scholarly journals Partnerships in Health Development

2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 143-154
Author(s):  
Palitha Abeykoon

The COVID-19 pandemic has thrown into bold relief the need for an all-of-society response supported by regional and global partnerships to control the epidemic. Addressing the social determinants of health, Universal Health Coverage, the non-communicable disease (NCD) burden, the other communicable diseases and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) all would require a close collaboration among different sectors and stakeholders, including the private sector. Partnerships connote three fundamental themes—a relative equality between the partners, mutual commitment to agreed objectives and mutual benefit for the stakeholders involved. The decisions are made jointly, and roles are not only respected but are also backed by legal and moral rights. The World Health Organization (WHO) has been and continues to be the foremost promoter as well as the host for many of the global and regional partnerships in health. A typological classification would include technical assistance partnerships supporting service access and provision of services including drugs, partnerships focusing on research and development, advocacy and resource mobilisation and financing partnerships mainly to provide funds for definite disease programmes. Partnerships in health have brought and continue to bring multiple benefits to the countries. But they also engender several challenges, including the duplication of effort and waste, high transaction costs (usually to government), issues of accountability and consequent lack of alignment with country priorities. As partnerships become increasingly significant in the twenty-first century, better coordination, particularly in terms of donor harmonisation with national priorities, would be needed. It is not ambitious to attempt the elusive ideal where all parties will benefit from one other with a give and take between all stakeholders. Partnerships in health could well herald a new dawn for health development in the South-East Asia Region.

2018 ◽  
pp. 24-42
Author(s):  
MARÍA DALLI

In 1948, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted the first international text recognising universal human rights for all; the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Article 25 recognises the right to an adequate standard of living, which includes the right to health and medical care. On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the Declaration, this article presents an overview of the main developments that have been made towards understanding the content and implications of the right to health, as well as an analysis of some specific advancements that aim to facilitate the enforcement thereof. These include: a) the implication of private entities as responsible for right to health obligations; b) the Universal Health Coverage goal, proposed by the World Health Organization and included as one of the Sustainable Development Goals; and c) the individual complaints mechanism introduced by the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (adopted on the 10th December 2008, 60 years after the UDHR).


2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (7) ◽  
pp. 387-393 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicole Bergen ◽  
Arne Ruckert ◽  
Ronald Labonté

Implementing universal health coverage (UHC) is widely perceived to be central to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and is a work program priority of the World Health Organization (WHO). Much has already been written about how low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) can monitor progress towards UHC, with various UHC monitoring frameworks available in the literature. However, we suggest that these frameworks are largely irrelevant in high-income contexts and that the international community still needs to develop UHC monitoring framework meaningful for high-income countries (HICs). As a first step, this short communication presents preliminary findings from a literature review and document analysis on how various countries monitor their own progress towards achieving UHC. It furthermore offers considerations to guide meaningful UHC monitoring and reflects on pertinent challenges and tensions to inform future research on UHC implementation in HIC settings.


2022 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 5-8
Author(s):  
Jacqueline Ramke ◽  
Nyawira Mwangi ◽  
Helen Burn ◽  
Esmael Habtamu ◽  
Clare E Gilbert

In the recent World Report on Vision, the World Health Organization (WHO) highlighted the need to strengthen health information systems (HIS) for eye health, including data from population-based surveys and facility-based sources such as service and resource data. The report also outlined the importance of strengthening eye health to enable Universal Health Coverage. In high-income countries, facility-based data are increasingly used to monitor eye services and answer research questions, including under the banner of big data. While there are some examples of comprehensive and robust information systems for eye care in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), the potential of facility-based data is yet to be realized in many LMICs. Here, we discuss the potential of strengthening the collection and use of facility-based data for eye health in LMICs to monitor Universal Health Coverage relevant aspects of service access, quality, and equity.


Author(s):  
Jan Abel Olsen

This chapter considers two different ways of organizing revenue collection in statutory healthcare schemes: social health insurance and taxation. The two models are commonly referred to as ‘Bismarck vs Beveridge’ after the men associated with the origin of these systems: the first German chancellor Otto von Bismarck (1815–1898), and the British economist Lord William Beveridge (1879–1963). The differences between these two compulsory prepayment schemes are discussed and compared with private health insurance. Based on a simple diagram introduced by the World Health Organization, three dimensions of coverage are illustrated. Some policy dilemmas are highlighted when attempting to achieve universal health coverage. Finally, various combinations of public and private prepayment schemes are discussed.


