Commentary
by Keenan Faulkner | Mar 22, 2013 | Commentary, Perspectives
Support for core public health capacity is diminishing; outbreaks of microbial threats are not. In 2012 there were a number of high-profile threats (see the box below) that demanded public health intervention to protect the public. It is well understood that the role...
by Rowena Gono | Mar 22, 2013 | Commentary, Perspectives
Fundamental changes are reshaping the nation’s health care system—from purchaser and payer demands for greater quality and value to new legislative and regulatory requirements stemming from the Affordable Care Act. Also driving change is the growing recognition that a...
by Keenan Faulkner | Mar 15, 2013 | Commentary, Perspectives
In October 2007, HSPD 21 called for a nationwide biosurveillance capability. Biosurveillance “in the context of human health is the science and practice of managing health-related data and information for early warning of threats and hazards, early detection of...
by Keenan Faulkner | Feb 7, 2013 | Commentary, Perspectives
The first test of penicillin on a human, Constable Albert Alexander in 1941, illustrated the remarkable power of antibiotics to control bacterial infection, only to end in tragedy when all available penicillin was exhausted and Alexander’s infection recrudesced...
by Keenan Faulkner | Jan 24, 2013 | Commentary, Perspectives
Health equity has been defined in many ways, but essentially the concept focuses on promoting social justice rather than economic or social status as the primary means for determining access to good health and well-being (Braveman, 2006). Another way, however, of...
by Keenan Faulkner | Jan 18, 2013 | Commentary, Perspectives
Equity is not a contemporary concept. The Oxford English Dictionary defines equity as “the quality of being fair and impartial: equity of treatment. A branch of law that developed alongside common law in order to remedy some of its defects in fairness and justice,...
