Search

Background: Recognizing the established link between social determinants of health, such as social support, good governance, and perceived discrimination, and individual mental health, this study aims to delve deeper into the specific relationships within the Iranian adult population. It seeks to elucidate the potential mediating role of quality of life in the association between mental health disorders (MHDs) and these social factors., Methods: This cross-sectional study employed path analysis to investigate the relationships between social determinants of health and MHDs among 725 Iranian adults in Tabriz, Northwest Iran. Data collection occurred between March and September 2022, utilizing a multi-stage and cluster sampling approach. Good governance, social support, perceived discrimination, MHDs, and quality of life were assessed using valid questionnaires. Statistical analysis was conducted using SPSS-24 and Lisrel-8 software, with a significance level set at p < 0.05., Results: This study found that nearly 70.0% of the participants reported experiencing mental health problems. The path analysis showed that good governance had a significant indirect and negative effect on MHDs via quality of life (β = -0.05; P < 0.05). Major racial discrimination had a positive relationship in the direct and indirect paths (β = 0.24; P < 0.01). While, social support was a directly and indirectly significant predictor of decreased MHDs (β = -0.17, p < 0.01). Furthermore, quality of life had a negative relationship on the indirect path with MHDs (β = -0.24, P < 0.01)., Conclusions: This study reveals a significant burden of mental health issues among Iranian adults. It highlights the crucial role of social factors like good governance, social support, and perceived discrimination in shaping mental health through their impact on quality of life. Consequently, addressing these factors through improved governance, strengthened social support systems, and active efforts to reduce discrimination is essential for promoting mental well-being., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

To attain sustainable development, a pertinent question that needs to be answered is whether good governance leads to financial inclusion (FI) and whether bank stability matters. This study examines how financial stability modulates the link between governance and FI in the Nordic-Baltic region between 2004 and 2021. Using a mixed effect model, we observed a positive causal relationship between governance and FI and bank stability modulate this causality. These findings are robust to alternative assumptions and model specifications. Interestingly, we found that good governance helps foster economic growth and social equality. The study further highlights the need for digital financial education to overcome the phobia of digital products as a priority policy agenda. Overall, this finding supports arguments in the literature that for FI to be sustainable, inequality should be low as income levels and well-being increase., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2024 The Authors.)

The nations of Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, and Turkey (BRICS-T) have yet to find a satisfactory answer to the problem of how to reduce environmental pollution in their environments significantly. Using panel data from 1990 to 2022, this study analyzes the dynamic relationship between energy financial globalization (FG), good governance (GG), renewable energy consumption (REC), urbanization (URB), economic growth (GDP), and environmental pollution. To estimate the long-run and short-run interaction among the variables, this research included the Cross-sectional- ARDL. This research shows that economic growth, energy use, urbanization, and environmental degradation correlate positively and significantly. In contrast, the BRICS-T economies have significantly reduced environmental pollution due to FG, GG and REC. These results also lend credence to the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) concept for developing nations, which has been the focus of recent attention. Additionally, the results from fixed effects-difference in differences (FE-DK) and AMG robustness tests also validate the results from the CS-ARDL estimator. Finally, the findings found that the BRICS-T countries may benefit from this study., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2024 The Authors.)

Commons' problems and solutions have the elements of local, proximate, and large-scale distal processes. Solutions, therefore, require accessing, implementing, and coordinating information and actions at multiple scales. Restoring commons, such as fisheries, will require a better understanding of how stakeholders access and use information at various scales to resolve governance and restrictions problems. In 179 household interviews, perceptions of fisheries conflicts and their causes were identified, and 16 management committee key informants described their methods for mediating hypothetical small-scale fisheries problems in Kenya. The 6 studied sites varied in human development and demographic contexts but had notable similarities that reflected a respondent's focus on localized, direct, and proximate fishing conflicts. The most cited problems included limited space, disagreement about gears, poor resource conditions, and locally inadequate benefits. The most cited sources of information were local households and the community, and there was considerably less acknowledgment of distal problems and solutions. Key informants selected a limited number of local community-focused solutions. For example, informants chose to mediate conflicts between neighbors with local community meetings rather than through formal national institutions. Therefore, distal solutions were likely to be perceived as ineffectual, possibly due to the challenges of polycentric governance coordination. However, widespread overfishing arises from overarching distal processes not fully amenable to local solutions. Therefore, a focus on local action is expected to limit the ability to address distal problems. These include conflicting values, demographic changes, supportive governance frameworks, emerging technologies, resolving conflicting local rules, fair between-group enforcement, responding to temporary shortages of fish, and intercommunity border and rule disputes. Improved coordination and integration of information and institutions to simultaneously address both proximate and distal common's problems are recommended., (© 2023 Society for Conservation Biology.)

This study examines the nexus among political factors, carbon emissions, and life expectancy between 1990 and 2020 in India. Data for this study was extracted from the World Bank Development indicators, after which it was subjected to econometrics analysis. The results showed that on averages, between 1990 and 2020, India experienced a life expectancy around 65 years. Fossil fuel energy consumption represents a small proportion of total energy consumption in India. However, carbon emissions and life expectancy have a positive and significant relationship. Fossil fuel usage and life expectancy possess a significantly positive relationship (FFEC = 0.044128, P-value = 0.0023) Moreover, government effectiveness and life expectancy have a significant direct relationship. Political stability and life expectancy have a significant negative relationship in the country. We conclude that policymakers in India should ensure that carbon emissions and fossil fuel usage in India do not pose a threat to life expectancy. Efforts should be put in place by policymakers in India to increase life expectancy , a strategic component of SDG 3- good health and well being for all at all ages, by ensuring stable political climate, good governance and efficient health enhanced public policies., Competing Interests: The Authors declared no conflict of interest, (African Journal of Reproductive Health © 2024.)

In this era of digitalization, the role of information and communication technology (ICT) has significantly increased. The integration of ICT into the government system has improved efficiency and working processes. Some countries such as China have successfully integrated ICT into their governance system. However, many other countries especially the developing world are yet to effectively utilize the role of ICT in their governance structure and these countries are struggling to produce a better governance system. It is, therefore, imperative for the developing world to learn from successful nations and devise their governance systems so that ICT can be fully utilized and produce good governance. However, such comparative analyses are not done as such to bring strengths and weaknesses in the integration of ICT into the governance system especially in developing countries' governance systems. This study contributes by conducting a comparative study on the China-Pakistan e-government progress. China has widely implemented e-government, which has helped the country to ensure good governance. Pakistan, on the other hand, is also moving towards digitalization and making efforts to implement e-government. This research examines the United Nations' E-Government Development Index (EGDI) reports and rankings. The findings of our research show that China has significantly improved its ranking, whereas Pakistan's ranking has indicated a gradual decline except for the year 2008. This happened because of a lack of investment in infrastructure, scarcity of financial resources, weak institutional capabilities, and limited access to advanced technologies. Moreover, there is a big gap between public policy and public implementation in Pakistani scenarios. However, it has been dug out in this study that employing the Chinese model and seeking cooperation with China can improve e-governance ranking and overall governance in Pakistan. The study advances the understanding of e-governance and its challenges in Pakistan and the findings of the study will assist researchers, policymakers, and officials in the implementation and development of e-projects in Pakistan., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2024 The Authors.)

