Health Centre committees (HCCs) (known by a range of names) are mechanisms that exist at community and primary care level for co-determination by communities and health workers on their health systems and on PHC. In January 2014 EQUINET through TARSC and with CWGH is holding a regional meeting on the role of health centre committees in primary health care. The regional workshop includes organisations doing work on training and strengthening HCCs in east and southern African countries. It aims to exchange and document information on the laws, capacities, training materials used, and monitoring systems used in HCCs, and to develop a shared monitoring framework for assessing how HCCs are functioning. Sponsorship for the workshop is now closed but EQUINET invites self funded delegates who may wish to attend to contact admin@equinetafrica.org.
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Health literacy is one process that empowers people to understand and act on health information to advance their health and improve their health systems. Based on participatory reflection and action approaches, it goes beyond just knowing about health and health care, to acting individually and collectively to advance health. It includes processes that support people driven action and engagement in health systems. Lusaka District Health Team in Zambia has implemented participatory reflection and action work since 2005 to strengthen detection of and action on health problems and their causes, and improve communication between health services and communities, working with TARSC in the pra4equity network in EQUINET. In 2012 the Ministry of Health adopted a proposal to scale up the work in Lusaka to national level. This video describes the origins and development of the work from the lens of the many different actors from communities, health workers and policy level that played a role in it.
Health Centre committees (HCCs) (known by a range of names) are mechanisms that exist at community and primary care level for co-determination by communities and health workers on their health systems and on PHC. In January 2014 EQUINET through TARSC and with CWGH is holding a regional meeting on the role of health centre committees in primary health care. The regional workshop includes organisations doing work on training and strengthening HCCs in east and southern African countries. It aims to exchange and document information on the laws, capacities, training materials used, and monitoring systems used in HCCs, and to develop a shared monitoring framework for assessing how HCCs are functioning. Sponsorship for the workshop is now closed but EQUINET invites self funded delegates who may wish to attend to contact admin@equinetafrica.org for further information.
While the private sector contributes new resources to the health system, international evidence shows that if left unregulated it may distort the quantity, distribution and quality of health services, and lead to anti-competitive behaviour. As the for-profit private sector is expanding in east and southern African (ESA) countries, governments need to strengthen their regulation of the sector to align it to national health system objectives. This policy brief examines how existing laws in the region address the quantity, quality, distribution and price of private health care services, based on evidence made available from desk review and in-country experts. It proposes areas for strengthening the regulation of individual health care practitioners, private facilities and health insurers. A more detailed discussion paper (#87) on the laws and information covered in the brief including country specific information is available at www.equinetafrica.org/bibl/docs/EQ%20Diss%2087%20Private%20HS.pdf.
EQUINET co-operated with Department of Health South Africa and University of Pretoria to co-host a workshop at the September 2013 PHASA conference on African Perspectives in Global Health diplomacy. The workshop explored, through an interactive panel discussion, how African countries could and are positioning themselves to advance African health interests in global health discourse. It involved speakers from Ministry of Health, Kenya, from EQUINET, from Department of International Relations and Cooperation, South Africa and ambassadors and programmes from countries that have health co-operation with Africa. The panellists and delegates explored African experiences of foreign policy and global diplomacy for health and the opportunities, risks, key issues and lessons for African countries in raising health as a foreign policy issue.
International evidence shows that, if left unregulated, the for-profit health sector may lead to distortions in the quantity, distribution and quality of health services, as well as anti-competitive behaviour. As the for-profit private sector appears to be expanding in east and southern African (ESA) countries, governments need to strengthen regulations to ensure that the for-profit sector does not undermine national health system objectives. This report examines how existing regulation provides for objectives such as the quantity, quality, distribution and price of health care services and suggests priorities for strengthening legal frameworks in 16 countries in east and southern Africa. It draws on a desk-based review of legislation accessed through the internet or from in-country researchers and interviews with in-country experts.
TARSC, through COPASAH and EQUINET, are holding a regional workshop on Participatory Approaches to Strengthening People Centred Health Systems in the east and southern African region. The workshop will explore how to raise community voice in strengthening the resourcing and functioning of primary health care systems through the use of participatory approaches to build community roles in accountability and action. The workshop is targeted at civil society organisations, NGOs, community leaders, health workers, academics, researchers and others involved in work with communities and health workers in the east and southern African region. Applications to be mailed to info@tarsc.org by 3 September.
Performance-based funding (PBF) has become increasingly popular in global health financing. It is defined essentially as the transfer of resources (money, material goods) for health on condition that measurable action will be taken to achieve predefined health system performance targets such as particular health outcomes, the delivery of effective interventions (such as HIV prophylaxis), utilisation of services (like HIV counselling and testing), or quality care. This annotated literature review has been prepared for work on global health diplomacy and the role of African actors in global health governance in relation to PBF. The review highlights the theoretical thinking behind and strengths and weaknesses associated with PBF schemes in their use in Africa. It reviews documented evidence of the role of African actors in diplomacy and decision-making surrounding PBF. The review highlights that while national governments are generally involved in the design, implementation and evaluation of PBF schemes, some national actors and regional actors appear to be marginalised when it comes to the design and global decision-making process for performance-based funding schemes, even if they are heavily involved in their implementation.
For some time now, people working in the field of health at community level have expressed the need for a toolkit specifically focusing on participatory approaches to working on health. This toolkit was produced in response to this need, drawing on the experiences and knowledge of individuals and institutions working in this field. The toolkit shows how participatory methods can be used to raise community voice, both through health research and by training communities to take effective action and become involved in the health sector. Generally, this toolkit aims to strengthen capacities in researchers, health workers and civil society personnel working at community level to use participatory methods for research, training and programme support. At the end of the course, we hope that the users of the toolkit will have learned and be able to use various methods for participatory approaches to research and training within various areas of work aimed at building people-centred health systems. The toolkit uses experiences from different countries in the east and southern African region.
This review is part of EQUINETs work on contributions of global health diplomacy to health systems in east and southern Africa. It reviews documented literature to examine the extent to which the policy interests of African countries were carried (or not carried) into the Code in the negotiations around the code and the perceived factors affecting this; the extent to which countries in east and southern Africa view and use the Code as an instrument for negotiating foreign policy interests concerning health workers; and the motivations, capabilities and preparations for monitoring the code to engage in the diplomatic environment on African policy interests concerning health workers. The information was analysed using the policy analysis triangle to capture the changing context, processes, content and major actors in the development of the WHO Code, and documentation on its progress and implementation since its adoption. The review discusses the factors behind the relative lull in efforts on the issue of health worker migration following adoption of the Code.