Policy
July 2012
Working Paper No. 3
This NCEPOD report highlights the quality of mental health and physical health care for patients aged 18 years or older with a significant ...ass="attribute-to-highlight medbox">mental disorder who are admitted to a general hospital. The report takes a critical look at areas where the care of patients might have been improved. Remediable factors have also been identified in the clinical and the organisational care of these patients.
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mhGAP Training Manual for the mhGAP Intervention Guide for mental, neurological and substance use disorders in non-specialized health settings – version 2.0 (for field testing)
Lancet Planet Health 2019; 3: e93–101
Scaling Up Mental Health Care In Rural India
Overview
Learning objectives
• Understand the mental health treatment gap in low-, middle- and high-income countries.
• Understand the principles and aims of the ...hlight medbox">Mental Health Gap Action Programme.
• Acquire an introduction to mhGAP Intervention Guide (mhGAP-IG).
• Learn about mhGAP ToHP training methodology and what to expect from mhGAP ToHP
training.
• Prepare group training ground rules.
• Know the common presentations of mental, neurological and substance abuse (MNS)
conditions.
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BMC Health Services Research (2019) 19:458 https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-019-4315-7
The purpose of this strategy is to guide the planning, management and development of human resources for health in Rwanda for the period 2011 - 2016. The overall aim of the plan is to increase the number of appropriately skilled, motivated and equit...ably distributed health service providers for Rwanda.
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The mhGAP Humanitarian Intervention Guide (mhGAP-HIG) Training of Health-Care Providers manual is designed to guide facilitators in training non-specialist health care providers to manage ...s="attribute-to-highlight medbox">mental, neurological and substance use conditions in humanitarian emergency settings.
The manual covers suggested training schedules, learning objectives, and tips for planning and facilitating the training. It also includes step-by-step training modules for different conditions covered in the mhGAP Humanitarian Intervention Guide (mhGAP-HIG).
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This Course for Service Providers on how to give Vitamin A Supplementation and Deworming (VAS+D) uses both a Learner’sGuide and a Facilitator’s Guide. The Learner’s Guide is designed for participants in the course who are healthcare workers or... trainers learning to deliver vitamin A and Albendazole(for deworming) as part of regular activities associated with community or facility-based health care services, while the Facilitator’s Guide is designed for course facilitators who are planning and conducting courses .
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This research paper uses the Health Resources and services Availability Mapping System (HeRAMS) database to develop two composite indices – one for ...x">health centres and one for hospitals – in order to analyse and assess the health facilities’ performance across time and to evaluate the disparities among regions in the Syrian Arab Republic. The indices will provide an evidence-based tool for the main actors in the health sector to identify gaps, to intervene accordingly and to assess the impact of their interventions on the health system. The process of constructing the indices includes description and selection of variables, application of normalization techniques and weighting methods, and sensitivity analysis.
A literature review, analysis of the scope of the HeRAMS database, analysis of the crisis situation, data limitation and expert consultations were the main aspects of the construction process of the indices.
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The health of the people and health services are in crisis, and together as partners this plan commits us to strategies aimed at achieving our goal... of:
Strengthened primary health care for all, and improved service delivery for the rural majority and the urban disadvantaged.
Original file: 67 MB
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Overwhelming evidence shows that a range of health concerns—mental illness, substance dependence, HIV/AIDS, and noncommunicable diseases—affect prisoners disproportionately. But, while incarcera...tion poses risks to health—including inadequate nutrition and exposure to violence—prisons also present important opportunities to promote health and risk reduction that need to be tapped.
Some recommended remedies:
Health ministries, not ministries of justice, should manage health care responsibilities
Ensure that testing is available, but not mandatory, for infectious diseases
Make prison health part of the broader public health agenda
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Modelling the health impacts of disruptions to essential health services during COVID-19 Module 1
Several epidemiological models have been created... to assess the potential impact of disruptions to essential health services caused by COVID-19 on morbidity and mortality from conditions other than COVID-19 illness. This guide presents models that have been used to assess these indirect impacts. The effects have been studied in various settings, using a variety of models.
The guide is intended for people who need to understand what the models say, their construction and their underlying assumptions, or need to use models and their outcomes for planning and programme development and to support policy decisions for a country or region.