Background: This article explores the concept of institutionalization, which is the process of transforming ideas into programs and automating actions, in the context of health system governance and sustainable development. Institutionalization is a key mechanism for creating accountable and transparent institutions, which are essential for achieving health system resilience and sustainability. This study identifies the components and dimensions of institutionalization in the health system and its relationship with good governance and sustainable health development., Main Text: We applied a scoping review method in five steps. First, we formulated a question for our research. Then, we concluded a comprehensive literature search in five electronic databases for identifying relevant studies. This review has two phases: identifying the concept of institutional approach and its components in health system, and its relationship with good governance to reach Sustainable Health Development (SHD). The third step was study selection, and the 1st author performed data abstraction. The key issues which are identified in our review, related to the concepts of SDH, its goals, pillars and principles; positive peace; good governance; components of institutional approach components, and their relations. Finally, we summarized and organized our findings in a format of a proposed conceptual framework, to underpin the role of institutionalization in the health system to achieve sustainable development., Conclusion: Institutionalization is a key concept for achieving positive peace and good governance, which requires meaningful involvement of leaders, politicians, civil society, and public participation. It also depends on the conditions of justice, human rights, transparency, accountability and rule of law. In the wake of COVID-19, institutionalization is more crucial than ever for advancing sustainable development, especially in the context of low and middle-income countries (LMICs)., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Background: Social accountability is an important element in health system governance, which is necessary for health system reform and reaching Universal Health Coverage. Understanding the social accountability mechanism and tools will help policymakers to design policies according to the context. We aimed to explore the extent of the application of social accountability in health system governance, its results, challenges, and tools., Methods: We conducted a scoping review study, using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) extension for scoping review. An inclusive search in bibliographic databases and search engines was done to identify peer review articles and grey literatures, published in English in the range of 2010 to 2021. Search terms were (social accountability), (public accountability), AND (health system)., Results: Thirty-one records met inclusion criteria from 286 potentially relevant sources, which included 25 peer-review articles and 6 grey literatures. Maternal and child health was the main health subject for social accountability interventions. We identified some social accountability tools to apply at the health facility and community levels. Social accountability has some benefits for the health system and for the community and some challenges to the implementation of social accountability were listed., Conclusion: Social accountability improves health system performance. It contains different tools and strategies applied at different levels of the health system. Successful social accountability initiatives that are strategic, multi-interventional, and context-specific can produce good results in health services and social domains., (Copyright© 2024 Nejatian et al. Published by Tehran University of Medical Sciences.)

This article, prompted by Heidi Crowter's campaign to eliminate the discriminatory aspects of current abortion law, outlines the challenges to good governance in a context of bioethical plurality. First, the nature of the plurality is sketched. Secondly, some reflections are presented on how those who have governance responsibilities might ease the tensions engendered by the plurality; and, at the same time, how the discontented governed might reasonably press their views. Thirdly, a model of good governance (demanding integrity by those who govern and respect for the global commons) is introduced. The conclusion is that good faith governance merits our respect, but it does not guarantee particular outcomes or positions that will meet with the approval of all bioethical constituencies or individuals. Accordingly, we have to learn not only to live with rocks and hard places but also to find civilized ways of debating our differences.

Background: One of the indicators of development in different countries is the efficiency of the health care system. Hospitals and health centers have a very important role in the sustainability of society as w well as its economic growth and development. Meanwhile, one of the important development indicators of hospitals is good governance. This study was aimed to determine the factors affecting good governance in teaching hospitals., Methods: This study was a scoping review of Iranian databases, including IranDoc, ISD, Magiran and International databases such as Science Direct, ISI, PubMed and Scopus to meet the good governance factors in teaching hospitals. There were no time limitations to data collection. the keywords governance, good governance, hospital governance, and good governance in hospitals, teaching hospitals, hospital management, hospital leadership, and their synonyms were used in the search strategy. The content analysis method was used to analyze selected studies., Results: The findings showed that the characteristics of effective governance in teaching hospitals can be considered as follow: efficiency, managing conflict of interests, facilitated operation, managed and under control activities, integration, and synergy, achieving the desired consequences, creating an atmosphere that is rewarding and for each member., Conclusion: Based on the results regarding the good governance model in teaching hospitals, it is recommended that on the basis of the nature of service, the mission and value of teaching hospitals have to be clearly redefined. On the other hand, the methods based on which we treat patients should be seriously redefined and we should pay more attention to the patient's values because the patients feel that we are practicing and testing them., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests., (© 2023 Iran University of Medical Sciences.)

Decoupling economic growth from environmental pollution for promoting low-carbon growth has become a global objective. Though the previous studies have mostly analyzed how environmental pollution can be reduced, not much emphasis was given to assessing how economic growth can be enhanced while limiting environmental damages in tandem. Hence, this study examines how carbon productivity is determined by energy productivity improvement, good governance, financial development, financial globalization, and international trade using data from 116 global economies. Overall, the analytical findings reveal that energy productivity improvement initially cannot decouple economic growth from environmental pollution by inhibiting carbon productivity. However, later on, using energy productively does manage to decouple economic growth from environmental pollution by boosting carbon productivity. Accordingly, the U-shaped nexus between these variables is confirmed by these statistical findings. Besides, the results also endorse the carbon productivity-boosting effects of good governance, financial development, and international trade while foreign direct investment receipts are not found to exert any significant impact on carbon productivity. On the other hand, the robustness tests' results affirm that the carbon productivity-influencing impacts are heterogeneous across countries belonging from different categories of national income, carbon productivity, energy productivity, governance, and regional locations, as well. Nevertheless, the results overall confirm that countries having comparatively higher levels of energy productivity and governance are more likely to decouple the growth of their respective economies from environmental pollution. Based on these findings, some decoupling policies are recommended., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

