Making Health Policy

"May I congratulate Nicholas Mays, Kent Buse and Gill Walt on their excellent health policy book which we are finding most useful in our health policy and management course here at the Karolinska and which I will also use in the masters in health management course in Bergen"
Dr John ?vretveit, Director of Research, The Karolinska Institute Medical Management Centre, Stockholm, and Professor of Health Policy and Management, Bergen University Faculty of Medicine, Norway.

Surprisingly little guidance is available to public health practitioners who wish to understand how issues get onto policy agendas, how policy makers treat evidence and why some policy initiatives are implemented while others languish. This book views power and process as integral to understanding policy and focuses on the three key elements in policy making: the context, the actors and the processes. It is a guide for those who wish to improve their skills in navigating and managing the health policy process, irrespective of the health issue or setting.

The book examines:

• Policy analysis
• Power
• Private and public sectors
• Policy makers
• Policy implementation
• Research and policy

Table of contents
Overview of the book
The health policy framework: Context, process and actors
Power and the policy process
The state and private sector in health policy
Agenda setting
Government and the policy process
Interest groups and the policy process
Policy implementation
Globalizing the policy process
Research, evaluation and policy
Doing policy analysis
Glossary
Acronyms
Index