scholarly journals The Financial Burden of Tuberculosis for Patients in the Western-Pacific Region

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 94 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kerri Viney ◽  
Tauhidul Islam ◽  
Nguyen Binh Hoa ◽  
Fukushi Morishita ◽  
Knut Lönnroth
Keyword(s):  
Social Protection ◽  
Financial Burden ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Western Pacific ◽  
World Health ◽  
Pacific Region ◽  
Health Coverage ◽  
Western Pacific Region ◽  
Financial Risk Protection ◽  
The Western Pacific

The End Tuberculosis (TB) Strategy has the ambitious goal of ending the global TB epidemic by the year 2030, which is aligned to the Sustainable Development Goals. One of three high level indicators of the Strategy is the “catastrophic costs” indicator, which aims to determine the proportion of TB-affected households that incur TB-care related costs equivalent to 20% or more of their annual household income. The target is that zero percentage of TB-affected households will incur catastrophic costs related to TB care by the year 2020. In the Western Pacific Region of the World Health Organization, it is a priority to determine the financial burden of TB and then act to mitigate it. To date, eight countries in the Region have conducted nationally representative TB patient cost surveys to determine the costs of TB care. The results from four countries that have completed these surveys (i.e., Fiji, Mongolia, the Philippines, and Vietnam) indicate that between 35% and 70% of TB patients face catastrophic costs related to their TB care. With these results in mind, significant additional efforts are needed to ensure financial risk protection for TB patients, expand Universal Health Coverage, and improve access to social protection interventions. A multi-sectoral approach is necessary to achieve this ambitious goal by the year 2020.

scholarly journals Action towards Universal Health Coverage and Social Protection for Tuberculosis Care and Prevention: Workshop on the End TB Strategy Pillar 2 in the Western Pacific Region 2017

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kyung Oh ◽  
Kalpeshsinh Rahevar ◽  
Nobuyuki Nishikiori ◽  
Kerri Viney ◽  
Hongjo Choi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Universal Health Coverage ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
Western Pacific ◽  
Pacific Region ◽  
Health Coverage ◽  
Western Pacific Region ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
The Western Pacific ◽  
Universal Health

Although the End TB Strategy highlights that major global progress towards universal health coverage (UHC) and social protection are fundamental to achieving the global targets for reductions in tuberculosis (TB) incidence and deaths, there is still a long way to go to achieve them in low- and middle-income countries. A workshop on the End TB Strategy Pillar 2 in the Western Pacific Region focusing on action towards UHC and social protection was held between 27 and 29 November in 2017 at the Korean Institute of Tuberculosis in Cheonju, Republic of Korea. The workshop brought together key personnel from national TB programmes and other stakeholders or researchers with experience in this topic from six countries with a high burden of TB in the region. During the workshop, participants shared country experiences, best practices, and challenges in achieving UHC and enhancing social protection in the context of TB service delivery, and also explored policy options to address the challenges, to be applied in their respective countries. This report describes the content of the meeting and the conclusions and recommendations arising from the meeting.

scholarly journals Regional event-based surveillance in WHO’s Western Pacific Region

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 11-19
Author(s):  
Christopher Lowbridge ◽  
May Chiew ◽  
Katherine Russel ◽  
Takuya Yamagishi ◽  
Babatunde Olowokure ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Western Pacific ◽  
World Health ◽  
Pacific Region ◽  
Western Pacific Region ◽  
Regional Health ◽  
Health Security ◽  
Health Events ◽  
Event Based ◽  
The Western Pacific

In the World Health Organization’s Western Pacific Region, event-based surveillance has been conducted for more than a decade to rapidly detect and assess public health events. This report describes the establishment and evolution of the Western Pacific Region’s event-based surveillance system and presents an analysis of public health events in the Region. Between July 2008 and June 2017, a total of 2396 events were reported in the Western Pacific Region, an average of 266 events per year. Infectious diseases in humans and animals accounted for the largest proportion of events recorded during this period (73%, 1743 events). Maintaining and strengthening this well-established system is critical to support the rapid detection, assessment and response to public health events to sustain regional health security.