The inflows of FDI has revealed a catalyst effect on economic progress with sustainability. Furthermore, continual inflows of FDI prompts. The motivation of the study is to evaluate the effects of energy, good governance, education, and environmental regulation on inflows of FDI in china for the period 1997-2018. A panel data econometrical technique has been implemented, including panel unit root, cointegration, CS-ARDL, and asymmetric ARDL. Moreover, the directional causality has been investigated by employing the H-D causality test. According to the coefficients for CS-ARDL, the study documented a positive statistically significant linkage between explanatory variables, i.e., good governance, education, and energy, and explained variables, especially in the long run, whereas environmental regulation established an adverse association with FDI inflows in China. In terms of the standard Wald test, the study confirms the asymmetric linkage between explanatory variables and FDI in the long-run and short-run estimation. Referring to the asymmetric coefficients of good governance, education, and energy revealed a positive tie with inflows of FDI, while a negative statistically significant connection was disclosed between environmental regulation and inflows of FDI. Furthermore, directional casualty test established asymmetric shocks in CE [FDI←→ C E + ; F D I ← → C E - ] , negative shocks in education [ E D U - ←→FDI]. Based on study findings policy suggestions has derived for future development., Competing Interests: We, at this moment, declare that no support from any organization for the submitted work; no financial relationships with any organizations that might have an interest in the submitted work; no other relationships or activities that could appear to have influenced the submitted work., (© 2023 Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Policy Points Global health institutions and instruments should be reformed to fully incorporate the principles of good health governance: the right to health, equity, inclusive participation, transparency, accountability, and global solidarity. New legal instruments, like International Health Regulations amendments and the pandemic treaty, should be grounded in these principles of sound governance. Equity should be embedded into the prevention of, preparedness for, response to, and recovery from catastrophic health threats, within and across nations and sectors. This includes the extant model of charitable contributions for access to medical resources giving way to a new model that empowers low- and middle-income countries to create and produce their own diagnostics, vaccines, and therapeutics-such as through regional messenger RNA vaccine manufacturing hubs. Robust and sustainable funding of key institutions, national health systems, and civil society will ensure more effective and just responses to health emergencies, including the daily toll of avoidable death and disease disproportionately experienced by poorer and more marginalized populations., (© 2023 Milbank Memorial Fund.)

This paper aims to analyze the articles regarding the role of good governance in sustainable tourism for China. Following the PRISMA guidelines, a systematic literature review approach has been conducted in this paper. A total number of 100 peer-reviewed journal papers have been critically evaluated. Our review analysis shows that taking necessary steps under good governance can promote sustainable tourism development in China. Few policy recommendations and future research aspects have also been included in the paper., Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s43546-022-00408-x., Competing Interests: Conflict of interestThe authors declare that there is no conflict of interest., (© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023, Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.)

This paper analyses the impact of the use of digital communication tools in administrative procedures on the effectiveness of local administrative authorities during the COVID-19 pandemic. It considers COVID-19-driven changes in the legal competence of the institutional unit and administrative authorities' orientation to good governance as mediators of this relationship. By applying partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) to survey data (N = 610) from five central European countries, we show that the accelerated use of digitalized communication tools driven by the COVID-19 situation has a positive effect on the effectiveness of local administrative authorities. Our data also indicate that the new laws, instructions and good governance driven by the COVID-19 situation - based on mostly convergent administrative traditions and European trends - partially mediate the relationship between the use of digital communication tools and administrative effectiveness. These findings do not significantly differ between participating countries and bureaucratic traditions. Consequently, the COVID-19 crisis proved to be a joint facilitator of responsive public governance that remained compliant with the rule of law, regardless of whether the national administrative systems were traditionally more legalistically or managerially oriented., Competing Interests: DeclarationsThis research was funded by the Slovenian Research Agency under grant numbers P5-0093 and J5-1789. We wish to thank all international partners for the data collection: Marie Bohata for the Czech Republic, Mariusz Maciejewski and Aleksander Maziarz for Poland and Ani Matei for Romania. The authors declare no conflicts of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses or interpretation of the data; in writing the manuscript or the decision to publish the results. We thank participants of the EGPA 2021 Conference and the VHB 2022 Annual Conference for valuable feedback., (© The Author(s) 2022, corrected publication 2022.)

The technology driven post-scarcity society is upon us. Ubiquitous technologies are eradicating scarcity in many industries. These macroscopic system trends are causing our economy to transition from relative scarcity to relative abundance. For many people in the world however, in both developed, developing, and underdeveloped countries, the notion of an Age of Abundance will sound utterly bizarre. There is a tension between abundance and equality. Good governance considers in what manner the state conducts public policy, manages public resources and promotes overall prosperity. This chapter connects good governance to the end of scarcity and integrates equality into abundance. The chapter critically examines the normative justifications of our scarcity based legal institutions, such as property and intellectual property (IP) systems, in light of 10 exponential, Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) technologies, and the post-scarcity economy. Starting point is that absolute and relative abundance are not utopian. Technology will erase scarcity in more and more economic areas in the foreseeable future, but not everywhere or for everybody. The chapter views relative scarcity and relative abundance as temporal socio-economic categories at two opposite sides of a continuum. The chapter unifies good governance with equality and abundance, by introducing a post-Rawlsian Equal Relative Abundance (ERA) principle of distributive justice. This includes defining a set of material and immaterial primary goods, warranting adequate, sufficient levels of relative abundance (which depend on technological evolution), and equitable results per region or group. Crucially, ERA integrates desert-based principles to the degree that some may deserve a higher level of material goods because of inequality in contributions, i.e., their hard work, talent, luck or entrepreneurial spirit, only to the extent that their unequal rewards do also function to improve the position of the least advantaged. A society governed by the ERA principle should in theory be able to solve the poverty trap on a global level. As lifting people from poverty in Europe is a different thing than achieving ERA in the US, applying equal relative abundance techniques in Asia and Africa each have their own specific challenges and dimensions., Competing Interests: Author MK was employed by AIRecht. The handling editor ML declared a shared affiliation with the author at the time of review., (Copyright © 2022 Kop.)

