scholarly journals Universal Access to Advanced Imaging and Healthcare Protection: UHC and Diagnostic Imaging

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 61
Author(s):  
Pietro Cappabianca ◽  
Gaetano Maria Russo ◽  
Umberto Atripaldi ◽  
Luigi Gallo ◽  
Maria Paola Rocco ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Universal Access ◽  
National Level ◽  
World Health ◽  
World Population ◽  
Health Coverage ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Diagnostic Standards ◽  
Access To Primary Care ◽  
Health Organization

Universal Health Coverage (UHC) is a set of principles adopted by the World Health Organization (WHO) aimed to guarantee access to primary care for the entire world population through a range of essential health services without neglecting the diagnostic aspect. Italy is one of the signatory states, which means that diagnostic services should be appropriated and exigible throughout the national territory equally. Our research analyzed and identified the main criticalities in terms of age, territorial distribution, and technological and health appropriateness of installed Computed Tomography (CT) needed to meet the principles of UHC. Data analyzed in our study were published by Assobiomedica at the end of 2016 and by COCIR, which included and investigated the installed fleet of diagnostic equipment in the Italian sanitary system and in various European countries. The 6th point of the Alma Ata Declaration defines the concept of “primary health care”, which includes the importance of the diagnostic phase in the Italian health care system to provide Essential Levels of Assistance (LEA). It is clear from our studies that the technology at the national level is not adequate to satisfy the UHC principles or the European criteria, with negative effects on the diagnostic standards and on advanced screenings. This study conducted on the installed CTs in Italy at the end of 2016 confirms the persistence of progressive aging that has been recorded for several years in the health facilities of the country and suggests incentive policies for the replacement of obsolete equipment, which represent a form of investment rather than a cost, due to the nature of the expenditure itself, one-off and amortizable over time.

Advocacy for a Digital Oral Health That Leaves No One Behind

2021 ◽  
pp. 238008442110266
Author(s):  
N. Giraudeau ◽  
B. Varenne
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Oral Health ◽  
Access To Health Care ◽  
Universal Access ◽  
Digital Health ◽  
World Health ◽  
Noncommunicable Diseases ◽  
Central Component ◽  
Health Coverage ◽  
The Impact

During the first wave of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the lockdown enforced led to considerable disruption to the activities of dental services, even leading to closures. To mitigate the impact of the lockdowns, systems were quickly put in place in most countries to respond to dental emergencies, giving priority to distance screening, advice to patients by remote means, and treatment of urgent cases while ensuring continuous care. Digital health was widely adopted as a central component of this new approach, leading to new practices and tools, which in turn demonstrated its potential, limitations, and possible excesses. Political leaders must become aware of the universal availability of digital technology and make use of it as an additional, safe means of providing services to the public. In view of the multiple uses of digital technologies in health—health literacy, teaching, prevention, early detection, therapeutics, and public health policies—deployment of a comprehensive program of digital oral health will require the adoption of a multifaceted approach. Digital tools should be designed to reduce, not increase, inequalities in access to health care. It offers an opportunity to improve healthy behavior, lower risk factors common to oral diseases and others noncommunicable diseases, and contribute to reducing oral health inequalities. It can accelerate the implementation of universal health coverage and help achieve the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, leaving no one behind. Digital oral health should be one of the pillars of oral health care after COVID-19. Universal access to digital oral health should be promoted globally. The World Health Organization’s mOralHealth program aims to do that. Knowledge Transfer Statement: This position paper could be used by oral health stakeholders to convince their government to implement digital oral health program.

scholarly journals Fiscal space for Health in the Americas: is economic growth sufficient?

2019 ◽  
Vol 43 ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Camilo Cid Pedraza ◽  
Mauricio Matus-López ◽  
Ernesto Báscolo
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Universal Access ◽  
World Health ◽  
Health Coverage ◽  
Political Dialogue ◽  
Access To Health ◽  
Fiscal Space ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Universal Health

