How to Strengthen Health Systems that Can Recover from Crises
A filament of just 7 genes can wreak havoc in a weak health system…
We have seen the horror movies about viruses that kill many people fast, and we have seen and lived through the conflicting public health information about the latest Ebola Crisis in West Africa and how global health professionals scrambled to respond.
Those that fund global health projects, and those of us that work in global health, need be on the same page with country authorities and organizations so their assistance actually helps to meet the current and future health, social, and economic needs of those affected by the epidemic or shocks. Our main job? To keep it simple! Things get complicated very easily during a crisis, and even more when hundreds of uncoordinated organizations offer their assistance. It is important that all work completed before, during, and after a humanitarian crisis is part of a coordinated and concerted strategy, builds on existing country and health system strengths, and bridges well into ongoing and follow-on activities of the MOH and of the global health organizations and donors.
Believe me! It does take work to keep things simple but it is the only way to be effective. To strengthen the health system of every country, there are three simple and indispensable elements that an effective Health System needs to have in place:
- One National Health Plan (NHP) to set common nationwide health targets and a shared strategy to account for the role of all the government, donor, private sector and civil sector actors in the health system. The NHP must also account for the commitments and contributions of all these different players as well as their geographic area of influence to ensure nationwide coverage and measure results. No more uncoordinated individual plans, please! The NHP should include public health programs that include evidence-based actions, healthcare delivery targets, and facility and community-based activities. The responsibility of each actor should also be accounted for within the NHP.
- An optimal number of Public Health Programs help coordinate and manage the health services and program activities that will improve the health of the population. Program documents and minutes of quarterly coordinating meetings, led by the MOH program directors, guide the work of all actors and are to be followed when preparing individual work plans
- An optimal number of Healthcare Delivery Facilities that deliver the services which the population needs through public and private health centers and hospitals. These facilities must meet quality accreditation criteria by delivering quality care through documented standards and operating procedures.
If you remember that these three elements are essential for a health system to work, then you can do less and still achieve more in global health.
If you want to learn more about improving aid effectiveness to develop resilient health systems, I invite you to sign up for the free RGH webinar entitled “Aid Effectiveness in Global Health: Getting Back to Basics in Global Health”.
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