The intention of this study is to look into the effect of institutional quality on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflow in lower-middle income countries. To accomplish this goal, we use a panel data set of 28 lower-middle income countries in six different regions that span the period from 2002 to 2018. This analysis is conducted by using dynamic panel estimation (two-step system GMM). Later, we use threshold analysis to capture how the reaction of institutional quality varies in terms of GDP per capita. The empirical outcomes suggest that control of corruption and regulatory quality enhance FDI inflow while high rule of law and voice and accountability mitigate it in lower-middle income countries. On the contrary, government effectiveness, and political stability do not have any significant impact on FDI. Regulatory quality has the greatest impact on foreign investment inflows of all the metrics. Similarly, threshold analysis reveals that regulatory quality has a positive impact on FDI when per capita GDP of FDI recipient nations exceeds the threshold value of 7.197, while voice and accountability have a positive impact on FDI when per capita GDP exceeds the threshold value of 7.776. In terms of the size of the impact of institutional factors in attracting FDI, lower middle incoutries were quite different from that high and low income countries, though the outcome is largely similar in the three subgroups. According to the regional findings, each of the institutional quality measures is only effective in the East Asia and Pacific region. In addition, threshold analysis reveals how institutions respond to the impact of per capita GDP., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest., (© 2022 The Author(s).)

From long-term qualitative research this paper argues that Chhattisgarh's decentralised mechanisms in implementation of the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) foster increased stake of local communities and local politics, and that these work to enhance accountability and programme quality. A larger number of actors with financial interests in the scheme at the level of the sub-block ICDS 'sector' and down to the village leads to wider distribution of financial gains from delivery of ICDS Services, thereby increasing local competition and political interest from lower tiers of governance. Decentralised mechanisms work to enhance checks and balances via formal and informal routes to governance and accountability. Chhattisgarh's ICDS represents a 'hybrid model' between the short and long routes to accountability. While competing interests from local politics and institutions of governance work to improve ICDS accountability, they also work to appropriate the programme for political gain, or unfairly target ICDS workers. The paper unpacks mechanisms by which local politics relate with decentralised prescriptions in ICDS implementation. It gives the decentralised mechanisms a qualified two cheers., Competing Interests: Conflict of interestThe author declares no potential conflict of interest., (© European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI) 2022, Springer Nature or its licensor holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.)

While national parks (NPs) have for a long time made substantial contributions to visitor well-being, many spaces remain out of reach of people with disabilities (PwDs). This is partly due to a lack of policies that take accessibility for broader intersectional audiences into consideration. This paper evaluates governance and legal frameworks in NPs in both Canada and Spain. A decision-making framework based on intersectionality realities is proposed to assess current conditions of environmental good governance using a set of descriptors created to scrutinize laws and technical documents that can promote equitable access to NPs. To validate results derived from the regulatory evaluation, semistructured interviews with park managers were carried out. Results revealed the importance of incorporating equity discourses into policies that regulate NP networks to guarantee that all the intersectional realities for park uses are considered in their management. Furthermore, when a country develops a well-structured federal framework under which the rights of PwDs are ensured, it transcends other fields of law. Differences between the Canadian and the Spanish situation are highlighted, as well as the need for links between higher-level policies and laws and on-the-ground implementation, with NP management plans playing an important role.

The most powerful and crucial concept today is a sustainable digital economy. This research is aimed to investigate the predictors of a sustainable digital economy in China. In addition, the mediating roles of social reforms and economic policies were investigated between good governance and a sustainable digital economy. This cross-sectional research considered partial least square-structural equational modeling (PLS-SEM) as an analysis technique. The data were collected from 317 managerial staff of the e-commerce industry in China via a self-structured questionnaire. A random sampling technique was applied in the data collection process. Results showed that good governance positively impacts the sustainable digital economy, social reforms, and economic policies. Additionally, an increase in social reforms and economic policies led to a sustainable digital economy in China. Social reforms and economic policies partially mediated the relationship between good governance and a sustainable digital economy. This research contributes to the body of knowledge by identifying components of a sustainable digital economy and examining whether good governance may aid in attaining a sustainable digital economy. Nowadays, research on the sustainable digital economy has got attention from policymakers and researchers around the globe. These outcomes suggest several ways to improve the sustainable digital economy in China. This research is not without limitations, such as cross-sectional and based on responses of the respondents. Several research avenues were discussed and can be influenced by many factors for future perspectives., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2021 Xianbin and Qiong.)

Since 2019, countries in the world have been facing many economic, political, social, and health shocks and challenges that are not easily faced with the COVID-19 pandemic, including Singapore. Under these conditions, the performance of the governance system in dealing with a pandemic is tested transparently in public. However, the implementation of good governance by the Singapore government itself is carried out by steps and decisions that will be taken and implemented through the digital bureaucracy to the community in order to suppress the positive number of COVID-19. The application of good governance also needs support other crucial elements that improved by digital bureaucracy, which are transparency, accountability, efficiency and effective., (© 2021 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

This inquiry contributes to the previous literature by analyzing the empirical linkage between the development of the financial sector and carbon emissions in the presence of good governance. Specifically, we examine the ability of good governance in moderating the negative effect of financial development on environmental quality in Saudi Arabia over the period 1996-2016. Different indicators of financial development and governance quality are included in the analysis. Using the Dynamic Ordinary Least Squares (DOLS) estimator, we find (i) the exostence of unconditional effects of the three indicators of financial sector development on increasing carbon emissions in most models; (ii) the indicators of governance quality increase carbon emissions in most models; (iii) the net effects on CO 2 emissions are negative from the complementarity between the indicators of financial sector development and political and institutional governance, meaning that the development of financial sector reduces carbon emissions if it is accompanied by good institutional and political governance., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Background: The challenges faced by healthcare personnel in relation to dengue prevention and control are perennial but noticeably unexplored. It is often difficult to translate policies and decision making by the elite into astute management in consonance with the needs of rank-and-file personnel. In this study, we assess the impact of governance on dengue prevention and control activities in Malaysia as narrated by the elite., Methods: A qualitative study using a case-study approach was conducted between January 2019 and November 2019 in the districts of Gombak and Klang, where the relevant key informants were located. Nineteen interviews were conducted among elite healthcare personnel from different divisions: management, vector, laboratory, inspectorate, health promotion and entomology. Semi-structured interviews were conducted. The sample size was determined through saturation point criteria. Purposive sampling techniques were used to recruit the participants. The interviews were audio recorded, and the transcribed text was analysed with deductive thematic analysis., Results: Data analysis led to the development of 5 themes and 13 categories. The major principles of governance were embodied in a milieu of predicament, linked to constraints but also opportunities. The constraints resulted from inherent determinants of dengue outbreaks, the serviceability of governing policies and the macro-economics of budget allocation. The opportunities to sustain governance at the local operating level stem from a prevalent supportive internal management system, collaborative efforts among corresponding external government agencies and willingness to innovate and embrace novel technology., Conclusion: Elites are influential, often well-informed personnel tasked with making decisions that can reverberate across an organisation, impacting future plans and strategic policies. Political arrangements at higher levels will reflect in advance the tone of how governance in dengue prevention and control is operationalised by entities and individuals at lower levels of the health system. The prevailing centralised structure in the Malaysian health system will continue to entrench the position of the elite and intertwine it with governance and its predicaments.