Objective. In 2014, the member countries of the Pan American Health Organization signed the Strategy for Universal Access to Health and Universal Health Coverage. In it, they committed to increasing public expenditure on health until reaching the benchmark of 6% of gross domestic product (GDP). The objective of this paper is to determine, for each country in the Region, whether they can reach this target through economic growth alone and, if so, how long it would take. Methods. Using World Bank and World Health Organization data, elasticity of public health expenditure (PHE) with respect to GDP was estimated for each country. Real economic growth and International Monetary Fund projections for 2016–2021 were used to project the expenditure series and determine the year each country would reach 6% of GDP. Results. Six countries have already reached the 6% target. The Latin American and Caribbean countries that have achieved it are those that have single health systems, based on universal access and coverage. If current prioritization of PHE is maintained, three countries could reach the target in the next decade. Four more countries would reach it before mid-century, 10 in the second half of the century, and one would have to wait until the next century. Finally, 13 countries would never reach the proposed target. Conclusions. This analysis demonstrates the limitations of economic growth as a source of fiscal space. Other sources will need to be tapped, such as increased tax collection, specific health taxes, and greater efficiency in public spending, which will require social and political dialogue in the countries regarding their commitment to universal health principles.

scholarly journals Accessibility to health services in Italy and in the world

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
G Marchetti ◽  
M Simonelli ◽  
M G Dente ◽  
M Marceca ◽  
S Declich
Keyword(s):  
Health Services ◽  
National Level ◽  
World Health ◽  
Health Coverage ◽  
Catastrophic Expenditure ◽  
The People ◽  
Workshop Training ◽  
The World ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
University Of Rome

Abstract Background The Universal Health Coverage (UHC) proposes that an ideal health system must be able to extend the health coverage to the whole population (universality), to guarantee all the necessary services (globality) and to do it without additional direct costs for the people (free of charge). The achievement of the UHC represents the target 3.8 of the Sustainable Developed Goals. The World Health Organization and the World Bank have developed an index to monitor the UHC (an algorithm that contains 16 indicators of essential health services), while for financial protection they rely on the incidence of catastrophic expenditure on health (percentage of families in which the living expenses for health without reimbursement exceed the10% of consumption). Objectives To strengthen the Italian operators' knowledge about the accessibility to health services in Italy and in countries around the world utilizing the UHC index and the incidence of catastrophic expenditure. Results The National Center for Global Health of the Italian National Institute of Health (ISS) collected the documents and the data already produced and validated by the international scientific community. ISS in collaboration with the Department of Public Health and Infectious Disease of Sapienza University of Rome developed a workshop training program to bring the UHC concepts at national level in a simplified manner. This was developed in order to encourage a reflection and to strengthen the understanding of the complexity of the UHC. The framework and the program of the workshop will be presented during the conference. Conclusions Studying the UHC means focusing on the inequalities in health care. To increase the sensibility of professionals may be a resource to promote the health coverage for all in the national territory. Key messages Encouraging the discussion between professionals is possible to understand the complexity of the UHC. The achievement of the UHC may happen only through the improving of the knowledge about it.

scholarly journals "Sell an Ox" - The Price of Cure for Hepatitis C in Two Countries

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ora Paltiel ◽  
Workagegnehu Hailu ◽  
Zenahebezu Abay ◽  
Avram Mark Clarfield ◽  
Martin McKee
Keyword(s):  
Hepatitis C ◽  
Universal Access ◽  
The United States ◽  
World Health ◽  
Health Coverage ◽  
Household Assets ◽  
Severe Liver Disease ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Direct Acting ◽  
New Treatments

Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, associated with severe liver disease and cancer, affects 70 million people worldwide. New treatments with direct-acting-antivirals offer cure for about 95% of affected individuals; however, treatment costs may be prohibitive in both the poorest and richest nations. Opting for cure may require sacrificing essential household assets. We highlight the financial dilemmas involved, drawing parallels between Ethiopia and the United States, countries where universal health coverage does not yet exist. The World Health Organization (WHO) declaration for HCV eradication by 2030 will only become reality if universal access to efficacious and affordable treatment is guaranteed for everyone.

scholarly journals Regional Resource Assessment During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Italy: Modeling Study (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pietro H Guzzi ◽  
Giuseppe Tradigo ◽  
Pierangelo Veltri
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Reference Model ◽  
Prediction Method ◽  
Real Data ◽  
Resource Assessment ◽  
World Health ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Emergency Situations ◽  
Italian Regions ◽  
Health Organization

