Primary health care offers a cost–effective route to achieving universal health coverage (UHC). However, primary health-care systems are weak in many low- and middle-income countries and often fail to provide comprehensive, people-centred, integrated care. We analysed the primar...y health-care systems in 20 low- and middle-income countries using a semi-grounded approach. Options for strengthening primary health-care systems were identified by thematic content analysis. We found that: (i)despite the growing burden of noncommunicable disease, many low- and middle-income countries lacked funds for preventive services; (ii)community health workers were often under-resourced, poorly supported and lacked training; (iii)out-of-pocket expenditure exceeded 40% of total health expenditure in half the countries studied, which affected equity; and (iv)health insurance schemes were hampered by the fragmentation of public and private systems, underfunding, corruption and poor engagement of informal workers. In 14 countries, the private sector was largely unregulated. Moreover, community engagement in primary health care was weak in countries where services were largely privatized. In some countries, decentralization led to the fragmentation of primary health care. Performance improved when financial incentives were linked to regulation and quality improvement, and community involvement was strong. Policy-making should be supported by adequate resources for primary health-care implementation and government spending on primary health care should be increased by at least 1% of gross domestic product. Devising equity-enhancing financing schemes and improving the accountability of primary health-care management is also needed. Support from primary health-care systems is critical for progress towards UHC in the decade to 2030.
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Sources: National Commitment and Policy Instrument, 2019
The Ghanaian Cabinet approved the antimicrobial resistance (AMR)Policy and Implementation plan(hereafter referred to as the national action plan or NAP)in December 2017, whilst the country case study was in progress. This has set in motion the implementation phase for Ghana, which is a long awaited... event since the drafting of the Policy started in 2011. This case study, whilst limited in its ability to interact with all stakeholders, has identified entrypoints within the operational divisions of Ghana Health Services,as potential areas where the AMR policy platform may seek to embed AMR activities. Much work has already been done within Ghana to identify the key entrypoints within the various ministries and government agencieswhere AMR can be incorporated. These stakeholders already form part of the AMR Policy Platform which is the governance structure for AMR and have been participating actively in the development of the AMR Policy and NAP activities formulation.
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Policy Brief
Consolidated Guidelines
Updated 2016
WHO/HIV/2017.05
Policy Brief | April 2015 | This brief accompanies the data sheet, Addressing Risk Factors for Noncommunicable Diseases Among Young People in Africa: Key to Prevention and Sustainable Development, and its data appendix, which provide all available country-specific data on four key NCD risk factors a...mong young people in Africa since 2004. These publications extend an earlier publication, Noncommunicable Disease Risk Factors Among Young People in Africa: Data Availability and Sources. All are available at www.prb.org/Publications/Datasheets/2015/ncd-risk-youth-africa.aspx.
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Mental disorders are one of the top public health challenges in the WHO European Region, affecting about 25% of the population every year. In all countries, mental health problems are much more prevalent among the people who are most deprived. The WHO European Region therefore faces diverse challeng...es affecting both the mental well-being of the population and the provision and quality of care for people with mental health problems.
The European Mental Health Action Plan focuses on seven interlinked objectives and proposes effective action to strengthen mental health and well-being. Investing in mental health is essential for the sustainability of health and socioeconomic policies in the European Region. The Action Plan corresponds to the four priority areas of the European policy framework for health and wellbeing, Health 2020, and will contribute directly to its implementation.
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MICROBIAL DRUG RESISTANCEVolume 24, Number 5, 2018ªMary Ann Liebert, Inc.DOI: 10.1089/mdr.2017.0383
Antibiotic resistance (ABR) is a worldwide publichealth concern, with serious health, economic, and so-cietal repercussions. Its emergence is attributed to the se-lective pressure exerted by antib...iotic use in the community, hospitals, veterinary health, agriculture, aquaculture, and the environment. Additionally aggravating the situation is the fact that very few new antibiotics have recently been produced by pharmaceutical companies. It is widely acknowledged that food animals are key reservoirs of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and that antibiotic usage in this population favors the emergence, selection, and spread of resistance among animals and humans, both through zoonoses (infectious diseases trans-mitted between animals and humans) and the food chain.
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WHO clinical and policy guidelines
Policy Research Working Paper 6100 | Impact Evaluation Series No. 60 | This study examines the effect of performance incentives for health care providers to provide more and higher quality care in Rwanda on child health outcomes. The authors find that the incentives had a large and significant effec...t on the weight-for-age of children 0–11 months and on the height-for-age of children 24–49 months. They attribute this improvement to increases in the use and quality of prenatal and postnatal care. Consistent with theory, They find larger effects of incentives on services where monetary rewards and the marginal return to effort are higher. The also find that incentives reduced the gap between provider knowledge and practice of appropriate clinical procedures by 20 percent, implying a large gain in efficiency. Finally, they find evidence of a strong complementarity between performance incentives and provider skill .
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The document is a policy brief by the NCD Alliance for the 2023 United Nations High-Level Meeting on Universal Health Coverage (UHC). It highlights the importance of integrating non-communicable diseases (NCDs) into UHC efforts, with the goal of ensuring equitable health access worldwide.
The Kenya Health Policy 2014-2030 aims at attaining the highest possible standard of health in a manner responsive to the health needs of our population. One of the major policy directions towards realizing the intentions of this policy is to halt and reverse the
rising burden of non-communicable d...iseases.
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J of Pharm Policy and Pract 14, 27 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40545-021-00309-8
UNAIDS 2018 / Guidance
Guidance for policy-makers, and people living with, at risk of or affected by HIV
Guidelines for treatment of drug-susceptible tuberculosis and patient care
Update 2017