This article considers how the development, promotion and adoption of a set of core values for web archives, linked to principles of "good governance", will help them to tackle the challenges of sustainability, accountability and inclusiveness that are central to their long-term societal and cultural worth. It outlines the work that has already been done to address these questions, as web archiving begins to move out of its establishment phase, and then discusses seven key principles of good governance that might be adapted by and embedded within web archives: participation, consensus, accountability, transparency, effectiveness and efficiency, inclusivity and legality. The article concludes with a call to action for researchers and archivists to co-create the core values for web archives that will be required if they are to remain a vital part of our cultural heritage infrastructure., Competing Interests: Conflicts of interestNot applicable, (© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021.)

In compliance with the socioeconomic theory, the study has strived to investigate the impact of economic and non-economic public policies on tax evasion using panel data of 7 SAARC countries covering the period from 1998 to 2015. The study has applied the ordinary least square with fixed effect and random effect models to analyze the data assembled. The result of the study implies that the higher the degree of economic freedoms, the lower the tax evasion. More specifically, the government policies about property rights, monetary freedom, fiscal freedom and investment freedom have a negative influence on taxpayers' choices of tax evasion while financial freedom result shows a positive effect on tax evasion. Additionally, there is a negative impact of public sector governance and religiosity on tax evasion, which implies the higher the public sector governance and the higher the religious faith amid the people, the lower the degree of tax evasion. The findings of the study are supposed to offer the governments, tax authorities, and research scholars the valuable insights into public policies for reducing the tax evasion to a significant extent., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest., (© 2020 The Authors.)

Corruption is recognized by the global community as a threat to development generally and to achieving health goals, such as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal # 3: ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all. As such, international organizations such as the World Health Organizations and the United Nations Development Program are creating an evidence base on how best to address corruption in health systems. At present, the risk of corruption is even more apparent, given the need for quick and nimble responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, which may include a relaxation of standards and the rapid mobilization of large funds. As international organizations and governments attempt to respond to the ever-changing demands of this pandemic, there is a need to acknowledge and address the increased opportunity for corruption.In order to explore how such risks of corruption are addressed in international organizations, this paper focuses on the question: How are international organizations implementing measures to promote accountability and transparency, and anti-corruption, in their own operations? The following international organizations were selected as the focus of this paper given their current involvement in anti-corruption, transparency, and accountability in the health sector: the World Health Organization, the United Nations Development Program, the World Bank Group, and the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Our findings demonstrate that there has been a clear increase in the volume and scope of anti-corruption, accountability, and transparency measures implemented by these international organizations in recent years. However, the efficacy of these measures remains unclear. Further research is needed to determine how these measures are achieving their transparency, accountability, and anti-corruption goals.

China is facing great water and energy pressure due to industrialization, urbanization, population growth and environmental change. China's explosive economic development has come at a steep cost in terms of natural resource exploitation and environmental problems. These unintended negative consequences are partly the result of a narrow single-sector management approach to natural resources, which often caused conflicts and low efficiency of related policies. Although the nexus approach is beneficial for optimization of natural resource utilization and development, the question of whether it can be applied in policy and practice is determined by various factors. The science-policy interface that stresses the political and social contexts provides a useful perspective for understanding the process of the nexus approach, from the scientific domain to policy. Combining criteria of good governance and an effective science-policy interface, suggestions for promoting good energy-water nexus governance are put forward, including popularization of scientific knowledge about the nexus in the political and social fields, collaborative governance of the nexus, and accelerating good governance of the whole of society., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: Transnational funders provide up to 80% of funds for medical devices in resource-limited settings, yet sustained access to medical devices remains unachievable. The primary goal of this study was to identify what factors hinder access to medical devices through the perspectives of frontline public hospital staff in Ghana involved in the implementation of transnational funding initiatives., Methods: A case study was developed that involved an analysis of semi-structured interviews of 57 frontline technical, clinical and administrative public health care staff at 23 sites in Ghana between March and April 2017; a review of the national guidelines for donations; and images of abandoned medical devices., Results: Six key themes emerged, demonstrating how policy, collaboration, quality, lifetime operating costs, attitudes of health care workers and representational leadership influence access to medical devices. An in-depth assessment of these themes has led to the development of an enterprise-wide comprehensive acquisition and management framework for medical devices in the context of transnational funding initiatives., Conclusion: The findings in this study underscore the importance of incorporating frontline health care staff in developing solutions that are targeted at improving delivery of care. Sustained access to medical devices may be achieved in Ghana through the adoption of a rigorous and comprehensive approach to acquisition, management and technical leadership. Funders and public health policy makers may use the study's findings to inform policy reform and to ensure that the efforts of transnational funders truly help to facilitate sustainable access to medical devices in Ghana., Competing Interests: Declaration of conflicting interests: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship and/or publication of this article., (© The Author(s) 2020.)