BACKGROUND COVID-19 has been declared a worldwide emergency and a pandemic by the World Health Organization. It started in China in December 2019, and it rapidly spread throughout Italy, which was the most affected country after China. The pandemic affected all countries with similarly negative effects on the population and health care structures. OBJECTIVE The evolution of the COVID-19 infections and the way such a phenomenon can be characterized in terms of resources and planning has to be considered. One of the most critical resources has been intensive care units (ICUs) with respect to the infection trend and critical hospitalization. METHODS We propose a model to estimate the needed number of places in ICUs during the most acute phase of the infection. We also define a scalable geographic model to plan emergency and future management of patients with COVID-19 by planning their reallocation in health structures of other regions. RESULTS We applied and assessed the prediction method both at the national and regional levels. ICU bed prediction was tested with respect to real data provided by the Italian government. We showed that our model is able to predict, with a reliable error in terms of resource complexity, estimation parameters used in health care structures. In addition, the proposed method is scalable at different geographic levels. This is relevant for pandemics such as COVID-19, which has shown different case incidences even among northern and southern Italian regions. CONCLUSIONS Our contribution can be useful for decision makers to plan resources to guarantee patient management, but it can also be considered as a reference model for potential upcoming waves of COVID-19 and similar emergency situations.

scholarly journals COVID-19 Pandemic in India: Present Scenario and a Steep Climb Ahead

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
pp. 215013272093940 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rimesh Pal ◽  
Urmila Yadav
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Socioeconomic Status ◽  
Population Density ◽  
Universal Access ◽  
World Health ◽  
Clean Water ◽  
The Past ◽  
The World ◽  
Health Care Infrastructure ◽  
Health Organization

Amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, India has witnessed a massive surge of cases in the past 3 weeks. As of April 30, 33 610 confirmed cases and 1075 deaths have been reported from 32 states/union territories in India. Apart from the nationwide lockdown, India has increased its testing rate and has markedly strengthened the health care sector to combat COVID-19. With India’s population of more than 1.3 billion people at a significant population density compared with the rest of the world, the lack of universal access to clean water and overall poor socioeconomic status, all have posed a major challenge to India’s fight against COVID-19. Failure to contain the pandemic in India could have disastrous consequences with widespread cases and thousands of deaths that could easily overwhelm the health care infrastructure. Unabated spread of the pandemic could make India the next COVID-19 hotspot; hence the World Health Organization has recently stated that the “future of the pandemic will depend on how India handles it.” Here, we have summarized the present scenario of the pandemic in India and the myriad challenges being faced by the country in its fight against COVID-19.

A(H1N1)v cases of the 2009/2010 and 2010/2011 influenza seasons in the Medical and Health Sciences Centre of Debrecen University

2012 ◽  
Vol 153 (17) ◽  
pp. 649-654
Author(s):  
Piroska Orosi ◽  
Judit Szidor ◽  
Tünde Tóthné Tóth ◽  
József Kónya
Keyword(s):  
High Risk ◽  
Influenza Season ◽  
National Level ◽  
Organ Transplant ◽  
High Risk Patient ◽  
Risk Groups ◽  
Health Sciences ◽  
World Health ◽  
Transplant Patients ◽  
Health Organization

The swine-origin new influenza variant A(H1N1) emerged in 2009 and changed the epidemiology of the 2009/2010 influenza season globally and at national level. Aims: The aim of the authors was to analyse the cases of two influenza seasons. Methods: The Medical and Health Sciences Centre of Debrecen University has 1690 beds with 85 000 patients admitted per year. The diagnosis of influenza was conducted using real-time polymerase chain reaction in the microbiological laboratories of the University and the National Epidemiological Centre, according to the recommendation of the World Health Organization. Results: The incidence of influenza was not higher than that observed in the previous season, but two high-risk patient groups were identified: pregnant women and patients with immunodeficiency (oncohematological and organ transplant patients). The influenza vaccine, which is free for high-risk groups and health care workers in Hungary, appeared to be effective for prevention, because in the 2010/2011 influenza season none of the 58 patients who were administered the vaccination developed influenza. Conclusion: It is an important task to protect oncohematological and organ transplant patients. Orv. Hetil., 2012, 153, 649–654.

Prepayment schemes

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Abel Olsen
Keyword(s):  
Health Insurance ◽  
Social Health Insurance ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
World Health ◽  
Health Coverage ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Revenue Collection ◽  
Otto Von Bismarck ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Universal Health

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.

scholarly journals Partnerships in Health Development

2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 143-154
Author(s):  
Palitha Abeykoon
Keyword(s):  
Technical Assistance ◽  
Communicable Disease ◽  
Moral Rights ◽  
World Health ◽  
Service Access ◽  
Health Coverage ◽  
Health Development ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Provision Of Services ◽  
Health Organization

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.

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