Analysis of Water Safety Plan costs from case studies in the Western Pacific Region

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 1358-1366 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zai Kang Chang ◽  
Mien Ling Chong ◽  
Jamie Bartram
Keyword(s):  
Drinking Water ◽  
Water Supply ◽  
Western Pacific ◽  
Drinking Water Supply ◽  
World Health ◽  
Pacific Region ◽  
Water Safety ◽  
Western Pacific Region ◽  
Operational Monitoring ◽  
The Western Pacific

Unsafe water remains a significant public health threat in high and low income countries. The World Health Organization (WHO) promotes Water Safety Plans (WSPs) as the most effective means of consistently ensuring the safety of a drinking-water supply. Although health benefits of WSP implementation have been shown, there is a lack of information relating water supplier characteristics to expected costs. Costing practices were adapted from food quality management studies and applied to six water suppliers from the Western Pacific Region, as designated by WHO. The explanation building procedure was used to develop understanding of relationships between drinking-water supply agency (DWSA) characteristics and WSP implementation costs. The results indicate that costs associated with WSP implementation are expected to be low for developed DWSAs; however, for developing DWSAs, there is high variability in costs which indicates further research may not improve generalized WSP cost estimations. Furthermore, developing DWSAs experience large and highly variable capital and operational monitoring costs. The capital and operational monitoring improvements are necessary to achieving a safe water supply and may require ongoing financial and technical resources to execute.

scholarly journals Together to make a difference in mental health in the Western Pacific Region

2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 8-10
Author(s):  
Xiangdong Wang
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Disease Burden ◽  
Western Pacific ◽  
World Health ◽  
Pacific Region ◽  
Western Pacific Region ◽  
Mental Health Needs ◽  
Causes Of Disease ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
The Western Pacific

Mental disorders are among the leading causes of disease burden in the Western Pacific Region of the World Health Organization (WHO). Networking and partnership have been identified as the major components of key strategies to address challenges in meeting mental health needs in the region. This article provides a brief review of relevant initiatives collaboratively developed by the WHO, member states in the region and other partners.

scholarly journals Household Expenditures And Direct Medical Costs Among Older Adults In Ghana: Evidence From Who-sage Wave 2

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paa-Kwesi Blankson ◽  
Sandra Ama Hewlett ◽  
Thomas Akuetteh Ndanu ◽  
Gyaami Amoah ◽  
Matthew Owusu Boamah ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
Financial Burden ◽  
World Health ◽  
Household Expenditure ◽  
Adult Health ◽  
Health Coverage ◽  
Financial Risk Protection ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
Household Expenditures

Abstract Background: The Ghanaian population aged 60 years and older will almost double to reach 10% of the total population by 2050. Ascertaining the pattern of health expenditures among this growing population group is important to inform policy makers about the targets for financial risk protection as part of achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC) by 2030. This study aimed to estimate household expenditures among older adults and determine the direct medical costs.Methods : The World Health Organization's Study on global AGEing and adult health (SAGE) Wave 2 was conducted in China, Ghana, India, Mexico, Russian Federation, and South Africa between 2014 and 2015, as a follow-up to Wave 0 in 2003 to 2004 and Wave 1 in 2007 to 2010. Survey questions explored sources of income and total direct expenditures in the year preceding interview. SAGE Ghana was implemented using face-to-face interviews in a nationally representative sample of persons aged 50+ years with a comparison sample of younger adults aged 18–49 years.Findings : Analyses included a total of 4,735 participants, with 1,948 (41.1%) males and 2,787 (58.9%) females, of median and mean ages of 58 years and 57.6 (±16.7), respectively. The average annual household expenditures were US$ 1,893.44 (±3,501.14). Older adults had higher expenditure levels at US$ 1,902 (± 3,876), as compared to younger adults, US$ 1,867 (±1,937). Direct health-related costs and food expenditure accounted for 18% and 46% respectively of the total household expenditure of older Ghanaian adults. The prevalence of catastrophic health expenditure among older adults in Ghana was 4.5% (95% CI 3.5% to 5.8%)Conclusion: These updated estimates on household expenditure among older adults provide needed evidence to support the inclusion of social protection mechanisms in the national ageing agenda. The National Health Insurance as presently did not reduce the financial burden for households with older adults.

Collaboration and “Visibility” of Health Research in the Western Pacific Region

2009 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 128-136 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guillermo Paraje ◽  
Ritu Sadana ◽  
Reijo Salmela
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Health Research ◽  
High Income ◽  
Western Pacific ◽  
World Health ◽  
Pacific Region ◽  
Western Pacific Region ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Research Production ◽  
The Western Pacific

Using more than 3.5 million bibliographic references in Thomson ISI Web of Science (health-related articles, notes, and reviews) and a broad definition of health (covering related social, medical, environmental, and physical sciences) research production, collaboration patterns and “visibility” of that production for largest producers in the Western Pacific Region of the World Health Organization are estimated for the 1992-2001 period. Two findings are of particular interest in relation to the production of relevant knowledge on health topics and equity in the access to this knowledge. The first is that intraregional collaboration is low and that large regional producers of research (ie, Japan, Australia, China, etc) collaborate more with high-income countries from other regions than among themselves within the region, or with smaller regional research producers. The second one is that “visibility” of health research in the region is relatively low, even for high-income countries. High “visibility” research is mostly done with the involvement, through collaboration, of extra-region high-income countries. Collaboration between low-income or middle-income countries is mostly in low “visibility” research.

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