Marine protected areas (MPAs) socio-ecological effectiveness depends on a number of management and governance elements, among which stakeholder engagement and community support play key roles. Collaborative conservation initiatives that engage stakeholders in action research and knowledge co-production processes can enhance management and governance of MPAs. To design effective strategies aimed at reconciling biodiversity conservation and management of sustainable human uses, it is key to assess how local communities respond to such initiatives and identify the set of contextual factors, institutional, local and individual, potentially affecting these responses. This paper presents the approach and results of one such initiative, spanning 6 EU countries and 11 MPAs in the Mediterranean Sea, focusing on small-scale fishers as key MPA users. Through a collaborative project, managers and fishers agreed upon specific governance interventions (e.g. increasing stakeholder engagement, engaging fishers in monitoring activities, reducing fishing efforts) to be implemented in each MPA for one year. Structured surveys queried: MPA managers on the MPA context, governance structure, feasibility and effectiveness of the tested interventions; and small-scale fishers on their perceptions of the impact of the tested interventions on a set of 9 socio-ecological variables (e.g. amount of fish caught, level of participation in decision-making, support for the MPA). Results revealed that the interventions tested were relatively feasible, effective and cost-effective. Fishers reported positive perceptions of the interventions for the 9 variables considered, especially for level of support for the MPA and for those associated with aspects of governance. Proportional odds models highlighted perceived effects are maximized under certain institutional, local and individual circumstances (e.g. old MPAs, small fisher communities, and fishers with a high proportion of income from fisheries). Findings highlight that employing good governance processes involving stakeholders may rapidly generate improved local support for conservation and provide insights for potential leverage points upon which to act to maximize perceived effectiveness and enhance support toward MPAs., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: The dynamic intersection of a pluralistic health system, large informal sector, and poor regulatory environment have provided conditions favourable for 'corruption' in the LMICs of south and south-east Asia region. 'Corruption' works to undermine the UHC goals of achieving equity, quality, and responsiveness including financial protection, especially while delivering frontline health care services. This scoping review examines current situation regarding health sector corruption at frontlines of service delivery in this region, related policy perspectives, and alternative strategies currently being tested to address this pervasive phenomenon., Methods: A scoping review following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) was conducted, using three search engines i.e., PubMed, SCOPUS and Google Scholar. A total of 15 articles and documents on corruption and 18 on governance were selected for analysis. A PRISMA extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) checklist was filled-in to complete this report. Data were extracted using a pre-designed template and analysed by 'mixed studies review' method., Results: Common types of corruption like informal payments, bribery and absenteeism identified in the review have largely financial factors as the underlying cause. Poor salary and benefits, poor incentives and motivation, and poor governance have a damaging impact on health outcomes and the quality of health care services. These result in high out-of-pocket expenditure, erosion of trust in the system, and reduced service utilization. Implementing regulations remain constrained not only due to lack of institutional capacity but also political commitment. Lack of good governance encourage frontline health care providers to bend the rules of law and make centrally designed anti-corruption measures largely in-effective. Alternatively, a few bottom-up community-engaged interventions have been tested showing promising results. The challenge is to scale up the successful ones for measurable impact., Conclusions: Corruption and lack of good governance in these countries undermine the delivery of quality essential health care services in an equitable manner, make it costly for the poor and disadvantaged, and results in poor health outcomes. Traditional measures to combat corruption have largely been ineffective, necessitating the need for innovative thinking if UHC is to be achieved by 2030.

This article examines how good governance and technological innovation complement foreign direct investment (FDI) to mitigate carbon emissions in twenty-three emerging economies for the period 1996-2014. Based on the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) approach, we established the following results: First, from the non-interactive regressions, FDI inflows have positive effects on the four indicators of carbon emissions while increasing governance quality and technological innovation have negative effects on these indicators. Second, from the interactive regressions, the interactions between FDI and both political and institutional governance decrease the level of CO 2 emissions. Moreover, the interactions between technological innovation and FDI reduce CO 2 emissions in all the estimated models, except in the model pertaining to CO 2 emissions from electricity and heat production; as a result, environmental quality is improved. Policy implications and future research directions are also discussed., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest We don't have any conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

This study empirically examined the relationship between CO 2 emissions and good governance in oil- and non-oil-producing countries in the SSA region. The findings from this paper revealed very interesting results proving that good governance has a negative relationship with CO 2 emissions. Oil-producing countries have good governance system to help control and reduce CO 2 emissions as compared to non-oil-producing countries. Particularly, in oil-producing countries, business regulatory environment, budget and fiscal management, as well as fiscal policy have a significant negative relationship with CO 2 emissions. But there is rather a positive relationship between these indicators and CO 2 emissions in non-oil-producing countries as they do not have the required structures and arrangements to control CO 2 emissions. Also, in oil-producing countries, property rights and rules have positive relationship with CO 2 emissions but in the case of non-oil-producing countries, there is a negative relationship, meaning that non-oil-producing countries have good legal system and rule-based governance structures that is capable of protecting property rights. There is positive relationship between quality of government administration and CO 2 emissions in oil-producing countries but negative for non-oil-producing countries. Trade liberalization and economic growth have positive relationship with CO 2 emissions in both categories. But urbanization has a negative relationship with CO 2 emissions in non-oil-producing countries but positive for oil-producing. The findings point that effective and efficient institutions is a vital element for SSA countries to help combat the increased emissions of CO 2 to engender growth.

The study provides evidence of the governance and its context according to the introduction of the New Diagnosis-Related Groups (DRGs)-based payment system in Korea. In-depth interviews with 14 core policy elites from four health areas were conducted. As governance is a multidimensional concept, interviewees were asked to evaluate different dimensions based on the World Bank's five elements (Coherent decision-making structures, Consistency and Stability, Stakeholder participation, Supervision and Regulation, and Transparency and Information). Overall, the new payment system was perceived as poorly governed. Since its introduction, it has not offered a new governance perspective because it used a conventional top-down approach, while political windows for cooperation were not wide open. Of the five governance dimensions, the scores were lowest in Stakeholder participation. There was a large perception gap between physicians and government officers here. Participants from academia perceived Consistency and Stability as ineffectively governed. In the meantime, the government has mainly created health policy in Korea. As a result, stakeholder participation, especially the participation of medical personnel, has been insufficient in the process of health policy formulation. The study suggests that the decision-making process in health policy needs to be more participatory and reliable, with governance regarded as a high priority., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Coronavirus (COVID-19) is a humanitarian emergency, which started in Wuhan in China in early December 2019, brought into the notice of the authorities in late December, early January 2020, and, after investigation, was declared as an emergency in the third week of January 2020. The WHO declared this as Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) on 31th of January 2020, and finally a pandemic on 11th March 2020. As of March 24th, 2020, the virus has caused a casualty of over 16,600 people worldwide with more than 380,000 people confirmed as infected by it, of which more than 10,000 cases are serious. Mainly based on Chinese newspapers, social media and other digital platform data, this paper analyzes the timeline of the key actions taken by the government and people over three months in five different phases. It found that although there was an initial delay in responding, a unique combination of strong governance, strict regulation, strong community vigilance and citizen participation, and wise use of big data and digital technologies, were some of the key factors in China's efforts to combat this virus. Being inviable and non-measurable (unlike radioactive exposure), appropriate and timely information is very important to form the basic foundation of mitigation and curative measures. Infodemic, as it is termed by WHO, is a key word, where different stakeholder's participation, along with stricter regulation, is required to reduce the impact of fake news in this information age and social media. Although different countries will need different approaches, focusing on its humanitarian nature and addressing infodemic issues are the two critical factors for future global mitigation efforts.

