Blog
Dec 14 2008
End of year post: Thinking before acting: the state of health policy and systems research in 2008
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The 2004 ministerial forum on health research in Mexico emphasized a 'historical neglect' of health policy and systems research focusing on, and from low-income countries. In the four years since, what has changed and what should be the focus going forward? A review of a recent Lancet article by Bennett et al. reveals the answers.
Oct 20 2008
Private Provider Retention in Ethiopia
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In Ethiopia, private providers are leaving clinics and hospitals in alarming numbers. A recent investigation tried to find out the reasons for the high turnover, and what could be done about it.
Oct 8 2008
Future Health Systems Part I: A Little Matter of Institutions
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Is it too premature to be thinking of Future Health Systems, especially for low-income and transition countries? Given that the existing systems in sub-Saharan Africa and in low-income Asia are under stress from high disease burden (demand-side) and a lack of resources (supply-side), shouldn't we fix the problems currently at hand? Not premature at all, say the editors of a recent series of papers in the journal Social Science & Medicine.
Sep 16 2008
Health systems - a strong foundation to support HIV/AIDS services
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There has been much discussion recently regarding the effect of HIV/AIDS programs on strengthening health systems as a whole. To take a step back, I would like to discuss how addressing health systems issues are critical to strengthening HIV/AIDS programs.
Aug 26 2008
If it's not broken, then make it better
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Now that we've all heard at IAC'08 and after: disease-specific programs do no harm to health systems and may in fact help them, what's on the agenda for integration and health system strengthening? An analysis of a recent piece by Daniel Low Beer from the Global Fund reveals some hints of what is on the horizon.
Aug 19 2008
Another critique of the Abuja target
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The Abuja target calls for African countries to spend 15% of their public budget on health, typically measured as funds allocated to the ministry of health.
Aug 13 2008
Is robbing Peter to pay Paul worth worrying about?
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Few health systems topics received more attention at the IAC than the question of whether we should blame the advent of the AIDS virus as the cause of funding and resources being channeled away from the general health system (into vertical programs) or applaud the arrival of AIDS as the catalyst for the activism needed to identify the inadequacies of health care systems. Of course, as you would expect from persons attending an AIDS conference, just about everyone agreed that AIDS advocacy and funding efforts were strengthening health systems in general.
I tend to agree with those who were not concerned about how we arrived here, or the merits of one catalyst for change over another, but who were anxious to move forward. Various health systems and funding systems exist. There will always be vertical and horizontal funding streams. There will always be competing priorities. We should stop wasting time and resources discussing which one works better or which priority is more important. We need to move forward the best we can. As Sigrun Mogedal, Ambassador for AIDS and Global Health Initiatives Norway and Chair of GHWA said: We are in the midst of competing priorities and voices… We have to work across all sectors… We cannot wait until all these things are fixed. We have to live with the complexity and be involved under several streams of activity at the same time.
Aug 12 2008
Is the HIV/AIDS Response Strengthening Health Systems?
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There were no less than four sessions* looking at the question of how the AIDS response is affecting country health systems – here are some highlights.
