There is growing awareness that global public health problems are so complex, and require such major resources, that neither states nor other stakeholders can tackle them and…
Abstract
Purpose
There is growing awareness that global public health problems are so complex, and require such major resources, that neither states nor other stakeholders can tackle them and achieve the millennium development goals (MDGs) on their own. This paper aims to examine the relevance of the MDGs to the pharmaceutical sector and summarizes the industry's contributions to helping achieve the MDGs in the context of its business goals.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper reviews the MDGs for which industry has made significant contributions, particularly goal 4: reduce child mortality; goal 5: improve maternal health; goal 6: combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases; and goal 8: develop a global partnership for development. The paper focuses on two public‐private partnerships (PPPs) in particular – the Merck MECTIZAN® Donation Program, for the elimination of river blindness as a public health problem, and the African Comprehensive HIV/AIDS Partnerships to address the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Botswana – and outlines some lessons learned. The paper also offers some considerations for PPPs to contribute further to public health and the MDGS in the future.
Findings
The pharmaceutical industry has made some major contributions to addressing public health challenges. Along the way, companies such as Merck & Co., Inc. (Whitehouse Station, New Jersey; Merck operates in most countries outside the USA as Merck Sharp & Dohme) have learned useful lessons that can be shared to inform the approach and practices of other PPPs in global health.
Originality/value
Relatively few overviews document the industry's contributions to public health, especially in relation to the MDGs. This paper provides a first step to fill that gap at a time when interest in PPPs is increasing.
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The purpose of this paper is to defend the appropriateness of a global governance framework for the transnational pharmaceutical corporations (TNPCs) as a way to tackle the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to defend the appropriateness of a global governance framework for the transnational pharmaceutical corporations (TNPCs) as a way to tackle the problems resulting out of a non‐implementation or violation of the “right to health” by a lack of accessibility of vital medicines in developing countries, and control the risks of the TNPCs themselves and to provide for more accountability and trust on their part. The aim is to show that such a framework can prepare the ground for a win‐win‐situation for all stakeholders and for a sustainable combination of interests in profits, human rights, especially the “right to health”, and human welfare.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a conceptual paper on the basis of step‐by‐step analytical and interdiscinplinary approach that requires to pick up arguments from economics, business ethics, law, political science as well as aspects of the human rights and the health governance discourse. A broad spectrum of literature and various information sources are referred to: scientific articles and monographs, newspaper and magazine articles, internet sources and information provided by the corporations themselves and by NGOs (non‐governmental organizations), as well as recent academic and institutional publications. Desk research is the underlying technique to analyze the sources in a heuristic and interpretative way. For a better understanding, first the complexity of the implementation of “the right to health” and the role of different actors will be outlined and second, advantages, positive impacts and deficits of existing health‐related CSR (corporate social responsibility) and multistakeholder initiatives by the TNPCs will be pointed out. This is to prepare a ground for arguing in favor of a global governance framework for the TNPCs and to underline the existence of external and internal drivers for the TNPCs to adhere to a global governance framework.
Findings
Especially in developing countries the “right to health” is poorly implemented. TNPCs could contribute to improvements and partly already do so. Yet, the existing approaches are deficitary, insufficient and not sustainable. The problem calls for more accountability in regard to the access to vital medicines. A global governance frameworks for the TNPCs would pose a win‐win‐opportunity: While the TNPCs can benefit from more accountability, precisely defined responsibilities as well as efficiency by constructive, strategic partnerships on a stable level‐playing‐field and a legitimized conduct, their stakeholders benefit from an improved accessibility to vital medicines and an enhanced implementation of the “right to health”.
Originality/value
The paper contributes to the ongoing debate on how to improve the implementation of “right to health” by improving the accessibility of vital medicines, especially in developing (and emerging) countries. It proposes new modes of CSR‐based conduct and partnerships of the TNPCs and a framework of global governance that are urgently required to tackle with a long‐term perspective the problems and threats that pandemics pose on a global scale and to cut down risks for the TNPCs while also widening their markets.
