Health Policy is a broad category of inquiry that addresses the ways in which societies use institutions and rules to put public health, scientific, and medical knowledge into some form of action. In pre-modern settings, the relationship between healer and patient was personal and immediate. Today, nearly every encounter between health professionals and the people and populations they serve is mediated through some form of policy. Situations ranging from the interaction between a nurse and a drop-in patient at a remote clinic to the ways in which nations organize and fund their health care systems have become – today – governed by policy. The essence of health policy research is that it looks at the formulation, implementation, and assessment of systems and practices to understand how they work (or don’t) in the universe of health concerns. Health education, pharmaceutical standards, the rights of individuals, research protocols, how hospitals are organized, consumer safety laws, the doctor-patient relationship, the regulation of automobiles, tobacco, firearms – all of these have significant aspects that are governed by heath policy. The realm of policy is also the main arena in which health professionals contend with “outsiders” who increasingly have a say in how research, care, funding, and the professions themselves will be organized. As societies continue to move towards larger scale health initiatives, whether in the creation of knowledge or in the provision of services, health policy has become central to what actually happens.  Health Policy research is inherently applied research: it informs the discourse around policy-making at every level of society.

The Health Policy Section of AIMS Public Health publishes editorials/commentaries, systematic reviews, original research, and methodology articles that address one or more issues central to understanding, formulating, evaluating, and/or implementing health-related policies. The section is interested in publishing manuscripts addressing global, national or local policies, as well as policies that address specific health conditions, patterns of behavior, inter-group relationships, levels of trust and access, the provision of care, insurance, education – any area of social life in which a policy is – or may be – necessary or already in place.  These also include human subject protections, local practices, changes in response to social movements or discoveries, issues regarding equity in access and outcomes, environmental changes, and cross-cultural differences. Manuscripts may address existing or proposed policies, or historical cases that can inform current decision-making.  The section is particularly interested in manuscripts that will directly inform policy issues that are currently being debated, and that supply essential knowledge that will lead to more effective prevention, provision of care, and better outcomes for more people and whole communities.

Handling Editor(s)