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Author: World Health Organization
Publisher: World Health Organization
Published: 2022-12-13
Total Pages: 48
ISBN-13: 9240063641
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Author: Zsuzsanna Jakab
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Published: 2023-07-10
Total Pages: 244
ISBN-13: 283252818X
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →The COVID-19 pandemic has caused unprecedented disruption worldwide highlighting once again the interdependency of health and socioeconomic development, and the global lack of health systems resilience. Two years into the pandemic, most countries report sustained disruptions across service delivery platforms and health areas with a profound impact on health outcomes. The impact of these disruptions is magnified within marginalized communities and in countries experiencing protracted conflict. There is an urgent need to focus on recovery through investment in the essential public health functions (EPHFs) and the foundations of health systems with a focus on primary health care, and whole-of-government and -society engagement. The aim of this Research Topic is to gather, transfer and promote operationalization of key experiences from COVID-19 to inform global and country level recovery that better promote health; guide policy direction towards building health systems resilience; and thereby ensure economic and social prosperity. Experience with COVID-19 has demonstrated that traditional approaches to health system strengthening have failed to achieve the complementary goals of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and health security with the divide between the most vulnerable and well-off only widening. Much of what had been learned from previous experiences such as Ebola in West Africa has not been widely applied. This has left health and economic systems vulnerable to 21 st century public health challenges, ranging from conflict and natural disasters to aging demographics and rising rates of non-communicable and communicable diseases and antimicrobial resistance. These challenges require intentional focus and investment as well as whole-of-government and -society engagement with health to build health system resilience. Greater action is needed to prevent the devastating effects of war and conflict on the health of the most vulnerable. This Research Topic will convene the knowledge and practices of leaders in public health, health systems, and humanitarian and development sectors. This is to ensure lessons from COVID-19 inform the recovery agenda and promote sustainable health and socioeconomic recovery for all. Lest we forget and find ourselves again unprepared and vulnerable in the face of an even greater threat.
Author:
Publisher: World Health Organization
Published: 2021-08-31
Total Pages: 84
ISBN-13: 9240033270
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Public health emergencies continually reinforce the need for an integrated approach to health systems strengthening, underpinned by a public health approach, helping to build health systems resilience. As part of a collaboration between the USAID Office of the Health Systems and the WHO Integrated Health Services Department, a strategic meeting was convened on 14 April 2021. This had wide-ranging representation which included WHO Deputy Director-General, Executive leadership from USAID, IANPHI and WFPHA. The overarching aim was to examine this topic together and identify actionable steps to build an integrated approach to health system strengthening that brings together health security, humanitarian, disease-specific and life-course-specific programmes. The specific objectives of the meeting were to: facilitate strategic discussions on prevailing practices in health systems resilience for health protection and high-quality health services, to determine actionable next steps for global guidance; inform policy options for WHO, USAID and partners to maximize joint country support for health systems resilience; and identify immediate priorities for next steps following the meeting. To inform and support the proceedings of this meeting, complementary desk reviews were conducted to synthesise evidence, and inform the discussions and way forward. Together, this package consists of (i) a technical meeting report and (ii) two complementary desk reviews. The package was co-developed with and has received concurrence from the USAID Office of the Health Systems.
Author: World Health Organization
Publisher: World Health Organization
Published: 2022-05-18
Total Pages: 28
ISBN-13: 924005040X
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →This roadmap is a statement of a collective vision to develop a shared understanding on the definition, classification and scope of work of the workforce which delivers the EPHFs, and the subsequent collaborative activities to build capacity of this workforce through competency-based education. The roadmap is developed with, and for, countries including key stakeholders such as associations of national public health institutes and schools of public health and proposes a differentiated and progressive approach for countries acknowledging varying capacities and contexts. Across the action areas, this will aid countries to benchmark themselves and assess their current situation; facilitate provision of guidance and tools; and support progress to full implementation towards a strengthened public health workforce delivering all EPHFs for UHC, health security and improved health and wellbeing. TARGET AUDIENCE: Policy-makers, health workers and key stakeholders within and outside the health sector involved in public health and emergency preparedness and response.
Author: World Health Organization
Publisher: World Health Organization
Published: 2024-05-26
Total Pages: 60
ISBN-13: 9240091432
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →The purpose of this document is to support countries in contextualizing and implementing action area 1 of the roadmap and action plan to strengthen the public health workforce, which includes the emergency workforce. Action area 1 focuses on operationalizing the essential public health functions (EPHFs). Countries can use this document to identify their priorities relating to the EPHFs, subfunctions and public health services in the post-COVID-19 era and to understand and strengthen public health capacities and stewardship. A strategic review of the EPHFs can inform broader public health strengthening or reform. This document also includes an annex summarizing the findings of a survey on mapping EPHF-related health workforce strengthening activities within WHO and by key partners, which informed the work. This document summarizes the technical details and approaches presented in the publication Application of the essential public health functions: an integrated and comprehensive approach to public health, which was co-developed by WHO’s Health System Resilience and Essential Public Health Functions Team, Special Programme on Primary Health Care, and the International Association of National Public Health Institutes.
