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The World Health Organization has adopted a resolution on improving the prevention, diagnosis, and management of sepsis. Millions of lives can be saved if politicians, policymakers, health care administrators, researchers, and clinicians take coordinated actions.

Public health professionals need to become more politically astute to achieve their goals

Objectives. We sought a better understanding of how nonprofit hospitals are fulfilling the community health needs assessment (CHNA) provision of the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to conduct CHNAs and develop CHNA and implementation strategies reports. Methods. Through an Internet search of an estimated 179 nonprofit hospitals in Texas conducted between December 1, 2013, and January 5, 2014, we identified and reviewed 95 CHNA and implementation strategies reports. We evaluated and scored reports with specific criteria. We analyzed hospital-related and other report characteristics to understand relationships with report quality. Results. There was wide-ranging diversity in CHNA approaches and report quality. Consultant-led CHNA processes and collaboration with local health departments were associated with higher-quality reports. Conclusions. At the time of this study, the Internal Revenue Service had not yet issued the final regulations for the CHNA requirement. This provides an opportunity to strengthen the CHNA guidance for the final regulations, clarify the purpose of the assessment and planning process and reports, and better align assessment and planning activities through a public health framework.

Greater convergence between national regulators will help prepare for the next pandemic

As part of a series on maternal, neonatal, and child health in sub-Saharan Africa, Igor Rudan and colleagues discuss various priority-setting tools for health care and research that can help develop evidence-based policy.

Background: Childhood obesity has become a major global epidemic that causes substantial social and health burdens worldwide. The effectiveness of childhood obesity control and prevention depends largely on understanding the issue, including its current development and associated factors in a contextualized perspective. Objectives: Our study aimed to gauge this kind of understanding. Methods: We systematically searched the Web of Science database for studies concerning child obesity published up to 2017 and analyzed the volume of publications, growth rates, impact scores, collaborations, authors, affiliations, and journals. A total of 57,444 research papers were included. Results: The three subject categories with the highest number of papers (over 3,000) were (1) nutrition and dietetics, (2) pediatrics, and (3) public, environmental, and occupational health. We found a dramatic increase in the amount of scientific literature on childhood obesity in the past one or two decades, led by scholars from the USA – ranking at the top regarding the total number of papers (23,965 papers; 30.8%) and total number of citations (859,793 citations) – and multiple Western countries where the obesity epidemic is prevalent. Conclusions: The findings highlight the need for improving international and local research capacities and collaboration to accelerate knowledge production and translation into contextualized and effective childhood obesity prevention.

The present study aimed to explore how Australian local governments prioritise the health and well-being of Aboriginal populations and the extent to which nutrition is addressed by local government health policy. In the state of Victoria, Australia, all seventy-nine local governments' public health policy documents were retrieved. Inclusion of Aboriginal health and nutrition in policy documents was analysed using quantitative content analysis. Representation of Aboriginal nutrition 'problems' and 'solutions' was examined using qualitative framing analysis. The socio-ecological framework was used to classify the types of Aboriginal nutrition issues and strategies within policy documents. Victoria, Australia. Local governments' public health policy documents (n 79). A small proportion (14 %, n 11) of local governments addressed Aboriginal health and well-being in terms of nutrition. Where strategies aimed at nutrition existed, they mostly focused on individual factors rather than the broader macroenvironment. A limited number of Victorian local governments address nutrition as a health issue for their Aboriginal populations in policy documents. Nutrition needs to be addressed as a community and social responsibility rather than merely an individual 'behaviour'. Partnerships are required to ensure Aboriginal people lead government policy development.

Background Priority setting in population health is increasingly based on explicitly formulated values. The Patients Rights Act of the Norwegian tax-based health service guaranties all citizens health care in case of a severe illness, a proven health benefit, and proportionality between need and treatment. This study compares the values of the country's health policy makers with these three official principles. Methods In total 34 policy makers participated in a discrete choice experiment, weighting the relative value of six policy criteria. We used multi-variate logistic regression with selection as dependent valuable to derive odds ratios for each criterion. Next, we constructed a composite league table - based on the sum score for the probability of selection - to rank potential interventions in five major disease areas. Results The group considered cost effectiveness, large individual benefits and severity of disease as the most important criteria in decision making. Priority interventions are those related to cardiovascular diseases and respiratory diseases. Less attractive interventions rank those related to mental health. Conclusions Norwegian policy makers' values are in agreement with principles formulated in national health laws. Multi-criteria decision approaches may provide a tool to support explicit allocation decisions.

This essay considers whether permitting the cost-effectiveness of healthcare to govern its allocation is ethically objectionable on the grounds that it fails to give sufficient weight to the severity of people’s health states. After documenting the popular sentiment that appears to support this criticism, the essay considers how to implement prioritising severity, focusing on Erik Nord’s work. The remainder of the essay scrutinises the ethical arguments supporting policies prioritising severity and challenges those who would prioritise severity to define a notion of severity whose prioritisation they can defend.