a total of THREE responses. There are TWO discussion questions each week, hence, you need a total minimum of SIX discussion posts for each week. I usually post a discussion question each week. You could also respond to these as it would count towards your required SIX discussion posts for the week.

I understand this is a lot of information to cover in 5 weeks, however, the Bible says in Philippians 4:13 that we can do all things through Christ that strengthens us. Even in times like this, we are encouraged by God’s word that we have that ability in us to succeed with His strength. I pray that each and every one of you receives strength for this course and life generally as we navigate through this pandemic that is shaking our world today. Relax and enjoy the course!

Hi Class,

Please read through the following information on writing a Discussion question response and participation posts.

Contact me if you have any questions.

Important information on Writing a Discussion Question

• Your response needs to be a minimum of 150 words (not including your list of references)
• There needs to be at least TWO references with ONE being a peer reviewed professional journal article.
• Include in-text citations in your response
• Do not include quotes—instead summarize and paraphrase the information
• Follow APA-7th edition
• Points will be deducted if the above is not followed

Participation –replies to your classmates or instructor

• A minimum of 6 responses per week, on at least 3 days of the week.
• Each response needs at least ONE reference with citations—best if it is a peer reviewed journal article
• Each response needs to be at least 75 words in length (does not include your list of references)
• Responses need to be substantive by bringing information to the discussion or further enhance the discussion. Responses of “I agree” or “great post” does not count for the word count.
• Follow APA 7th edition
• Points will be deducted if the above is not followed

• Remember to use and follow APA-7th edition for all weekly assignments, discussion questions, and participation points.
• Here are some helpful links
• The is a great resource