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In financial markets investors and borrowers are faced with a whole structure of prices and interest rates on financial instruments. The determination of equilibria in these…
Abstract
In financial markets investors and borrowers are faced with a whole structure of prices and interest rates on financial instruments. The determination of equilibria in these markets is a complex process and presents a challenge to researchers and practitioners alike. In this article we are concerned with a single section of these markets where we study the relationships between the interest rates or yields on financial securities which can be distinguished from each other (as far as possible) only by their term to maturity. We only cover the structure of money or nominal yields, as an examination of the real returns would require another arti‐cle in itself.
L'année 1970 a été proclamée année de protection de la nature et les campagnes d'information sur ce thème ont reçu l'appui de nombreux Chefs d'Etat, les budgets affectés à cette…
Abstract
L'année 1970 a été proclamée année de protection de la nature et les campagnes d'information sur ce thème ont reçu l'appui de nombreux Chefs d'Etat, les budgets affectés à cette protection par les pouvoirs publics augmentent partout. Il est normal que les experts qui ont la charge de conseiller les autorités pour le développement du tourisme se posent à cette occasion un certain nombre de questions sur leur responsabilité face à la protection de la nature.
Gerard Masdeu Yelamos, Catherine Carty and Aisling Clardy
The purpose of this paper is to examine current momentum in the sport policy arena congruent with the sustainable development agenda. It presents two consensus frameworks endorsed…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine current momentum in the sport policy arena congruent with the sustainable development agenda. It presents two consensus frameworks endorsed by the UN that provide mechanism for coherent action to 2030. With a human rights backdrop it outlines the role of organisations operating in the domains of physical education, physical activity and sport (PEPAS), promoting multidisciplinary partnerships and aligning to global agendas that enhance health and well-being for all.
Design/methodology/approach
This position paper is a narrative literature review reporting on the status of sports policy frameworks in the UN system of relevance to the sport sector generally. It relates these to research evidence on the interlinkage between sport, human rights, health and well-being based on critical literature.
Findings
The advent of the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development, the Kazan Action Plan, the WHO Global Action Plan on Physical Activity 2018–2030 and allied developments across the sports movement provides an opportunity for revisiting and realigning the definitions and policy objectives of sport and health.
Research limitations/implications
The author’s bias as a UNESCO chair towards UN frameworks is acknowledged as is leniency towards physical education, PEPAS.
Practical implications
Multilateral agencies, health and sport authorities, are encouraged to review and leverage their resources and engage with the call for action of global agendas to improve public health.
Originality/value
This paper presents the global policy backdrop for action and investment in inclusive sport, physical education and physical activity. It presents a fresh new health and well-being perspective aligned to wider interdisciplinary agendas, on which sport organisations can make a significant contribution.
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Muzhda Mehrzad, S.W.S.B. Dasanayaka, Kimberly Gleason, Praneeth Wijesinghe and Omar Al Serhan
The purpose of this study is to explore the perceptions of Afghan female engineers regarding opportunities and barriers to starting their own engineering/construction company in…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to explore the perceptions of Afghan female engineers regarding opportunities and barriers to starting their own engineering/construction company in Kabul through three career trajectory chokepoints related to training through higher education, the engineering workplace and entrepreneurship, through the lens of feminist theory.
Design/methodology/approach
Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted. A Web-based survey was also conducted to collect data from participants who were not able to participate in the in-depth interviews. Thematic content analysis was used to analyze the collected data.
Findings
As a result of the analysis, three main themes were developed related to “chokepoints” that Afghan female engineers face along the path to starting their own construction companies: “entering and studying engineering,” “career development” and “starting her own engineering business”; the authors address the subthemes of barriers and opportunities confronted by Afghan women at each chokepoint.
Research limitations/implications
Due to civil unrest, the authors are only able to reach a sample of Afghan female engineers working in the capital city of Kabul.
Practical implications
Afghanistan shows, perhaps, the most severe underrepresentation of female engineers of all countries in the world, yet no research gives them a voice to explain the challenges their face to starting their own engineering/construction businesses. The authors are able to report their perceptions and articulate recommendations to encourage female entrepreneurship in the engineering/construction sector in Afghanistan.
Social implications
Afghan women face significant barriers to having meaningful careers in the science, technology, engineering and medicine professions. The findings provide information for regulators regarding why Afghan women do not start their own engineering firms.
