scholarly journals Donors' Participation in Iran's Health System: Challenges and Solutions

Author(s):  
Ali Mohammad Mosadeghrad ◽  
Maryam Tajvar ◽  
Fatemeh Ehteshami

Background: Philanthropic activities play an important role in health systems. Donors contribute to financing, generating resources, and providing healthcare services in Iranian health system. However, they face many challenges. This study aimed to identify barriers to donors' participation in the Iranian health system and to provide solutions. Methods: This qualitative study was performed using semi-structured interviews with 38 donors and 26 policymakers and managers in the social affairs department of health ministry and medical universities in 2018. In addition, document analysis was performed and the relevant data were extracted. Thematic analysis was used for data analysis. All ethical considerations were followed in this research. Results: Insufficient structures, poor communications, low trust, ineffective working processes, bureaucracy, insufficient senior managers’ support, weak legal support and poor monitoring were the most important challenges for donors’ participation in the Iranian health system. Effective donor participation in the health system requires the creation of an appropriate system including the right structures, processes, culture, and management. The necessary changes must be planned, led and monitored to promote donors’ participation in healthcare. A conceptual model was developed to strengthen donors’ participation in the health system. Conclusion: Iranian donors face structural, procedural, cultural, and managerial challenges when financing the health system, generating resources, and providing health services. Policymakers and managers should tackle these challenges and adopt strategies to reinforce donors' participation in the health system. Planning, organizing, leading, monitoring, evaluation, transparency, accountability, and a commitment to meet donors’ needs are necessary for successful philanthropy initiatives in the health sector.

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
M Winckler ◽  
F Zioni ◽  
G Johson

Abstract Background This study aims to analyse the social representations of health needs in a Brazilian municipality, questioning the capacity that public policies developed and implemented by the Brazilian Health System (SUS) had to meet these needs. Methods Qualitative case study in which the data were analysed by: 1) the Health Needs Taxonomy (Matsumoto, 1999), as an instrument for assessing health needs, formatting the interview guide and organizing the empirical data; 2) the Theory of Social Representations (Jovchelovitch, 2000), to capture health needs; 3) Content Analysis (Bardin, 2004), as an instrument of analysis and comparison of perceived needs. The methodological path used was the same in the two moments in which this research is based (2009 and 2016). The entire municipal territory was analyzed and 26 representatives of civil society organizations were interviewed. Results Based on the results given, we state that health is a permanent and timeless need, but the mediations for its satisfaction have changed historically. The interface between quantitative indicators and subjectivity in assessing needs reveals the authoritarian architecture of its decision-making process, which has ruined the necessary democracy for prioritising and meeting those needs. The asymmetrical relationships present in the Brazilian society have both undermined the collective character of health needs and promoted the distance between who care and who are cared for. Most of the priorities listed by the interviewees in 2009 remain composing the social context of the municipality in 2016. Conclusions The challenges for comprehensive health care remain critical given both the decrease in popular political participation and in institutional spaces, which leads to the annulment of the right to a universal health. Interdisciplinary and participatory diagnostics remain essential to understand the complexity of social changes and the challenges for the consolidation of meeting health needs. Key messages The capacity that public policies developed and implemented by the Brazilian Health System (SUS) had to meet these needs. The challenges for meeting health needs remain critical given both the decrease in political participation and in institutional spaces, which leads to the annulment of the right to a universal health.


2020 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
pp. 45-76
Author(s):  
Richard Pankomera ◽  
Darelle Van Greunen

Although Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in the healthcare sector are extensively deployed globally, they are not used effectively in developing countries. Many resource poor countries face numerous challenges in implementing the ICT interventions. For instance, many health applications that have been deployed are not user-centric. As a result, such ICT interventions do not benefit many health consumers. The lack of an ICT framework to support patient-centric healthcare services in Malawi renders the e-health and mhealth interventions less sustainable and less cost effective. The aim of the study was therefore to develop an ICT Framework that could support patient-centric healthcare services in the public health sector in Malawi. The comprehensive literature review and semi-structured interviews highlighted many challenges underlying ICT development in Malawi. An ICT framework for patient-centric healthcare services is therefore proposed to ensure that eHealth and mobile health interventions are more sustainable and cost effective. The framework was validated by five experts selected from different areas of expertise including mhealth application developers, ICT policy makers and public health practitioners. Results show that the framework is relevant, useful and applicable within the setting of Malawi. The framework can also be implemented in various countries with similar settings.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (1(J)) ◽  
pp. 69-77
Author(s):  
Kgothatso Brucely Shai ◽  
Olusola Ogunnubi

