From 2000 to 2010, Rwanda implemented comprehensive health sector reforms to strengthen the public health system, with the aim of reducing maternal... and newborn deaths in line with Millennium Development Goal 5, among many other improvements in national health. Based on a systematic review of the literature, national policy documents and three Demographic & Health Surveys (2000, 2005 and 2010), this paper describes the reforms and the policies they were based on, and provides data on the extent of Rwanda’s progress in expanding the coverage of four key women’s health services. Progress took place in 2000–2005 and became more rapid after 2006, mostly in rural areas, when the national facility-based childbirth policy, performance-based financing, and community-based health insurance were scaled up. Between 2006 and 2010, the following increases in coverage took place as compared to 2000–2005, particularly in rural areas, where most poor women live: births with skilled attendance (77% increase vs. 26%), institutional delivery (146% increase vs. 8%), and contraceptive prevalence (351% increase vs. 150%). The primary factors in these improvements were increases in the health workforce and their skills, performance-based financing, community-based health insurance, and better leadership and governance. Further research is needed to determine the impact of these changes on health outcomes in women and children.
more
Benchmarking is a strategic process often used by businesses and institutes to standardize performance in relation to the best practices of their sector. The World Health Organization (WHO) and part...ners have developed a tool with a list of benchmarks and corresponding suggested actions that can be applied to implement the International Health Regulations 2005 (IHR) and strengthen health emergency prevention, preparedness, response and resilience capacities.
The first edition of the benchmarks was published in 2019 to support countries in developing, implementing and documenting progress of national IHR or health security plans (e.g. national action plan for health security (NAPHS), national action plan for emerging infectious diseases, public health emergencies and health security and other country level plans for health emergencies). The tool has been updated to incorporate lessons from COVID-19 and other health emergencies, to align with the updated IHR monitoring & evaluation framework (IHR MEF) tools and the health systems for health security framework, and to support strengthening health emergency prevention, preparedness, response and resilience (HEPR) capacities and the Preparedness and Resilience for Emerging Threats (PRET) initiative.
more
HRH SA 2030 | Draft HR Strategy for the Health Sector: 2012/13 – 2016/17 Consultation Document
This third edition of the National Gender Statistics Report provides the updated sex-disaggregated data in twelve fields: Population and Youth; Education; Health and Nutrition; Economic Activity and... time use; Poverty & Social Protection; Justice & Human rights; Environment and Natural Resources; Decisionmaking and Public life; Infrastructure, ICT and Media; Trade and Business and Industry; Agriculture, Livestock and Forestry, and lastly the Income and Access to Finance. It should be noted that this report takes into account almost all quantitative indicators of the United Nations Minimum Set of Gender Indicators (UNMSGI) as developed by the United Nations Statistical Division (UNSD) and some of the approved quantitative SDGs gender related indicators.
more
The Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH) has been coordinating sector wide reforms that aim to improve equity and quality of maternal and child healt...h services. As part of these efforts, the ministry is also exerting concerted efforts to improve availability and use of quality RMNCH pharmaceuticals. Management of RMNCH pharmaceuticals has had significant challenges such as poor availability of essential pharmaceuticals and wastages of valuable resources as pharmacy professionals were not demonstrating the required knowledge, skill and attitude towards availing the pharmaceuticals and ensuring their rational medicine use.
more
ndependent of the current conflict, the health sector in Ukraine faces several critical shortcomings. In particular, the country has an oversupply of hospitals and an undersupply of primary care and... diagnostic facilities. Addressing these limitations will require substantial amounts of capital investment, but constraints on public finances in the post-war context will reduce the Government’s ability to fund the needed reconfiguration. Multiple international financial institutions have stated their intention to support reconstruction in the aftermath of the war. The use of public–private partnerships (PPPs) may support the achievement of these outcomes and their use in Ukraine is likely to remain an important issue for Government policy-makers and their partners to consider in a variety of post-war scenarios.
more
Health Statistics in the Western Pacific Region 2023: Monitoring health for the SDGs is the third biennial report providing an overview of the prog...ress of the World Health Organization (WHO) Western Pacific Region towards the health-related Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets. This edition also serves as a baseline assessment for the implementation of the global WHO Fourteenth General Programme of Work 2025–2028 (GPW14) within the Western Pacific Region and the for the Regional Vision “Weaving Health for Families, Communities, and Societies of the Western Pacific Region: Working Together to Improve Health, Well-Being and Save Lives”.
more
The report offers an overview of the progress the humanitarian sector has made and the obstacles it has faced over the past 10 years. Accountability is no longer just a fashionable term, there is no...w a shared understanding of what it takes to be accountable. From changes at policy level, to concrete actions taken in the field, this report documents this sector-wide shift. It also shows that being accountable to the people we aim to serve is not just the right thing to do, it is also the best way to ensure programmes are relevant, effective, efficient and sustainable
more
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to threaten health and food systems around the world, the 2020 Global Nutrition Report calls on governments, businesses and civil society to step up efforts to add...ress malnutrition in all its forms.
more
Regional Network for Equity in Health in east and southern Africa (EQUINET): Disussion Paper 113
This report synthesises the learning across the full programme of work. It presents the method...s used, the context and policy motivations for developing EHBs; how they are being defined, costed, disseminated and used in health systems, including for service provision and quality, resourcing and purchasing services and monitoring and accountability on service delivery and performance, and for learning, useful practice and challenges faced.