1977 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 443-458 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael B. Bader

The international transfer of medical technology to the developing countries occurs at four levels-medical education, research, and missions; multinational corporate transactions; technical assistance projects sponsored by the World Health Organization; and bilateral foreign aid programs. In this article, a proposal is made for effective monitoring of international medical technology transfer through political and legal means, including a specific code of conduct for corporations engaged in medical technology transfer. The development of “intermediate health technologies” along the lines suggested by E. F. Schumacher, and the advantages of such an innovation in terms of population issues and economic development are also discussed.


2015 ◽  
Vol 43 (S2) ◽  
pp. 49-56
Author(s):  
Polly J. Price

These teaching materials explore the specific powers of governments to implement control measures in response to communicable disease, in two different contexts:The first context concerns global pandemic diseases. Relevant legal authority includes international law, World Health Organization governance and the International Health Regulations, and regulatory authority of nations.The second context is centered on U.S. law and concerns control measures for drug-resistant disease, using tuberculosis as an example. In both contexts, international and domestic, the point is to understand legal authority to address public health emergencies.


2019 ◽  

[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...


2018 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Heydon

This article explores the introduction of smallpox vaccination into Nepal in 1816 at the request of the Nepalese government; the king, however, was not vaccinated, contracted the disease and died. British hopes that vaccination would be extended throughout the country did not eventuate. The article examines the significance of this early appearance of vaccination in Nepal for both Nepalese and British, and relates it to the longer history of smallpox control and eventual eradication. When the Nepalese requested World Health Organization (WHO) assistance with communicable disease control in the mid-twentieth century little had changed for most Nepalese. We know about the events in 1816 through the letters of the newly imposed British Resident after Nepal’s military defeat in the Anglo-Nepal War (1814–16). By also drawing on other sources and foregrounding Nepal, it becomes possible to build up a more extensive picture of smallpox in Nepal that shows not only boundaries and limits to colonial authority and influence but also how governments may adopt and use technologies on their own terms and for their own purposes. Linking 1816 to the ultimately successful global eradication programme 150 years later reminds us of the need to think longer term as to why policies and programmes may or may not work as planned.


Water ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 1711 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Bain ◽  
Richard Johnston ◽  
Francesco Mitis ◽  
Christie Chatterley ◽  
Tom Slaymaker

The World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), through the Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP), are responsible for global monitoring of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets for drinking water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH). The SDGs represent a fundamental shift in household WASH monitoring with a new focus on service levels and the incorporation of hygiene. This article reflects on the process of establishing SDG baselines and the methods used to generate national, regional and global estimates for the new household WASH indicators. The JMP 2017 update drew on over 3000 national data sources, primarily household surveys (n = 1443), censuses (n = 309) and administrative data (n = 1494). Whereas most countries could generate estimates for basic drinking water and basic sanitation, fewer countries could report on basic handwashing facilities, water quality and the disposal of waste from onsite sanitation. Based on data for 96 and 84 countries, respectively, the JMP estimates that globally 2.1 billion (29%) people lacked safely managed drinking water services and 4.5 billion (61%) lacked safely managed sanitation services in 2015. The expanded JMP inequalities database also finds substantial disparities by wealth and sub-national regions. The SDG baselines for household WASH reveal the scale of the challenge associated with achieving universal safely managed services and the substantial acceleration needed in many countries to achieve even basic services for everyone by 2030. Many countries have begun to localise the global SDG targets and are investing in data collection to address the SDG data gaps, whether through the integration of new elements in household surveys or strengthening collection and reporting of information through administrative and regulatory systems.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela Kwartemaa Acheampong ◽  
Lillian Akorfa Ohene ◽  
Isabella Naana Akyaa Asante ◽  
Josephine Kyei ◽  
Gladys Dzansi ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: The World Health Organization has admonished member countries to strive towards achieving universal health coverage (UHC) through actionable health policies and strategies. Nurses and midwives have instrumental roles in achieving UHC via health policy development and implementation. However, there is a paucity of empirical data on nurses and midwives’ participation in policy development in Ghana. The current study explored nurses and midwives’ participation in policy development, reviews and reforms in Ghana.Methods: A qualitative descriptive exploratory design was adopted for this study. One-on-one individual interviews were conducted after 30 participants were purposefully selected. Data was audiotaped with permission, transcribed and analyzed inductively using the content analysis procedures. Results: Two main themes emerged from the data: participation in policy development and perspectives on policy reviews and reforms. The findings showed that during health policy development and reviews, nurses in Ghana were overlooked and unacknowledged. Policy reforms regarding bridging the pre-service preparation gap, staff development and motivation mechanisms and influence on admission into nursing schools were raisedConclusion: The authors concluded that nurses and midwives are crucial members of the healthcare systems and their inputs in policy development and reviews would improve health delivery in Ghana.


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