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The report identifies major global gaps in WASH services: one third of health care facilities do not have what is needed to clean hands where care is provided; one in four facilities have no water <...span class="attribute-to-highlight medbox">services, and 10% have no sanitation services. This means that 1.8 billion people use facilities that lack basic water services and 800 million use facilities with no toilets. Across the world’s 47 least-developed countries, the problem is even greater: half of health care facilities lack basic water services. Furthermore, the extent of the problem remains hidden because major gaps in data persist, especially on environmental cleaning.
This report also describes the global and national responses to the 2019 World Health Assembly resolution on WASH in health care facilities. More than 70% of countries have conducted related situation analyses, 86% have updated and are implementing standards and 60% are working to incrementally improve infrastructure and operation and maintenance of WASH services. Case studies from 30 countries demonstrate that progress is being propelled by strong national leadership and coordination, use of data to direct resources and action, and the mutual benefits of empowering health workers and communities to develop solutions together.
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Including a Tool to Assess the Adolescent Health and Development Component in Pre-Service Education of Health-Care Providers
Rehabilitation in health systems provides recommendations for Member States and other relevant stakeholders to strengthen and expand the availability of quality rehabilitation services. Currently, t...here is a significant unmet need for rehabilitation services and it is frequently undervalued in the health system. As populations age and the prevalence of noncommunicable diseases and injuries increases, and the demand for rehabilitation grows, strengthening rehabilitation in health systems becomes ever more paramount.
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The report focuses on several key areas where health outcomes are falling short, and provides insight into ways in which countries can improve the situation for their children and adolescents. Areas in focus include ...ht medbox">mental health, overweight/obesity and adolescent risk-taking behaviour.
The report shows, for example, that:
- mental health remains a neglected subject – only one quarter of countries are collecting data on the number of children treated by a mental health professional;
- half of countries do not regulate the marketing of food to children, despite the fact that childhood obesity rates are high across the Region and physical activity rates are low;
- almost half of countries have no policy that affects the availability of unhealthy foods at school;
- 2 in 5 girls and 1 in 3 boys who are having sex do not protect themselves; and
one third of countries do not offer legal access to contraception without parental consent for those under 18 years of age.
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The application of digital health technology is growing at a rapid rate in Africa, with the goals of improving the delivery of healthcare services and more effectively reaching out to remote and und...erserved communities. The lack of enabling guidelines and standards across the continent, on the other hand, makes it difficult to share data in a meaningful way across the continent.
Considering this, Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) established a task force of 24 members to provide expertise and guidance in the development of AU HIE guidelines and standards. Members of the task force were subject matter experts working in Africa and internationally on the collection, analysis, and exchange of health information. Some of these experts had been involved in previous consultations on defining Africa CDC’s health information systems strategy. A chairperson, co-chairperson, and secretary were elected to engage the task force members in different technical working groups.
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Since the Alma Ata Declaration in 1978, community health volunteers (CHVs) have been at the forefront, providing health services, especially to und...erserved communities, in low-income countries. However, consolidation of CHVs position within formal health systems has proved to be complex and continues to challenge countries, as they devise strategies to strengthen primary healthcare. Malawi’s community health strategy, launched in 2017, is a novel attempt to harmonise the multiple health
service structures at the community level and strengthen service delivery through a team-based approach. The core community health team (CHT) consists of health surveillance assistants (HSAs), clinicians, environmental health officers and CHVs. This paper reviews Malawi’s strategy, with particular focus on the interface between HSAs, volunteers in community-based programmes and
the community health team. Our analysis identified key challenges that may impede the strategy’s implementation:
(1) inadequate training, imbalance of skill sets within CHTs and unclear job descriptions for CHVs; (2) proposed community-level interventions require expansion of pre-existing roles for most CHT members; and (3) district authorities may face challenges meeting financial obligations and filling community-level positions. For effective implementation, attention and further deliberation is needed on the appropriate forms of CHV support, CHT composition with possibilities of co-opting trained CHVs
from existing volunteer programmes into CHTs, review of CHT competencies and workload, strengthening coordination and communication across all community actors, and financing mechanisms. Policy support through the development of an addendum to the strategy, outlining opportunities for task-shifting between CHT members, CHVs’ expected duties and interactions with paid CHT personnel is recommended.
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