In 1989, the Republic of Benin was facing a great social and
economical crisis. Civil servants of all the sectors in public
administration were on strike. People did not know where to
go for their health care. Salaries were not paid for more than
six months and life for the general population wa...s very dificult.
The country was about to degenerate into civil war as a
result of the civil unrest in the country.
Thanks to the assistance from the French, and Canadian
and American Mennonite missionaries, the Bethesda Health
Centre was started in 1990 with US$ 1,000 granted by theses
partners. Today, the Health Centre of Bethesda has expanded
and has become a large Hospital in Cotonou. It hosts each
year about 100,000 patients and has developed the department
of paediatrics, ophthalmology, stomatology, cardiology,
obstetrical gynaecology, X-rays, etc. The Hospital has also
put in place an AIDS service which has been promoted by the
government to the status of an AIDS Treatment Centre.
In an integrated vision, Bethesda has established other departments.
In 1993, the Sanitation department was established
to implement sanitation and environmentally-friendly
projects aimed at reducing the high incidence of some diseases
frequently treated at the hospital. In 1996, the decision
was made to establish a micro-inance department called
PEBCo. This initiative, which currently has 10,000 clients,
uses community savings to promote income-generating activities.
Since many women were obliged to use the loans for
family needs (health care, children schooling, etc.), they were
unable to reimburse them as planned. Hence the Bethesda
non-government organization (NGO) recently began an initiative
to provide a community-based health insurance option
for the population in 2006. There are now 12,000 members.
This paper focuses on the presentation of Benin and the program,
but also describes how the project could be better improved
and what were its beneits and impacts.
Field Actions Science Reports
The journal of field actions
Vol. 4 | 2010
Vol. 4
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1. Provide treatment for mental disorders in primary care
2. Ensure wider accessibility to essential psychotropic drugs
3. Provide care in the community
4. Educate the public
5. Involve communities, families and consumers
6. Establish national policies, programmes and legislation on mental heal...th
7. Develop human resources
8. Link with other sectors
9. Monitor community mental health
10. Support relevant research.
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This toolkit consists of eight modules which have been prepared as stand-alone documents that can be read by themselves, but they have also been prepared to complement one another. It has been designed as a tool for health professionals and students in the health care and public health sectors who ...want to engage more directly on the issue of climate change as educators with their patients, peers and communities, and/or as advocates for the policies, programs and practices needed to mitigate climate change and/or prepare for climate change in their workplaces and communities
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The only way to prevent future Ebola epidemics of this magnitude is to address the fundamental social and political vulnerabilities that have allowed the virus to flourish, such as weak health systems and local services, poor governance, chronic poverty, and a legacy of conflict and social divisions
Gender-based violence is a life-threatening, global health and human rights issue that violates international human rights law and principles of gender equality. It is also a threat to lasting peace and an affront to our common humanity. United Nations Member States have called for urgent action to ...end GBV in emergencies, recognizing that in crises, the risk of GBV is heightened, particularly for women and adolescent girls.
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This document offers guidance to Member States in the African region on the key steps used to conduct contact tracing related to the COVID-19 response. It is to be used by national and local health authorities in the implementation of tracing of contacts of probable and confirmed COVID-19 cases.
While the full effects of COVID-19 remain unknown, the pandemic continues to profoundly impact regional migration and mobility dynamics, with deep health, social and economic consequences for the most vulnerable, including migrants, displaced populations and their host communities, and returnees.
This primer aims to guide health professionals on engaging with WASH-related issues. It gives an overview of WASH interventions and the status of WASH services globally and outlines key linkages with health. It provides examples of key actions that health actors can take to ensure WASH efforts effec...tively protect public health and highlights World Health Organization (WHO) activities to support those actions.
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The purpose of this document is to address specific needs and considerations for essential oral health services in the context of COVID-19 in accordance with WHO operational guidance on maintaining essential health services. This interim guidance is intended for public health authorities, chief dent...al officers at ministries of health and oral health care personnel working in private and public health sectors. The document may be subject to change as new information becomes available.
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COVID-19 is stretching formal and informal aspects of community life. The pandemic is overwhelming health systems. Country economies are reaching a breaking point, with particularly significant impact for the livelihoods of vulnerable families and those dependent on daily wages. COVID-19 is also aff...ecting community relationships and trust. Lack of trust in government leaders or health officials can lead citizens to be unwilling to accept essential health messages and take the necessary steps to combat the spread of the disease. The stress, fear and emotional vulnerabilities of children and their caregivers can be particularly acute, especially in light of prolonged school closures and the uncertainty about their health system’s capacity to withstand the pandemic or how long community and household quarantines will last.
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This document provides interim guidance on the prevention, identification and management of health worker infection in the context of COVID-19. It is intended for occupational health departments, infection prevention and control departments or focal points, health facility administrators and public ...health authorities at both the national and facility level.
