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Alternative Index to GDP for Measuring Opportunity & Progress Launching Nov. 10 The American Human Development Project, a nonpartisan initiative of the Social Science Research Council, seeks to move beyond an overreliance on GDP as a measure of well-being, today released The Measure of America 2010-2011: Mapping Risks and Resilience (foreword by economist Jeffrey Sachs). The report is the latest update to the pioneering American Human Development (HD) Index, first introduced in The Measure of America 2008-2009.

Many of the recommendations in Fair society, healthy lives have been made in previous reports on health inequalities. I was part of the Marmot review team for a few months and we made a conscious decision not to make a long list of recommendations addressing every single aspect of health inequalities. Instead what the report seeks to do differently is to present health inequalities as a question of fairness and encourage all parts of society to play their part. Health inequalities are traditionally regarded as a problem for the NHS but as this report argues (reflecting the 1998 Acheson report) the NHS is but one player in this task. Tackling health inequalities means addressing the social determinants of health - those factors that shape health and wellbeing such as social environments, the housing and neighbourhoods where people live, education, income, standard of living, occupation and working conditions. Clearly the NHS cannot tackle these issues alone, central and local government departments, the third and private sectors as well as individuals themselves have a role to play. The report makes six wide-ranging recommendations. The primary recommendation is to give every child the best start in life. This means supporting Sure Start programmes, maternity services and parenting programmes so they can better deliver their services to those most in need. A great deal of evidence demonstrates that these programmes lead to long-term improvements in health and education outcomes - cutting these programmes would reverse the progress made in the last 10-15 years. Another recommendation is to create and develop healthy and sustainable places and communities. Those working in planning, transport, housing or environment departments need to work with their colleagues in public health to plan and develop joint strategies and outcomes. The quality of parks, the number of take-aways in an area, road safety - all of these decisions influence how we live our lives and

This page lists FREE resources for program evaluation and social research methods. The focus is on "how-to" do evaluation research and the methods used: surveys, focus groups, sampling, interviews, and other methods. Most of these links are to resources that can be read over the web. A few, like the GAO books, are for books that can be sent away for, for free (if you live in the US), as well as read over the web.

This evidence-based curriculum is intended as a tool for community-institutional partnerships that are using or planning to use a CBPR approach to improving health. It can be used by partnerships that are just forming as well as mature partnerships.

Far more attention needed indeed!

The National Prevention Strategy makes clear, prevention can save lives, reduce the demand on health care services, build equity and save money.