In this guest post, Dr. Margaret Moss talks about the health of American Indians and how it has been shaped through historical traumas related to US federal policy. Dr Moss is an enrolled member of the Three Affiliated Tribes of North Dakota and an Associate Professor at the Yale School of Nursing.

In this piece, guest blogger Maria Pawlowska outlines the major arguments for why access to contraception should be treated as a human right. Also highlighted are the different implications of realizing this right in both the developed North and global South. Maria is a healthcare analyst with a passion for reproductive health and gender issues in health care provision. Maria has a PhD from Cambridge, where she was a Gates scholar, and has worked with the Global Poverty Project and RESULTS UK.

This post is the second half of a two-part series by guest blogger Kate Thomson which explores proposed changes to the National Health Service in England.The first post provides useful background information (particularly for those living outside the UK) on these proposed changes. In this post, Kate explains in greater detail the areas of reform which are of greatest contention. Kate is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Public Health at Birmingham City University and is currently researching health reforms in the Russian Federation.

In the first of a two-part series, guest blogger Kate Thomson provides helpful background on the proposed reforms to the NHS, as embodied in the Health and Social Care Bill. Also outlined are the major concerns and debates surrounding the Bill. Kate is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Public Health at Birmingham City University and is currently researching health reforms in the Russian Federation.

In the context of the recent World Conference on Social Determinants of Health guest blogger Amir Attaran, discusses the role of governance in improving the health of societies. Amir Attaran is a professor and Canada Research Chair in Law, Population Health and Global Development Policy at the University of Ottawa.

In this guest post, Ted Schrecker offers an overview of the recent World Conference on Social Determinants of Health. Ted discusses the Conference’s ‘Rio Declaration’, highlighting both its strengths and weaknesses, as well what it will take to keep the SDOH agenda moving forward. Ted is an associate Professor in the University of Ottawa’s Department of Epidemiology and Community Medicine, and a principal scientist at the University’s Institute of Population Health.

In this guest post Maria Pawlowska presents the story and ideals behind the use of a human rights framework in health. Maria establishes the importance of using a human rights framework to guide reproductive health policies by tracing its implications from the global to the individual level.

In this guest post, David Legge directs us to his work at the WHO Watch where he provides insightful background into the upcoming WHO reform talks, set to take place this November. Advanced is an analysis of global health governance which positions the social determinants of health, and health system development, within a dynamic interplay of policy paradigms, donor practices and corporate power.

In this guest post, Lauri Andress continues her series on community participation and public health. In order to bring more clarity to the concept of community participation, Lauri provides a framework that
attempts to discern a range of benefits that stem from community participation. She argues that some justifications for community participation are more likely to benefit the community than others. Also outlined are various mechanisms through which these benefits impact population health.

In this post, guest blogger Maria Pawlowska discusses anti-abortion policies in Malta, drawing comparisons to her previous post on Poland and relating the harmful repercussions of these policies to the influence of the Catholic Church, social conservatism, and gender inequality.