Originality/value
As physical security and resource constraints generate difficulty in accessing Afghan women in general, this is the first paper to report the perceptions of Afghan female engineers regarding the barriers and opportunities they perceive on the path to engineering entrepreneurship.
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IN modern structural design the maximum carrying capacity of a member under non‐uniform static stress at normal temperatures is not necessarily the load which gives a maximum…
Abstract
IN modern structural design the maximum carrying capacity of a member under non‐uniform static stress at normal temperatures is not necessarily the load which gives a maximum stress equal to that at the limit of proportionality. All experiments have shown the ultimate strength of beams to exceed the value predicted on the basis of the elastic theory. This applies to simply supported and redundant beams made of steel and wrought iron, as well as to beams constructed from other metals such as cast iron, aluminium, magnesium, etc. Investigators differ, however, in the interpretation of this increased strength and in their methods of a more advantageous use of the material. These are usually based on specific experiments and apply to certain conditions only, without embracing all materials and all possible load distributions and types of structures.
Sedef Akgungor, Kamiar Alaei, Weng-Fong Chao, Alexandra Harrington and Arash Alaei
The purpose of this paper is to explore the correlation among health outcomes, and civil and political rights (CPR) and also economic, social and cultural rights.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the correlation among health outcomes, and civil and political rights (CPR) and also economic, social and cultural rights.
Design/methodology/approach
The study uses cross-sectional data from 161 countries. The authors use health outcomes and human rights variables in the model. In order to combine dimensions of human rights, this paper uses factor analysis and obtains proxy variables that measure economic, social and cultural rights and CPR. The two proxy variables are used as independent variables to explain variations in health in a regression model. The paper then classifies countries by cluster analysis and explores the patterns of different components of human rights and health outcomes across country clusters.
Findings
The regression model demonstrates that the economic, social and cultural rights variables explain variations in all health outcomes. The relationship between CPR and health is weaker than that of the economic, social and cultural rights. Cluster analysis further reveals that despite the country’s commitment to CPR, those that highly respect economic, social and cultural rights lead to superior health outcomes. The more respect a country has for economic, social and cultural rights, the better the health outcomes for the citizens of that country.
Practical implications
National policies should consider equal emphasis on all dimensions of human rights for further improvements in health.
Originality/value
The sole promotion of CPR such as democracy and empowerment, absence of adequate support of economic, social and cultural rights such as rights to housing, education, food and work can only contribute partially to health.
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Research from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka has received relatively less attention of management scholars. To date, there has been no major…
Abstract
Purpose
Research from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka has received relatively less attention of management scholars. To date, there has been no major review of the content of management research in these rapidly growing economies. The purpose of this paper is to address this gap by reviewing management research in these six countries over a 25-year period from 1990 to 2014.
Design/methodology/approach
An electronic search of 11 databases was carried out using 53 search terms pertaining to the field of management. Only articles in journals rated A*, A, or B by the Australian Business Deans Council and either Q1 or Q2 in the Scopus/Imago ratings were included in the study. The articles were then classified as belonging to one of the divisions of the Academy of Management. Results are presented in thematic clusters, highlighting the major focus of management research in these countries.
Findings
A total of 211 articles were identified as a result of the search process. The highest number of articles (n=54) were classified under the “Public & Non-Profit.” This was the only area common to research in all six countries as represented by the selected articles. The results are reviewed from an ecological and institutional theory perspective which suggests that the various dimensions of the local environment are reflected in the type of management research emerging from these countries. The paper concludes that these countries represent “greenfield sites” in terms of research opportunities for management scholars from all over the world.
Originality/value
This review approach adopted in this paper is unique and represents an attempt to be as inclusive as possible without sacrificing quality. This is the first comprehensive and systematic review of management research in these six countries.
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FOR the purposes of this paper the prefixes hyper and super, which, etymologically, have the same essential signification, are given different meanings: to the first a sense of…
Abstract
FOR the purposes of this paper the prefixes hyper and super, which, etymologically, have the same essential signification, are given different meanings: to the first a sense of distance, and to the second a sense of altitude.