Rwanda’s fourth health sector strategic plan (HSSP4) is meant to provide the health sector with a Strategic Plan that will highlight its commitments and priorities for the coming 6 years. It will be fully integrated in the overall economic development plan of the Government. HSSP4 will fulfill the... country’s commitment expressed in the national constitution, National Strategy for Transformation (NST) and the aspirations of the Health Sector Policy 2015. The strategies herein adhere to the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) principles towards realisation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). HSSP4 therefore lays a foundation for Vision 2050 (“The Rwanda We Want”), which will transform Rwanda into a high-income country by 2050. HSSP4 anticipates the epidemiological transition of the country, the increase in population and life expectancy and the expected increase of the health needs of the elderly, notably in Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs). HSSP4 also anticipates a decrease in external financial inflows, hence it is imperative to build secure / resilient health systems.
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The Third Rwandan Health Sector Strategic Plan (HSSP III) provides strategic guidance to the health sector for six years, between July 2012 and June 2018. HSSP III has been inspired and guided by the VISION 2020, which will make Rwanda a lower-middle-income country by 2020; the Rwandan Health Policy... of 2004; and the priorities set out by the Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy (EDPRS 2008–2012).
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In recent years, Rwanda has been on the fast track to achieve major health improvements for its entire population. With the support of government agencies and various non-governmental partners, the Ministry of Health (MoH) has endeavored to decentralize Rwanda’s health system and bring health serv...ices closer to the people. Guided by multitude of national and international development frameworks, Rwanda’s healthcare successes include the establishment of a community health insurance scheme (mutuelle de santé), a system of cooperative-financed community health workers in every village, and interventions for researching, preventing, and treating diseases like HIV/AIDS, TB, and malaria.
As the MoH continues to design innovative means to reach and surpass its prescribed health outcome targets, it will hold as core principles the integration of service provision, the increase in healthcare capacity, and the attainment of sustainable funding sources. Rwanda is committed to achieving the Millennium Development Goals by 2015 and has declared Family Planning (FP) a national priority for poverty reduction and socioeconomic development of the country. Modern contraceptive use has more than quadrupled from 2005 to 2010, rising from 10% to 45%, but the government’s Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy calls for an increase the modern contraceptive prevalence to 70% by 2016. While structural changes in health care and supply chains have led to noteworthy improvements in FP and other services, there are still many challenges that must be overcome. As such, a strategic plan is needed to coordinate FP efforts around a well-defined set of objectives and responsibilities.
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The Road Map outlines various strategies which will guide policy makers, development partners, training institutions and service providers in supporting Government efforts towards the attainment of MDGs related to maternal and neonatal health.
In 2014, the Ministry of Health (MOH) in Malawi conducted a nationwide assessment of emergency obstetric and newborn care (EmONC) services. This cross-sectional facility-based survey used 10 data collection modules. Data collection began on 23rd September 2014 and concluded on 17th October 2014, in ...all 28 districts. Facilities in both the public and private sector (for-profit and not-for-profit) were included. Since the focus of the assessment was obstetric and newborn care, health facilities that did not offer maternal and newborn health (MNH) services were not selected. In all districts, a census of all hospitals and a 60 percent random sample of health centres that ought to have performed deliveries in the previous year yielded a total of 365 facilities: 87 hospitals and 278 health centres. All these facilities were visited during the assessment. During analysis, weighting procedures were applied to extrapolate results to the district and national level, representing all 87 hospitals and 464 health centres. Such weighting was necessary as a stratified random sample of health centres was taken and weighting applied to all indicators and presentations that have health facility as a unit of measurement. Case reviews and provider’s interviews, on the other hand, are not weighted as their sampling strategy is based on convenience.
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The aim of this report is to: (1) synthesize the findings from selected maternal and newborn related studies in Nepal conducted during 2011-2014, (2) identify areas of improvement in existing interventions, and (3) recommend possible strategies to fulfill such gaps.
Nepal is on target to meet the Millennium Development Goals for maternal and child health despite high levels of poverty, poor infrastructure, difficult terrain and recent conflict. Each year, nearly 35000 Nepali children die before their fifth birthday, with almost two-thirds of these deaths occurr...ing in the first month of life, the neonatal period. As part of a multi-country analysis, we examined changes for newborn survival between 2000 and 2010 in terms of mortality, coverage and health system indicators as well as national and donor funding.
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Building on Nigeria’s Call to Action to Save Newborn Lives, the Federal Ministry of Health (FMoH) has developed the National Strategy and Implementation Plan for Scale-up of Chlorhexidine. The Ministry incorporated existing maternal, newborn, and child health plans with additional comprehensive st...rategic planning and consultation to develop a comprehensive, five-year costed scale-up plan. The strategy and implementation plan is intended to guide programming, resource allocation, and commitments to achieve the national objective of Chlorhexidine uptake of 52% after the fifth year of national scaleup.
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The Early Childhood Development Policy and its Strategic Plan seek to provide a framework to ensure such a holistic and integrated approach to the development of young children. International research has demonstrated the high economic returns on ECD investment and its positive impact on health and ...education outcomes as well as the overall economic development of a nation. The implementation of the ECD Policy will thus provide Rwanda with the basis for achieving the objectives and goals of the EDPRS and Vision 2020.
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This document describes the key areas that national governments should consider for the introduction and scale-up of point-of-care (POC) diagnostics within national programmes, as new innovative POC technologies are being introduced into the market. The next steps taken to include these new innovati...ons within the broader context of national diagnostic networks of conventional laboratories could influence the achievement of the 2030 Fast Track targets for ending the AIDS epidemic.
