In the developed world the importance of evidence-based policy is increasingly recognised. Panel studies – a long-term study design where a cross-sectional sample of units is selected and surveyed at regular intervals – are being used to gather information about the same people or...

Accompanying the call for increased evidence-based policy the developed world is implementing more longitudinal panel studies which periodically gather information about the same people over a number of years. Panel studies distinguish between transitory and persistent states (e.g. poverty,...

In 2005, in recognition of the role of social factors in increasing health inequities, the World Health Organisation established the Commission on the Social Determinants of Health. South Africa is among the most unequal societies in the world. It faces serious public health challenges,...

Research on policy processes has emerged over the last 30-40 years in Northern contexts. Such research has expanded into Southern contexts. An interest in the use of 'evidence' (such as research) in policy processes is a relatively recent phenomenon. There are, to date, relatively few empirical...

The delivery of new housing is an important part of UK urban regeneration policy and practice. The ‘housing trajectory’ seeks to help policy makers make better decisions about housing delivery. This study evaluates the housing trajectory within the framework of evidence-based...

The last major review of urban health in developing countries was published in 1992. At that time, knowledge was largely limited to crude rural-urban comparisons and some ad hoc studies of low-income urban communities. Most research was done on communicable (infectious) diseases and little was...