more
Findings on maternal and child health in Nepal, Mozambique and
Rwanda, and neglected tropical diseases in Cambodia and Sierra Leone | This report synthesises findings from five country case studies... from the health dimension of this project, which focus on maternal and child health (MCH) (Mozambique,Nepal, Rwanda) and neglected tropical diseases (NTDs)(Cambodia, Sierra Leone). MCH was selected given its centrality in two of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and its ability to act as a proxy for strengthened health systems. NTDs, while until recently relatively neglected in global policy debates, are now attracting more interest, not least because they are viewed as diseases of the poor whose treatment could positively impact on most of the other MDGs.
more
This Guide helps all the health care providers in the non- public sector to explore alternative means of access to contraceptives and skills to determine quantities required and management of stock.... Health care providers include community health workers, nurses and midwives, clinical officers and medical doctors.
more
According to the Report, cascading and interlinked crises are putting the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in grave danger, along with humanity’s very own survival. The Report highlights th...e severity and magnitude of the challenges before us. The confluence of crises, dominated by COVID-19, climate change, and conflicts, are creating spin-off impacts on food and nutrition, health, education, the environment, and peace and security, and affecting all the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Report details the reversal of years of progress in eradicating poverty and hunger, improving health and education, providing basic services, and much more. It also points out areas that need urgent action in order to rescue the SDGs and deliver meaningful progress for people and the planet by 2030.
more
This document was prepared by UNICEF Regional Office for West and Central Africa, under the leadership of Christophe Valingot and the review of Joachim Peeters (WASH Specialist) and Arnaud Laillou (Nutrition Specialist), on behalf of the WASH Regional Group and the Nutrition Regional Group.
This ...WASH - Nutrition strategic guidance note for West and Central Africa builds on the precedent WASH-in-NUT strategy elaborated in 2012 and is the regional outcome of a multiyear collaborative work conducted at country level between 2018 and 2022, in Mali, Niger, Nigeria Chad, Burkina Faso. This work is based on a strong multi-partner collaboration, involving national technical directorates of the water and sanitation sector as well as technical directorates of Health and Nutrition, civil society organizations, national and international NGOs as well as United Nations agencies.
This document can serve as a technical and strategic guide for any partner wishing to strengthen the intersectorality of WASH-Nutrition programmes. It presents the regional WASH & Nutrition context, a brief review of the latest scientific evidence, and proposes an integrated WASH-Nutrition programming framework adapted to the regional context of West and Central Africa. Beyond the implementation of programmes, this document also calls for the explicit and concrete inclusion of WASH-Nutrition integration into national policy documents.
more
From policy to practice: how the TB-HIV response is working
“The HIV community must place much more focus on TB co-infection than
it has done to date. TB takes the lives of over 1000 people living with HIV
every day, a number which is absolutely unacceptable. This ...ghlight medbox">report highlights that
TB doesn’t have to be a death sentence for people living with HIV, but we need
more action. By joining forces, the HIV and TB community can finally give this
deadly issue the attention it deserves.”
– Mike Podmore, Director STOPAIDS
more
Indiscriminate attacks on health care have contributed to an epic humanitarian catastrophe in Yemen. A new report tracks these attacks in the hope of holding perpetrators on all sides accountable.
...
It details how both Houthi forces—with their use of wide-area impact weapons—and the Saudi-Emirati coalition—with their aerial attacks—have flagrantly disregarded the special status of health facilities and personnel in conflict zones.
more
he global architecture for providing development assistance for health (DAH)
has become increasing complex in the last decade, with many new funding agencies entering the health ...ute-to-highlight medbox">sector.
This study presents a detailed picture of European Union (EU) and EU member state originating DAH
between 2006 and 2009; with a sp
more
In an environment of stagnant donor funding and increasing private sector investment in low- and middle-income countries, actors in both the public and private sectors are increasingly interested in using blended finance approaches to catalyze new f...unding for global health and achieve health outcomes. As USAID moves towards greater engagement with the private sector, blended finance will be an important component to help achieve development objectives.
Accessed 19th May 2019.
more
The framework responds to the demand from Member States and partners for guidance on how the health sector and its operational basis in health syst...ems can systematically and effectively address the challenges increasingly presented by climate variability and change. This framework has been designed in light of the increasing evidence of climate change and its associated health risks (1); global, regional and national policy mandates to protect population health (2); and a rapidly emerging body of practical experience in building health resilience to climate change (3).
more
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to large increases in healthcare waste, straining under resourced healthcare facilities and exacerbating environmental impacts from solid waste. This report quantifies the additional COVID-19 healthcare waste generated,... describes current healthcare waste management systems and their deficiencies, and summarizes emerging best practices and solutions to reduce the impact of waste on human and environmental health. The recommendations included in the report build on actions in the WHO manifesto for a healthy recovery from COVID-19: prescriptions and actionables for a healthy and green recovery. They target the global, national and facility levels to promote a “win–win” scenario for COVID-19 PPE use, testing and vaccinations that are safe and support environmental sustainability.
more