POC diagnostics, when strategically introduced and integrated into national diagnostic networks, may help catalyse changes that improve the way diagnostics and clinical services are delivered. This document distils this understanding based on programmatic and market experiences of introducing POC diagnostics through catalytic investments in POC HIV technologies across numerous countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
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Regional Network for Equity in Health in east and southern Africa (EQUINET): Disussion Paper 110
This report compiles evidence from published, grey literature and key informants on the UNMHCP
since its introduction in Uganda’s health system, and findings were further validated during a oneda...y
national stakeholder meeting.
Three main factors motivated introduction of the UNMHCP. First, Uganda, along with other lowincome countries, was unable to implement holistically the primary healthcare (PHC) concepts as set out in the Alma Ata Declaration. Second, the macro-economic restructuring carried out in the 1990s, which was an international conditionality for low-income countries to access development financing, influenced the trend towards more stringent prioritisation of health interventions as a means of rationing and targeting use of resources. Third, the government sought to achieve equity with a service package that would be universally available for all people.
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The Monitoring Report, which covers the first two months of the response from 25 August to 31 October, highlights the work of the Government of Bangladesh, in cooperation with humanitarian partners who are working to provide relief services for the refugee population and Bangladeshi host communities.... Of the 1.2 million people in need, around half have been reached with assistance. The Report also explains the challenges and gaps that remain. The risk of disease outbreak is high, and the impact of a cyclone or heavy rain would be massive. There is not enough land to provide adequate living conditions for the more than 830,000 refugees that now crowd Cox’s Bazar.
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A discussion paper on the scope of the problem, its drivers, and strategies for moving forward for policy, practice, and research
In many protracted emergencies, the prevalence rates of global acute malnutrition (GAM) regularly exceed the emergency threshold of > 15% of children with acute malnutri...tion (< -2 weight-for-height z-scores (WHZ) or with nutritional edema), despite ongoing humanitarian interventions. The widespread scale and long-lasting nature of “persistent GAM” means that it is a policy and programming priority.
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The current SEARVAP (South-East Asia regional vaccine action plan) describes a set of regional goals and objectives for immunization and control of vaccine-preventable diseases for 2016 – 2020 and highlights priority actions, targets and indicators that address the specific needs and challenges of... countries in the Region.
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Vitamin A supplementation (VAS) programs targeted at children aged 6–59 months are implemented in many countries. By improving immune function, vitamin A (VA) reduces mortality associated with measles, diarrhea, and other illnesses. There is currently a debate regarding the relevance of VAS, but a...midst the debate, researchers acknowledge that the majority of nationally-representative data on VA status is outdated. To address this data gap and contribute to the debate, we examined data from 82 countries implementing VAS programs, identified other VA programs, and assessed the recentness of national VA deficiency (VAD) data.
Article published in: Nutrients, 2017, 9, 190
https://doi.org/10.3390/nu9030190
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This publication outlines public health aspects of alcohol use and harm in WHO South East Asia Region Countries. It summarizes Global Regional and country specific data and also discusses aspects of alcohol control that are important in the context of the Region. The possible future trend of alcohol... use in the Region is also analysed and current and future barriers to effective alcohol control in countries of the Region are discussed.
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Conducted November 2011 to February 2012: Summary Report
This summary report has five sections. Following the introduction (Section 1), Section 2 sets out summary findings and recommendations of the assessment team. Section 3 describes the context in which artemisinin resistance is being tackle...d. Section 4 highlights key achievements and enabling factors for the response to artemisinin resistance, whilst Section 5 provides a more detailed discussion of major issues to be addressed.
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The WHO South-East Asia (SEA) Region bears a high burden of tuberculosis (TB) and MDR-TB. In 2015, the Region accounted for nearly 200 000 or 35% of the global estimated new RR/MDR-TB cases eligible for treatment. Extensively drug-resistant TB (XDRTB) has also been reported from s...ix countries of the SEA Region. MDR-TB could potentially replace drug-susceptible TB, and constitutes a threat to global public health security. The South- East Asia Regional Response Framework for DR-TB 2017–2021 complements the Ending TB in the South-East Asia Region: Regional Strategic Plan 2016–2020” and outlines key strategies for reducing morbidity, mortality and transmission of DR-TB.
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Oral diseases are among the most common chronic diseases worldwide and constitute a major public health problem due to the huge health and economic burden on individuals, families, societies, and health care systems. The recent emphasis on the role of determinants of health, common risk factors and ...their recognition in the context of the growing burden of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) provides good opportunities for integrating oral health into NCD prevention and control efforts. This Strategy for oral health in South-East Asia, 2013-2020, presents guidance to Member States in developing national policy and action plans to improve oral health within existing socioeconomic, cultural, political and health system contexts. It expresses the consensus on major strategies in the area of oral health promotion as well as oral disease prevention and control for the South-East Asia Region aiming at reducing the health and socioeconomic burden resulting from oral diseases, reducing oral health inequities, and improving the quality of life of the population.
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WHO’s Ambition and Action in Nutrition 2016-2025 is anchored in the six global targets for improving maternal, infant and young child nutrition and the global diet-related NCD targets.
In support of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, particularly SDG2 and SDG3, and in concert w...ith the 2016-2025 UN Decade of Action on Nutrition, WHO’s Ambition and Action in Nutrition 2016-2025 aims for “A world free from all forms of malnutrition where all people achieve health and well-being”. It defines the unique value of WHO for advancing nutrition: the provision of leadership, guidance and monitoring and proposes a theory of change. Finally, following a set of guiding principles, it proposes priority actions for WHO, the delivery model and a clear allocation of roles across the Organization.
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