Author: Chinua Akukwe
Publisher: Adonis & Abbey Publishers Ltd
Published: 2008-04-25
Total Pages: 278
ISBN-13: 1912234165
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →The challenges to better health services in Africa are well known: Africa lags behind all regions of the world, including other developing regions, on all indicators of better health. A recent report from the World Health Organisation for instance shows that while Africa has 20% of the world's sick people, it has only 4% of its healthcare workers - many of them vulnerable to the high mortality rate associated with malaria and notably the AIDS epidemic. The state of investment in healthcare infrastructure is also grossly inadequate as is the efficiency of healthcare delivery. But does this need to be so? What factors are responsible for this unacceptable state of affairs? Contributors to the volume examine the evolution of healthcare services in Africa, the ongoing national, regional and continental efforts to improve the delivery of healthcare in the continent, and the direct and indirect obstacles militating against the maturation of the services and their efficient delivery. The contributors - all distinguished experts in the field, who hold either challenging responsibilities in health in Africa or have worked in multiple components of the healthcare delivery system in the continent - also provide powerful personal insights and lessons learned in their current or previous work in the health sector in Africa. Some of the themes covered include clinical care and centers of excellence, healthcare finance and resource mobilization, primary health care systems and community health; preventive care and risk reduction in health; the role of reference laboratories; clinical research and partnerships, the role of epidemiology, statistics, monitoring and evaluation in health services; the role of the African Diaspora, and the role of politics in the organization of healthcare and the training of medical and other health professionals. From their analyses and experience the authors articulate proven strategies and solutions based on consensus expert opinions on how to improve the quality of health services and health outcomes in the continent.
Author:
Publisher: World Health Organization
Published: 2021-08-31
Total Pages: 78
ISBN-13: 9240033297
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Public health emergencies continually reinforce the need for an integrated approach to health systems strengthening, underpinned by a public health approach, helping to build health systems resilience. As part of a collaboration between the USAID Office of the Health Systems and the WHO Integrated Health Services Department, a strategic meeting was convened on 14 April 2021. This had wide-ranging representation which included WHO Deputy Director-General, Executive leadership from USAID, IANPHI and WFPHA. The overarching aim was to examine this topic together and identify actionable steps to build an integrated approach to health system strengthening that brings together health security, humanitarian, disease-specific and life-course-specific programmes. The specific objectives of the meeting were to: facilitate strategic discussions on prevailing practices in health systems resilience for health protection and high-quality health services, to determine actionable next steps for global guidance; inform policy options for WHO, USAID and partners to maximize joint country support for health systems resilience; and identify immediate priorities for next steps following the meeting. To inform and support the proceedings of this meeting, complementary desk reviews were conducted to synthesise evidence, and inform the discussions and way forward. Together, this package consists of (i) a technical meeting report and (ii) two complementary desk reviews. The package was co-developed with and has received concurrence from the USAID Office of the Health Systems.
Author: World Health Organization. Regional Office for Africa
Publisher: World Health Organization
Published: 2006-11-20
Total Pages: 197
ISBN-13: 9290231033
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →This publication is the first to focus on the health of the 738 million people living in the 46 countries of the WHO African Region. Drawing on a comprehensive range of the latest regional health statistics, the report discusses the key public health and development challenges facing the continent, as well looking in more detail at the issues of maternal and child health; infectious diseases including HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria; health problems that are usually associated with developed countries, such as diabetes and hypertension, and other noncommunicable conditions such as mental illness and injuries; and the environmental causes of ill-health including pollution and armed conflict. The report explores the treatment, diagnostic and preventive methods that work in Africa and highlights the public health success stories that can serve as models for others in the continent. It finds that stronger health systems are the key to solving Africa's health problems and these can only achieved by strengthening governments' stewardship role in health, building on the lessons learnt from successful health-care interventions, and through closer collaboration between all partners.
Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
Published: 2017-04-27
Total Pages: 583
ISBN-13: 0309452961
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →In the United States, some populations suffer from far greater disparities in health than others. Those disparities are caused not only by fundamental differences in health status across segments of the population, but also because of inequities in factors that impact health status, so-called determinants of health. Only part of an individual's health status depends on his or her behavior and choice; community-wide problems like poverty, unemployment, poor education, inadequate housing, poor public transportation, interpersonal violence, and decaying neighborhoods also contribute to health inequities, as well as the historic and ongoing interplay of structures, policies, and norms that shape lives. When these factors are not optimal in a community, it does not mean they are intractable: such inequities can be mitigated by social policies that can shape health in powerful ways. Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity seeks to delineate the causes of and the solutions to health inequities in the United States. This report focuses on what communities can do to promote health equity, what actions are needed by the many and varied stakeholders that are part of communities or support them, as well as the root causes and structural barriers that need to be overcome.
Author: Program on Forced Migration and Health, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University
Publisher: National Academies Press
Published: 2005-11-23
Total Pages: 104
ISBN-13: 0309180678
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Providing medical support to the local population during a chronic crisis is difficult. The crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which is characterized by high excess mortality, ongoing armed violence, mass forced displacement, interference by neighboring countries, resource exploitation, asset stripping, and the virtual absence of the state, has led to great poverty and a dearth of funds for the support of the health system. International nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have stepped in to address the dire humanitarian situation. This study looks at four organizations that support local health care in the eastern DRC: the International Rescue Committee (IRC), Malteser, Medical Emergency Relief International (Merlin), and the Association Régionale d'Approvisionnement en Médicaments Essentiels (ASRAMES). The study makes a comparison of the management and financing approaches of these four organizations by collecting and comparing qualitative and quantitative data on their interaction with the (remaining) local health providers and the local population. Specific objectives of the study are: 1. To identify which management and financing approaches, including the setting of fees, are used by the four NGOs supporting healthcare in the eastern DRC. 2. To determine how these financing approaches affect utilization rates in the health zones supported by the four NGOs. 3. To assess how these utilization rates compare with donor and humanitarian standards. 4. To determine at what level fees must be set to allow for cost recovery or cost sharing in health facilities. 5. To identify the managerial problems confronting the four NGOs. Many epidemiological and public health studies focus on the interaction between health providers and target groups. Supporting Local Health Care in a Chronic Crisis: Management and Financing Approaches in the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo concentrates more on how the relationship between the supporting NGOs and the local health system actually develops. In addition, a common aspect of many of the epidemiological and public health studies is the search for an optimal, or at least appropriate, management and financing approach.
