Abstract

Public Health, and the disciplines that contribute to it, tends to be concerned mostly with detailed micro analysis and evaluation (the individual, the country and the health sector) and less so on broader macro analysis (the societal, the cross-national and the multi-sector). That is, we tend to focus upon the trees rather than the wood, or the elements of a picture rather than the picture as a whole. This poses distinct challenges in a world increasingly affected by global linkages, ever complex causal pathways and the need for multi-sector intervention and evaluation. We have seen this recently with respect to infectious disease outbreaks and particularly concerns over anti-microbial resistance. Effective prevention of non-communicable diseases especially will effect important socio-economic changes across populations, sectors, and countries. But how should we conceptualise and evaluate practices, policies and interventions in the ‘macro-space’? This seminar will provide an overview of this issue, and illustrate key aspects using specific examples.

Dr Mark Kroese, Deputy Director of PHG Foundation, the Cambridge-based health policy think tank, will chair this seminar.