For more than two decades, 21st March has been canonised and celebrated among South Africans as Human Rights Day. Earmarked by the newly democratic and inclusive South Africa, it commemorates the Sharpeville and Langa massacres. As history recorded, on the 21st March 1960, residents of Sharpeville and subsequently, Langa embarked on a peaceful anti-pass campaign led by the African National Congress (ANC) breakaway party, the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC). The pass (also known as dompas) was one of the most despised symbols of apartheid; a system declared internationally as a crime against humanity. In the post-apartheid era, it is expectedthat all South Africans enjoy and celebrate the full extent of their human rights. However, it appears that the envisaged rights are not equally enjoyed by all. This is because widening inequalities in the health-care system, in schooling, and in the lucrative sporting arena have not been amicably and irrevocably resolved. Furthermore, it is still the norm that the most vulnerable of South Africans, especially rural Africans, find it difficult, and sometimes, impossible to access adequate and even essential healthcare services. Central to the possible questions to emerge from this discourse are the following(i) What is the current state of South Africa’s health system at the turn of 23 years of its majority rule? (ii) Why is the South African health system still unable to sufficiently deliver the socioeconomic health rights of most South African people? It is against this background that this article uses a critical discourse analysis approach in its broadest form to provide a nuanced Afrocentric assessment of South Africa’s human rights record in the health sector since the year 1994. Data for this article is generated through the review of the cauldron of published and unpublished academic, official and popular literature. 


Author(s):  
Alexander Berler ◽  
Ioannis Apostolakis

The 21st century started with some significant efforts globally in the e-health sector. This was mainly pushed as a generic strategy from many nations and international organizations in order to cope with issues such as ageing population, demographic shift, social security limitations, and financial instability. A second reason was the introduction of new technologies such as cloud computing, Web interoperability standards, mobile health, and social media that are steadily changing the way healthcare has been seen in the last decades. In addition to that, globalization, commuting, immigration, and increased mobility raised the issue of cross-border healthcare and the right to access normalized healthcare services anywhere, anytime. In that context, the authors analyze the technological offerings and result of the epSOS (European Patient Smart Open Services) framework and how it has affected strategic decisions in electronic prescription in Greece, thus creating a new useful e-health national application. They prove that by rethinking healthcare, reusing established standards such as HL7 CDA (Health Level Seven Clinical Document Architecture) and IHE (Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise) profiles, it is possible to propose a new innovative system that is in fact based upon new technological propositions such as REST (Representational State Transfer) architecture and cloud computing.


2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (7) ◽  
pp. 1245-1265
Author(s):  
Rebekah Larsen

Networks are almost ubiquitous in the social sciences, in terms of method and structure. Dominant discourses around networks–concerning their purported democratic, progressive values and capacities–also impact how they are approached in research. This article illustrates the potential of this impact by tracing the trajectory and findings of a project focused on networked discussion of an Internet privacy debate. Using mixed methods—hyperlink network mapping, textual analysis (qualitative and quantitative), and semi-structured interviews—I examine online framing of a controversial data protection concept, the Right to be Forgotten. Initial, more “traditional” research approaches allowed for insight only into the most central and visible frames and sources. This led to a reorientation of research approach. In attempt to diversify sources and framings, I began focusing on the margins and off the “networked public sphere.” This article thus also recounts the significant empirical findings that resulted from such reflexivity and reorientation.


1972 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-148
Author(s):  
A. B. Atkinson

Social policy and taxation have commonly been regarded in Britain as quite separate aspects of government policy. Changes in taxation appear to be decided largely independently of the aims of social policy, and reforms of the social security system are often proposed with no regard to their fiscal consequences. Despite the fact that Chancellors of the Exchequer have recently arrogated the right to announce increases in National Insurance benefits, there is little evidence of co-ordination between the Treasury and the Department of Health and Social Security over income maintenance. Yet there is clearly a close relationship between these two arms of government policy, and it is important that any proposal for reform should consider taxation and social policy in conjunction.


