Phyllida Travis, Dominique Egger, Philip Davies, Abdelhay Mechbal. Evidence and Information for Policy, World Health Organization, 2002.
The paper proposes that stewards should have access to reliable, up-to-date information on: Current and future trends in health and health system performance? For example, on levels, trends and inequalities in key areas such as national health expenditures; human resources; health system outcomes; health risk factors; vulnerable groups; coverage; provider performance; organisational / institutional challenges in provision, financing, resource generation, stewardship Important contextual factors and actors the political, economic and institutional context; the roles and motivation of different actors; user / consumer preferences; opportunities and constraints for change. Events / reforms in other sectors with implications for the health sector Possible policy options, based on national and international evidence and experience? For example, intelligence on different policy tools and instruments for similar problems; on their effects in different settings, and on managing change. It includes information on relatively specific things such as cost-effective interventions; and on possible institutional arrangements for different functions.
Human Resources
THE government, workers and employers have entered into negotiations that could result in the launch of a medical aid scheme to provide health cover for Zimbabwean workers, according to National Social Security Authority (NSSA) general manager Amod Takawira. He said NSSA, the government's main investment arm, was involved in the negotiations but would not indicate how long the consultations had been going on. "The national health insurance scheme is being finalised by the relevant stakeholders and will benefit all employees who meet the required conditions," Takawira told the Financial Gazette.
In an earlier article, the authors outline some reasons for the disappointingly small effects of primary health care programs and identified two weak links standing between spending and increased health care. The first was the inability to translate public expenditure on health care into real services due to inherent difficulties of monitoring and controlling the behavior of public employees. The second was the "crowding out" of private markets for health care, markets that exist predominantly at the primary health care level. This article presents an approach to public policy in health that comes directly from the literature on public economics. It identifies two characteristic market failures in health. The first is the existence of large externalities in the control of many infectious diseases that are mostly addressed by standard public health interventions. The second is the widespread breakdown of insurance markets that leave people exposed to catastrophic financial losses. Other essential considerations in setting priorities in health are the degree to which policies address poverty and inequality and the practicality of implementing policies given limited administrative capacities. Priorities based on these criteria tend to differ substantially from those commonly prescribed by the international community.
Latest review reveals that voluntary community care can help and prevent SA losing R6bn a year to AIDS. IF SA began a massive home-based care programme for people infected with HIV/AIDS, it could slash hospital costs and relieve a fiscus already losing R6bn a year to AIDS. The losses are recorded in the latest intergovernmental review, while the cost benefits of using Home-Based Care are being proved by a two-year programme, Enhancing Care Initiative (ECI), run by the University of Natal, with the US's Harvard University and the KwaZulu-Natal government.
The emerging crisis of health manpower in Africa could defeat the efforts of governments, private health care providers, NGOs, and donors in controlling the HIV/AIDS epidemic. This was one of the principal findings of a consultative meeting on improving collaboration amongst health professionals, government and other stakeholders on health workers issues, recently held by WHO and the World Bank in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Neil Pakenham-Walsh, Moderator, HIF-net at WHO
Many thanks to all contributors on this subject so far. 22 messages have been posted from 30/1/02 to 15/2/02. Further messages are encouraged through to Friday 8 March, in time for the 'eContent for eDevelopment' workshop in Dar es salaam (11-13 March). After that time, I shall post further summaries and a report of the workshop. Here is a list of contributors and a summary of the discussion so far. All contributors to this discussion (through to Friday 8 March) will be offered a complimentary printed copy of INASP Health Links, a gateway to information for health professionals in developing countries (INASP Health Links will be published in early March 2002).
G. Goldstein, R. Helmer, M. Fingerhut
WHO, African Newsletter on Occupational Health and Safety, Volume 11, December 2001.
Conditions at work, and especially occupational health and safety have improved substantially during the past few decades in many parts of the world. But the overall global situation remains poor. Working conditions for the majority of workers do not meet the minimum standards and guidelines set by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the World Health Organization for occupational health, safety and social protection. As an example the majority of the world’s workforce is still not served by competent occupational health services. As a result the global burden of occupational disease and injury remains unacceptably high, on a par with the burden from malaria. Yet occupational health programmes receive only a tiny fraction of the resources devoted to combating malaria.
Zimbabwe's unemployment rate is set to reach an unprecedented 70% in 2002 due to company closures, labour economists said this week. The economic analysts said that it was imminent that failure by the economic stakeholders labour, business and government in creating opportunities to stimulate industrial expansion would lead to increases in unemployment.
What do we know about the impact of AIDS on mortality rates in developing countries? Do existing methods of data collection provide enough information? Researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the UK Medical Research Council look into these questions.
South African companies are missing out on lucrative returns by failing to see that money spent on HIV/Aids is an investment, rather than a cost, according to a new study into major Southern African companies.