The textbook author, Richard Skolnik (2012), has noted in his blog:

“It is important to think about health as if you were the Minister of Finance of a low- income country, rather than the Minister of Health, since so many determinants of health are outside the health sector. It is essential to continuously ask yourself – ‘if you could only spend $100 to improve the health of people in your country’ – how would you spend it and why? In many respects, the goal of low-income countries with poor health status is to ‘bury old people instead of young people, make the transition as fast as possible, and do this at the least possible cost.’” (October 29, para. 3)

For this assignment, pretend that you are the Minister of Health in a low or middle income country and you are writing to the Minister of Finance to convince him/her to invest money the global health issue. Remember you are trying to convince a finance minister – make a case that address the following issues:

How is this a global health issue and why should we invest?

What is the nature and magnitude of the problem? Who is most affected by the problem?

What are the risk factors for this problem?

Why should the Minister of Finance and the President care about this problem (i.e. what is the impact on the health system)?

What can be done, at least cost, to address this problem and enhance thehealth of our people?

Follow the format in these sample policy briefs: http://www.jbpub.com/essentialpublichealth/skolnik/2e/sample.aspx.

(Please note: You should use APA format, even though the examples on the textbook website use a different bibliographic format.