2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (5) ◽  
pp. 338-352 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leila Doshmangir ◽  
Esmaeil Moshiri ◽  
Farshad Farzadfar

Objective: To explore historically primary healthcare (PHC) development in Iran in the light of development plans before and after the Islamic Revolution. The results of this study can be used to outline the future of PHC in the Iranian health system. Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis of the PHC development in the Iranian health system using data from relevant published and unpublished policy documents. The literature was retrieved and reviewed on the basis of predetermined inclusion criteria with no language or date restriction. The data were integrated and analyzed using content analysis. Results: During various upstream development plans, the attitude of the policy makers to PHC has been very different, resulting in fundamental differences in addressing such an important issue and the consequent outcomes. In the aftermath of Iran’s revolution, due to more understanding of PHC services importance and the principal slogans of the revolution to pay attention to villagers and vulnerable people, health policymakers paid more attention to PHC, which was not evident in previous periods. Conclusions: Despite considerable achievements in PHC, the history of PHC in Iran indicates frequent changes in planning and health provision structure. This suggests that the challenges facing the health sector today, the evolving needs and demands of the people, and population changes necessitate reinforcement and reform in the structure of the current PHC network as the main mission of Iran’s Ministry of Health.


2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mahan Mohammadi ◽  
MohammadHossein Yarmohammadian ◽  
Elahe Khorasani ◽  
MohsenGhaffari Darab ◽  
Manal Etemadi

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 1381-1402
Author(s):  
Shankar Sankaran ◽  
Anne Live Vaagaasar ◽  
Michiel Christian Bekker

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate how project managers, influence the assignment of project team members by directly assigning or specifying who they want or by indirectly using lateral influence strategies to secure the appropriate resources. This study is part of a wider study investigating the balance between vertical and horizontal leadership in projects in which nomination (or assignment) was identified as a key event contributing to balancing the leadership. It focuses specifically on the nomination or assignment event at the start of a project. Design/methodology/approach Based on the philosophy of critical realism, case studies were used to collect data through 70 semi-structured interviews in Australia, Scandinavia and South Africa. Interviews were conducted with senior managers, project managers and project team members. Two project team members who worked with the same project manager were interviewed to gather diverse views. The data were analyzed individually by researchers from each location using a coding method proposed by Miles et al. (2014). The researchers then jointly analyzed the findings to arrive at five common themes from that explained how team members were assigned in practice. Findings Despite the recognized need for project managers to form their own teams, this study found that project team members were often assigned by others. This was because project managers lacked authority to secure their resources. Therefore, they used lateral influence strategies to help with assigning project team members. The study identified five lateral influencing strategies adopted by project managers to assign team members: creating an image of competence; creating coalitions; taking a gamble; waiting for the right moment; and reasoning with facts. Two of these lateral influencing strategies were not identified in the previous literature on influencing strategies used in organizations. Research limitations/implications The findings should not be viewed as representative of the respective continents where the cases were studied. However, this study contributes to the literature on project management, illuminating how project teams are assigned and by whom and, specifically, the role that influence plays during this event of the balanced leadership theory. It also identifies the types of lateral influence strategies used by project managers when assigning team members to their projects. It provides a pathway to explore the use of lateral influencing strategies by project managers beyond the assignment process. Practical implications This study will help project managers to become aware of influencing strategies that they can use in practice while assigning team members to their projects. It will also highlight the importance of assigning the right resources to projects with a view to achieving balanced leadership. Originality/value This research is of value to organizations using projects to successfully deliver their strategies by assigning suitable resources to their projects.


Author(s):  
Vahé A. Kazandjian

The measurement and evaluation of healthcare services’ quality is faced with the challenge of describing its appropriateness. Is the right service rendered for the specific disease? Or do our measures quantify the efficiency of producing these services without first assessing if they were needed? Eventually, it is a question of accountability about the processes and outcomes of the care, which are expected to both demonstrate the social responsibilities of health care professionals and gauge the expectations of patients, families, and communities. The purpose of this chapter is to explore the determinants of what and why patients expect from healthcare and caring. Within the concept of accountability, the role of physicians as educators rather than exclusively healers of disease is explored.


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