Background : The goal of the public procurement of pharmaceuticals is to purchase sufficient quantities of high-quality pharmaceuticals at cost-effective prices for a given population. This goal can be undercut if corruption infiltrates the procurement process. Good procurement practices can help mitigate the risks of corruption and support equitable access to affordable and high-quality medicines. Objectives : This paper aims to 1) examine manifestations of corruption in the pharmaceutical procurement process and key factors behind them, and 2) identify how to design and implement effective anti-corruption, transparency and accountability mechanisms within this process. Methods : This paper was informed by a narrative literature review from 1996 to the present. The search focused on publications that addressed the issue of pharmaceutical procurement and governance and corruption issues. Our search included peer-reviewed literature, books, grey literature such as working papers, reports published by international organizations and donor agencies, and some media articles. Some documents used in this paper were already known to the authors. Results : Procurement is highly vulnerable to corruption particularly in the health sector. What is more, corruption in the procurement process does not appear to be limited to any one level of government or type of health system. The better integration of accountability, transparency and anti-corruption mechanisms in the procurement process is needed to reduce the risk of corruption. Conclusions : Lessons learned suggest that anti-corruption, transparency and accountability mechanisms in the pharmaceutical procurement process, such as open contracting and integrity pacts are helpful towards reducing the risk of corruption.

Good governance promotes the fundamental grounds of participation and democracy in contemporary public administration, whilst institution building and the (in)effectiveness of public administration is linked to economic growth. This synergy brings forth sheer implications on the sustainable economic development. On this composite setting, the paper examines several fundamental credentials of public administration in the European Union (EU) countries, in relation to economic development, but also poverty, research, and development support, as representative socio-economic credentials. The empirical analysis is based on data covering the 1995-2017 lapse of time, processed through three econometric procedures, namely robust regression, structural equation modeling, and Gaussian graphical models. The main results emphasize that there are significant joint implications of public administration on the considered socio-economic dimensions. General government spending and, particularly, the environmental support, have positive implications on the European Union economies, leading to significant increases in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita and downsize in poverty risk (more emphasized in regard to the government expenditures than the environmental protection). Overall, the quality of governance in EU countries requires an additional effort dedicated to leverage good public governance in order to support the long-term economic development.

This study explores visualization-supported dialogues with water management and ecosystem stakeholders from four catchments in Sweden, Latvia, Germany and Poland. An interactive visualization tool was designed to present information regarding modelled effects of chosen future pathways including different measures that address ecosystem issues under present and future scenarios of land use and climate change, and estimated benefits and costs of the measures. This paper assesses if and how visualization-supported dialogues hinder or support key components of good governance of water and ecosystem management among expert stakeholders. We discuss challenges and opportunities related to the tool and dialogue design, and performance of dialogues. Results from a cross-case workshop indicate that the form and functionality of the tool contributes to participation, empowerment, accessibility and flexibility, while dialogue design is instrumental for encouraging trust and inclusion of local knowledge and competence.

Background: The main issue for advancing any health system is human resources for health (HRH); although efforts to address HRH shortage and performance have accelerated over recent years, HRH is still a problem for delivering quality services. Addressing key governance issues is essential for developing capable health workforce, and good governance should be an integral part of planning and implementation of HRH., Materials and Methods: This is a qualitative study, undertaken in 2017. Data processing included 14 in-depth interviews with the experts of human resource management in medical universities and the Ministry of Health and Medical Education. The sampling was carried out using purposeful sampling method and continued until reaching data saturation. Data analysis was performed using subject analysis method., Results: This study assessment of the human resource governance in ten principles includes strategic vision, participation and consensus orientation, rule of law, transparency, responsiveness, equity and inclusiveness, effectiveness and efficiency, accountability, intelligence and information, and ethics. The result showed that although MOHME tries to reduce insufficient and unbalance's human resources and expand the capacity building in human resource planning, there are not enough practical knowledge and skills among policy-makers., Conclusions: Strengthening human resource governance should have been among the priorities identified in the health national strategy and government should have a long-term perspective, and all key factors in government, civil society, academia, and other stakeholders should participate in human resource policy-making and their participations should be accepted as a culture., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts of interest.

Complex nature of health and disease, the impact of various socioeconomic factors on the health system arrangements and health of the society, and also the impact of health on the social and economic conditions of the society require a social approach to health. This necessity has led to the creation of new policies and programs, under the name of socialization of health, to strengthen the social approach to health in the health system of Iran. However, there must be more convergence between various stakeholders about the definition, conceptual framework, and different dimensions of this term (socialization of health). Using the experts' opinions and scientific evidence, we clarified the concepts and different dimensions of socialization of health to be used by healthcare policymakers and managers.

Background: Child undernutrition remains the major public health problem in low and middle-income countries including Ethiopia. The effects of good governance, urbanization and public health expenditure on childhood undernutrition are not well studied in developing countries. The objective of the study is to examine the relationship between quality of governance, public health expenditures, urbanization and child undernutrition in Ethiopia., Methods: This is pooled data analysis with ecological design. We obtained data on childhood undernutrition from the Ethiopian Demographic and Health Surveys (EDHS) that were conducted in 2000, 2005, 2011 and 2016. Additionally, data on quality of governance for Ethiopia were extracted from the World Governance Indicators (WGI) and public health spending and urbanization were obtained from the World Development Indicators and United Nations' World Population Prospects (WPP) respectively. Univariate and multivariate analysis were done to assess the relationship between governance, public health expenditure and urbanization with childhood undernutrition., Result: Government effectiveness (adjusted odd ratio (AOR) = 20.7; p = 0.046), regulatory quality (AOR = 0.0077; p = 0.026) and control of corruption (AOR = 0.0019; p = 0.000) were associated with stunting. Similarly, government effectiveness (AOR = 72.2; p = 0.007), regulatory quality (AOR = 0.0015; p = 0.004) and control of corruption (AOR = 0.0005; p = 0.000) were associated with underweight. None of the governance indicators were associated with wasting. On the other hand, there is no statistically significant association observed between public health spending and urbanization with childhood undernutrition. However, other socio-demographic variables play a significant effect on reducing of child undernutrition., Conclusion: This study indicates that good governance in the country plays a significant role for reducing childhood undernutrition along with other socio-demographic factors. Concerned bodies should focus on improving governance and producing a quality policy and at the same time monitor its implementation and adherence.

Purpose: The patient complaint is one of the main procedures of exercising patient's rights in the Finnish health care system. Such complaints typically concern the quality of care and/or patient safety. The purpose of this paper is to examine the types of patient complaints received by a specialized medical care organization and the kinds of responses given by the organization's personnel. The organization's strategy and good governance principles provide the framework for understanding the organization's action., Design/methodology/approach: This study's data comprise patient complaints and the responses from personnel of a specialized medical care organization from the start of 2012 to the end of January 2014. The data were analyzed through qualitative data analysis., Findings: The results show many unwanted grievances, but also reveal the procedures employed to improve health care processes. The results are related to patients' care experiences, provision of information, personnel's professional skills and the approach to patient complaints handling. The integrative result of the analysis was to find consensus between the patients' expectations and personnel's evaluation of patients' needs., Originality/value: Few prior studies have examined patient complaints related to both strategy and good governance. Patient complaints were found to have several confluences with an organization's strategic goals, objectives and good governance principles. The study recommends further research on personnel procedures for patient complaints handling, with a view to influencing strategic planning and implementation of strategies of organizations.