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In the wake of the Covid‑19 Pandemic, parts of the public health system at increased risk of reduced efficiency include healthcare services for women and children. This in turn could reverse all the progress achieved over the years in reducing maternal and child mortality. In th...is study, an attempt has been made to assess the indirect effect of the pandemic on maternal and child health services in public health facilities.
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The WHO and UNICEF-led Hand Hygiene for All Initiative aims at ensuring implementation for WHO's global recommendations on hand hygiene to prevent and control COVID-19 pandemic, and hand hygiene improvement sustainability in countries as a mainstay of wider infection prevention and control (IPC) and... water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) efforts.
But how can hand hygiene implementation be successful? By implementing strategies and approaches proven through the successes of the WHO Save Lives: Clean Your Hands campaign and fostering integration between hand hygiene and WASH improvements. This brief draws on learning from legacy work and the current evidence based and summarizes how joint action and collaboration are essential for successful strategies, in the context of the COVID-19 response and beyond
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The Kenyan Health Sector has been playing a critical role in
providing health care services in response to the population
needs in line with the Kenya Health Policy, 2014-2030’s goal
of attaining the highest possible health standards in a manner
responsive to the population needs.
Ukrainian decentralization reform has increased and democratized local government responsibility for health care at the level of local government closest to communities and has increased regional and local government responsibility for public health. Decentralization affects health system reform in ...three important areas: health financing, individual health services and public health.
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The One Health approach can help achieve progress and promotes synergies on national and global priorities by generating synergies at the human-animal-environmental interface. While evidence is still scare, it is likely that the approach is highly cost-effective and improves effectiveness of core pu...blic health systems, through reducing morbidity, mortality, and economic costs of disease outbreaks. It also contributes to economic development through strengthening public health systems at the human-animal-environment interface protects health, agricultural production, and
ecosystem services
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GDF is the largest global provider of quality-assured tuberculosis (TB)
medicines, diagnostics, and laboratory supplies to the public sector.
Since 2001, GDF has facilitated access to high-quality TB care in over 130
countries, providing treatments to over 30 million people with TB and procuring
...
and delivering more than $200 million worth of diagnostic equipment
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Those who clean are the first line of defense against health care-associated infections (HAIs), and support efforts to reduce antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
Strengthening the training of this important group can contribute to resolving many of today’s public health challenges. This is importan...t given that cleaning both surfaces and hands is vital to control the transmission of a number of HAIs.
This two-part training package targets those who clean heath care facilities.
The Trainer’s Guide takes the user through how to prepare, deliver and sustain an effective training for those who clean. The Modules and Resources provides instructions, definitions, photographs, posters and specific illustrations of recommended practices
The package can be used by those who deliver environmental cleaning training programmes and/or those with a background in IPC including ministries of health, nongovernmental organizations, academic institutions, experts working in Quality of care, IPC and environmental cleaning/ Water, sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) and Health facility IPC focal points and onsite cleaning supervisors
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This report started with a simple question—“How can we tell how much funding is devoted to global health programs?”—and ended (more than two years later) with an answer that is far from simple. As those who have tried know well, tracking health-related funding is challenging in any setting, ...given the range of public and private sources and the many types of services and programs that fall within the definition of “health sector.” It is made all the more complicated when significant external support from donors and private charities plus in-kind donations of drugs and other inputs are taken into account. The task is made yet harder by inadequate public expenditure management systems in countries where public agencies’ capacity is stretched very thin and by donor accounting structures that are not designed to respond in a timely way
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Ethiopia has been repeatedly affected by conflict, flooding, drought, and disease outbreaks in the past years. As of January 2024, the country is actively responding to the longest recorded cholera outbreak which started in August 2022, recurrent measles outbreaks which started in August 2021, and t...he highest number of malaria cases reported since 2017. The El Niño phenomenon is expected to cause further havoc up to July 2024, by causing drought in some parts of the country, and flooding in others. Food insecurity due to lost harvest and livestock is aggravating already high malnutrition rates, negatively impacting morbidity and mortality.
The Health Cluster is closely collaborating with the Ministry of Health (MOH) to prepare for, prevent, and respond to public health emergencies by mobilizing resources to enable health partners to provide life-saving health services to vulnerable populations.
In an environment with ever-increasing needs and decreased funding, the below priorities for 2024 and 2025 have been identified: 1 Strengthen advocacy for longer-term, development funding to address root causes of recurrent disease outbreaks, including through the Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus 2 Advocate for increased access to quality health services, with a strong focus on:
sexual and reproductive health services (including for survivors of sexual and gender-based violence)
inclusion of people with disabilities, older people, and people living with HIV
remote populations through inclusion of Mobile Health Teams (MHT) as part of the health system 3 Standardize health services provided by Health Cluster partners through the implementation of Essential Health Care packages, aligned with existing MOH guidance, aimed at ensuring quality service delivery for affected populations, especially at community level 4 Strengthen quality of, and access to data for needs analysis and informed decision-making 5 Strengthen subnational coordination, with increased focus on zones and local health partners
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