Health policy in developing countries

2021 ◽  
pp. 301-322
Author(s):  
Thein T. Htay ◽  
Yu Mon Saw ◽  
James Levinson ◽  
S.M. Kadri ◽  
Ailbhe Helen Brady ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Health Policy ◽  
Health Sector ◽  
Monitoring And Evaluation ◽  
Healthcare Services ◽  
Health Policies ◽  
Health Coverage ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
High Standards

The purpose of this chapter is to underscore the role of an integrated stewardship process and decentralization of healthcare services through high standards of governance towards effective health policies in developing countries. Changing disease patterns and challenging health status in developing countries calls for a rigorous monitoring and evaluation of prevailing health systems so that their new health policies be able to tackle these emerging health needs. Three stages of health transition and globalization have highlighted their impacts on health problems and health policies. The optimal composition and interactions of actors in health policy have influenced the strategic directions and policy implementation. In implementing the global and national health policies within the context of health system strengthening, national policies will better assure that health priorities in local settings are addressed and country-led while international assistance supports the health sector priorities. With the creation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and now the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), more attention is being given in these countries to policies and programmes which are results- and outcome-oriented. Possible strategies to improve health policy and the overall status of health in developing countries are recommended including Universal Health Coverage and the SDGs, among others.

scholarly journals Equity in Health Policy Assessment: Region of the Americas

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Health Policy ◽  
Health Equity ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Health Sector ◽  
Equity In Health ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Sustainable Health ◽  
Health Agenda

The Region of the Americas has prioritized the achievement of health equity—“the absence of avoidable or remediable differences among groups of people, whether these groups are defined socially, economically, demographically or geographically” (WHO)—both through regional agreements, such as the Sustainable Health Agenda for the Americas (2017), and by reporting progress toward the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (the Sustainable Development Goals) (2015). Public sector policy is the principal initial lever through which both national and local governments institute and finance actions toward accelerating the achievement of equity in health. This study assessed 32 national health plans to report on whether and how countries in the Region are integrating the achievement of health equity into strategic lines of action in the health sector. It provides a snapshot of approaches and advances, allowing for knowledge sharing among countries on options for attention to equity in health policy. It will also facilitate future monitoring of trends in the integration of health equity aims and approaches in policies. The study found that stated overall commitments to health equity are common, as are commitments toward the disaggregation of data and monitoring of inequalities, while other elements of health equity like, for example, the identification of populations in situations of vulnerability, receive less attention. While further study is needed on the implementation and impacts of approaches in specific programmatic actions, the study provides useful insights to inform efforts for a stronger framework for health equity action toward the Region’s goals for 2030.

Global health in the era of sustainable development

2021 ◽  
pp. 759-770
Author(s):  
Fiona Fleck
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
National Level ◽  
Monitoring And Evaluation ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Health Impact ◽  
First Century ◽  
World Health ◽  
Health Coverage ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Development Goals

This chapter provides an overview of progress made in public health during the first two decades of the twenty-first century and charts the way forward to further improvements. It introduces the World Health Organization’s (WHO) current 5-year strategy, explains how this strategy is aligned with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and how impact will be measured at the national level. Based on the Sustainable Development Goals, the WHO has set its triple billion targets to achieve by 2023. These are: one billion more people benefitting from universal health coverage; one billion more people better protected from health emergencies; and one billion more people enjoying better health and well-being. Components of each of these goals are described here, and the chapter concludes with the cross-cutting areas of monitoring and evaluation, and data and innovation that are vital to achieving measurable health impact in every country, regardless of income level.

A Framework and Indicators for Monitoring Gender Equality and Health in the Americas

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Gender Equality ◽  
Universal Access ◽  
Health Coverage ◽  
Executive Summary ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Access To Health ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Health Experts

[Executive Summary]. Member States of the Region of the Americas have committed to the Strategy for Universal Access to Health and Universal Health Coverage (CD53. R14). At the same time, health experts and policymakers in many parts of the world have begun to set new targets and benchmarks in follow-up to the Sustainable Development Goals and Targets adopted by the United Nations (UN) in September 2015. As part of these processes, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) is working with the countries of the Americas to ensure that related resolutions, strategies, and action plans are supported with appropriate frameworks and data for monitoring and evaluating gender equality in health. The purpose of this document is to propose an updated framework and set of core indicators for monitoring advances on gender equality in health in the Region, within the framework of renewed regional commitment to health...

scholarly journals COVID-19 Pandemic: An Inhibitor of Universal Health Coverage Programme: A ViewPoint

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (5) ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Helen Idubamo Wankasi
Keyword(s):  
Universal Health Coverage ◽  
Healthcare Workers ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
Health Coverage ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Healthcare Facilities ◽  
Effective Governance ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Frontline Healthcare Workers ◽  
Universal Health

Ever since the re-emergence of Covid-19 as a pandemic, healthcare facilities (human and materials) have been overstressed, evidenced by the rate at which frontline healthcare workers fall sick and die in the course. In some healthcare institutions, the narrative has changed with regards to the number of days to access physicians for treatment, but selected and booked only on specific days and periods, except in extreme emergencies are able to access physicians un-booked. This is inconsistent with the intent of Universal Health Coverage and the Sustainable Development Goals. This paper, therefore, highlighted the objectives, covering a brief overview of COVID-19 and Universal Health Coverage; identified countries developed (Germany 1883) and emerging (South Africa/Nigeria) that have adopted Universal Health Coverage as well described how COVID-19 stands as an inhibitor to the achievement of Universal Health Coverage. At the tail end, recommendations are made on the way forward on the need for effective governance, manpower sourcing and general strengthening of the healthcare system.

Conclusions

2020 ◽  
pp. 296-304
Author(s):  
James Leigland
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Private Investment ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Fundamental Causes ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Technical Capacity ◽  
Poor Infrastructure

For reasons discussed in preceding chapters, public–private partnerships (PPPs) are unlikely to have major positive impacts on achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) or on the provision of transformational regional infrastructure, as envisioned by the G20. PPPs will continue to play modest but still important roles in the cost-effective provision of infrastructure service in many developing countries, as long as they are well structured, appropriately supported, and carefully monitored and evaluated. But PPPs made sustainable with large measures of concessional finance will do a disservice in the developing world if they distract from the fact that the fundamental causes of poor infrastructure service delivery in developing countries have very little to do with the availability of private investment. Those causes involve things like government policies, institutions, technical capacity, as well as the political economy realities of these countries and their relationships with development partners

Reducing the Knowledge Gap in Global Health Delivery

2020 ◽  
pp. 152-165
Author(s):  
Andres Garchitorena ◽  
Megan B. Murray ◽  
Bethany Hedt-Gauthier ◽  
Paul E. Farmer ◽  
Matthew H. Bonds
Keyword(s):  
Global Health ◽  
International Development ◽  
Adaptive Systems ◽  
Care Delivery ◽  
Health Coverage ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
New Era ◽  
Health Delivery ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Universal Health

Randomized control trials (RCTs) are considered to be the gold standard for impact evaluation in international development and they are associated with a new era of evidence-based global health policies. However, there are inherent challenges in using RCTs to answer some of the most important questions in global health: why, if solutions are known, affordable at scale, and supported by existing evidence, do hundreds of millions of people lack access to essential health services? A lack of clarity on appropriate research methods for strengthening health systems has corresponded to a lack of investment in more complex and adaptive systems of integrated care delivery. This chapter reviews the use of RCTs in global health, highlighting major contributions, and addressing some pressing priorities in implementation research at a time when the Sustainable Development Goals emphasize the importance of sector-wide approaches, such as integrated primary care and universal health coverage.

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