Despite numerous studies on whether democracy reduces the infant mortality rate (IMR), the empirical results remain mixed at best. In this article, I perform several theoretical and empirical exercises that help explain why and under what conditions we should expect politics to matter most for a decrease in IMR. First, I capitalize on the epidemiological view that IMR - the most commonly used indicator of health in social sciences - is better suited to reflect public health micromanagement than overall social development. Second, I theorize that autocrats have incentives to invest in health up to a certain point, which could lead to a reduction in IMR. Third, I introduce an omitted variable - good governance - that trumps the importance of a political regime for IMR: (1) it directly affects public health micromanagement, and (2) many autocrats made inroads in achieving good governance. Finally, for the first time in such research, I use a disaggregated IMR approach to corroborate my hypotheses.

Although donors generally aim to improve governance in recipient countries by various means, critics claim that the aggregate effect of large aid flows is the deterioration of governance. Aid is said to weaken domestic accountability, sustain authoritarian regimes, increase political instability, weaken government capacities, and increase corruption. Conducting a systematic search in Web of Science, this paper reviews the empirical evidence for these unintended aggregate effects of aid on the political, administrative, and judicial dimensions of good governance. It finds that the negative effects of aid on governance are much exaggerated. The aggregate effect of aid on democracy has become more positive after the Cold War, and the effect of aid on government capacity and on reducing corruption has also improved over time. Furthermore, most studies show a positive effect of aid on political stability. These findings imply that donor intentions matter: donors that are serious about their intended effects on governance are able to mitigate the possible negative unintended effects of their aid., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Mohammed, North, and Ashton find that decentralization in Fiji shifted health-sector workloads from tertiary hospitals to peripheral health centres, but with little transfer of administrative authority from the centre. Decision-making in five functional areas analysed remains highly centralized. They surmise that the benefits of decentralization in terms of services and outcomes will be limited. This paper invokes Faguet's (2012) model of local government responsiveness and accountability to explain why this is so - not only for Fiji, but in any country that decentralizes workloads but not the decision space of local governments. A competitive dynamic between economic and civic actors that interact to generate an open, competitive politics, which in turn produces accountable, responsive government can only occur where real power and resources have been devolved to local governments. Where local decision space is lacking, by contrast, decentralization is bound to fail because it has not really happened in the first place., (© 2016 The Author(s); Published by Kerman University of Medical Sciences. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.)

The 2008 economic crisis made the issue of good governance more present and visible, but the debate risks stalling in an academic and political discourse that barely exceeds the declarative. We acknowledge the existence of noteworthy documents from scientific medical societies and some institutional proposals that point towards promising changes. Viewing good governance as accountability, participation, transparency, intelligence and integrity, our objective is to identify the determinants of inaction and remove the barriers that prevent the adoption of rational and widely agreed-upon proposals. This led us: 1) to allocate the proposals to their appropriate governance level (macro, meso, micro and system environment) so as to more directly engage the agents of change; and 2) to highlight some decision nodes that can act as levers to catalyse selective transformations and to initiate the change processes. Taking into account the diversity of actors and scenarios, a top-down rational, integrated and reformist strategy for the whole Spanish National Health System does not seem likely or viable. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to promote changes, setting a targeted and reasoned agenda to visualise key issues and to enable multilevel and multidimensional thinking and advocacy of health-sector and society stakeholders., (Copyright © 2016 SESPAS. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.)

Background: Brazil created Health Councils to bring together civil society groups, heath professionals, and government officials in the discussion of health policies and health system resource allocation. However, several studies have concluded that Health Councils are not very influential on healthcare policy. This study probes this issue further by providing a descriptive account of some of the challenges civil society face within Brazil's Health Councils., Methods: Forty semi-structured interviews with Health Council Members at the municipal, state and national levels were conducted in June and July of 2013 and May of 2014. The geographical location of the interviewees covered all five regions of Brazil (North, Northeast, Midwest, Southeast, South) for a total of 5 different municipal Health Councils, 8 different state Health Councils, and the national Health Council in Brasilia. Interview data was analyzed using a thematic approach., Results: Health Councils are limited by a lack of legal authority, which limits their ability to hold the government accountable for its health service performance, and thus hinders their ability to fulfill their mandate. Equally important, their membership guidelines create a limited level of inclusivity that seems to benefit only well-organized civil society groups. There is a reported lack of support and recognition from the relevant government that negatively affects the degree to which Health Council deliberations are implemented. Other deficiencies include an insufficient amount of resources for Health Council operations, and a lack of training for Health Council members. Lastly, strong individual interests among Health Council members tend to influence how members participate in Health Council discussions., Conclusions: Brazil's Health Councils fall short in providing an effective forum through which civil society can actively participate in health policy and resource allocation decision-making processes. Restrictive membership guidelines, a lack of autonomy from the government, vulnerability to government manipulation, a lack of support and recognition from the government and insufficient training and operational budgets have made Health Council largely a forum for consultation. Our conclusions highlight, that among other issues, Health Councils need to have the legal authority to act independently to promote government accountability, membership guidelines need to be revised in order include members of marginalized groups, and better training of civil society representatives is required to help them make more informed decisions.

This article provides a commentary to Ole Norheim' s editorial entitled "Ethical perspective: Five unacceptable trade-offs on the path to universal health coverage." It reinforces its message that an inclusive, participatory process is essential for ethical decision-making and underlines the crucial importance of good governance in setting fair priorities in healthcare. Solidarity on both national and international levels is needed to make progress towards the goal of universal health coverage (UHC)., (© 2016 by Kerman University of Medical Sciences.)

The local turn in good governance theory and practice responded to critiques of the ineffectiveness of state management and the inequity of privatization alternatives in natural resource management. Confounding expectations of greater effectiveness from decentralised governance, including community-based natural resource management, however, critics argue that expanded opportunities for elite capture have become widely associated with program failures. This overview of theoretical controversies on leadership, patronage and elite capture is part of a themed section in this issue that challenges assumptions across a wide range of current policy literature. It introduces a set of Indonesian case studies that examine practices of local leaders and elites and seek to account in structural terms for appropriations both by ('elite capture') and of ('captured elites') these key figures. These studies explore the structural factors and co-governance practices most likely to promote effective participation of the full spectrum of local interests in pursuit of better local natural resource governance.