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
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Health (MoH) has endeavored to decentralize Rwanda’s health system and bring health services 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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USAID funded/ Primary Health Care Project in Iraq (PHCPI) in cooperation with Iraqi Ministry of Health (MOH) aims to promote Primary Health Care (P
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HC) services provided by Primary Health Care Clinics (PHCCs) in Iraq in order to achieve the development goal in enhancing the PHC provision system through achieving the following results: First: Enhancing management and operations systems, which support clinical care. Second: Improving the quality of the delivered PHC according to quality standards. Third: Enhancing and expanding local community participation and partnership in PHC. Maintaining the medical & service devices in the hospitals and health clinics besides making them function according to the adapted standard specifications, lead to providing most efficient medical services for people and accomplish the purposes for which they were invented. Maintenance and repair of facilities and infrastructure, and keeping them safe and clean are also of the important approaches for the results referred to in (first) and (second) above. This can be achieved through enhancing and developing facilities, and medical & service devices management. This guideline seeks to develop work mechanism for engineers, technicians and the PHCCs’ facilities and medical & service equipment maintenance workers; clarify the concept of maintenance, its importance and classifications in health area, its planning and implementation, the tasks and duties of other directorates and departments of the Ministry in relation to all kinds of maintenance. Add to that preparing documents and forms, which are used in documenting and monitoring the steps required to be accomplished in the maintenance of PHCCs’ facilities and medical & service equipment, for the equipment to perform the best possible services for people and get their satisfaction.
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Fully functioning water, sanitation, hygiene (WASH) and health care waste management services are a critical aspect of infection prevention and control (IPC) practices, and ensuring patient safety and quality of care. Such services are also essentia
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l for creating an environment that supports the dignity and human rights of all care seekers, especially mothers, newborns, children and care providers.
WASH and waste services are also critical for preventing and effectively responding to disease outbreaks. The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed gaps in these basic services (Box 1). These gaps threaten the safety of patients and caregivers, and have environmental consequences, especially as a result of large increases in plastic health care waste. In short, WASH is a critical foundation for improving quality across the health system (1).
Many facilities lack plans and budgets for WASH, which has impacts on IPC. This lack of services, and of systems to improve them, compromises the ability to provide safe and quality care, and places health care providers and those seeking care at substantial risk of infection and loss of dignity. Unhygienic health care facilities without drinking water or functional toilets are also a disincentive to seeking care and undermine staff morale – these factors can have a critical impact on controlling infectious disease outbreaks.
Climate change and its impacts on WASH and health services, gender-specific needs, and equity in service provision and management all require rigorous attention, adaptable tools and regular monitoring.
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Interim guidance2 November 2020
This interim guidance, originally entitled “Harmonized health service capacity assessments in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic”, is an upd
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ate to the earlier version published on 31 May 2020 as “Harmonized modules for health facility assessment modules in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic”. In this update, module content has been further refined and developed
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The results of a WHO survey conducted to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on up to 25 essential health services in countries show disruptions of essential health services in nearly all cou
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ntries, and more so in lower-income than higher-income countries. The great majority of service disruptions were partial, which was defined as a change of 5–50% in service provision or use.
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The purpose of this document is to address specific needs and considerations for essential oral health services in the context of COVID-19 in accordance with WHO operational guidance on maintaining essential
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health services. This interim guidance is intended for public health authorities, chief dental officers at ministries of health and oral health care personnel working in private and public health sectors. The document may be subject to change as new information becomes available.
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South Africa has a long history of community health workers (CHWs). It has been a journey that has required balancing constrained resources and competing priorities. CHWs form a bridge between communities and healthcare
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service provision within health facilities and act as the cornerstone of South Africa’s Ward-Based Primary Healthcare Outreach Teams. This study aimed to document the CHW policy implementation landscape across six provinces in South Africa and explore the reasons for local adaptation of CHW models and to identify potential barriers and facilitators to implementation of the revised framework to help guide and inform future planning.
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It highlights the numerous challenges to quality service provision, along with the organisation’s response to mental health needs, and recommenda
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tions for international and regional decision-makers including:
- Advocating and working towards mental health policies that support adequate funding for mental health care and government suppor
- Legislation to protect the rights of people with mental disorders and vulnerable communities
- Advocating for multi-year funding to support the sustainability of MHPSS programs
- Creating capacity building opportunities consistent with the IASC guidelines and supported with continuous supervision
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The Ideal Clinic manual has been developed to assist managers at various levels of healthcare service provision to correctly interpret and understand the requirement for achieving the elements as de
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picted in the Ideal Clinic framework/dashboard. It can therefore be regarded as a reference document which guides the managers to determine the status of Ideal Clinic framework/dashboard elements in a facility.
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The Department of Health (DOH) has developed a National Integrated Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) Policy.1 This policy addresses the many cross-cutting issues relating to SRH
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service provision, drawing together the principles, rights, and guidance for planning and implementation that underpin the provision of quality, comprehensive, and integrated SRHR services in South Africa. The National Integrated SRHR Policy is supported by several clinical and service delivery guidelines covering related programmatic
areas, including the National Contraception Clinical Guidelines.
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The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent public health guidance to reduce the spread of the diseasehave wide-reaching implications for children’s health and wellbeing. Furthermore, paediatric emergenc
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y departments(EDs) have rapidly adapted provision of care in response to the pandemic. This qualitative study utilized insight frommultidisciplinary frontline staff to understand the changes in paediatric emergency healthcare utilization duringCOVID-19 the experiences of working within the restructured health system.
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This guidance document has been produced by WHO to assist blood services in the development of national plans to respond to any emerging infectious threats to the sufficiency or safety of the blood supply, whether from an existing infectious agent that is changing in incidence and spread, or from a
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newly identified infectious agent. It is intended that this document be followed to guide the national blood service through the process of planning how to respond in a timely, controlled and appropriate way to any specific infectious threat that may subsequently emerge. It is acknowledged that it is not only the blood supply that may be affected by such emerging infectious threats; in those countries undertaking transplantation, the supply of cell, tissues and organs may also be threatened. Increasingly, blood services are taking overall national responsibility for transplantation in their capacity as the organization responsible for the collection, processing, storage and supply of cells, tissues and organs. This approach is both sensible and appropriate, as the overall donor selection and screening processes are the same or very similar. This guidance document can therefore also be used to assist those bodies responsible for the provision of cells, tissues and organs to prepare for an emerging infectious threat.
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The aim of the Technical Brief is to offer guidance to education professionals on how to integrate Mental Health and Psychosocial Support into Education in Emergencies programming. An overview of Mental He
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alth and Psychosocial Support activities that can be implemented in Education in Emergencies contexts is detailed, in line with the MHPSS Minimum Service Package. Country examples and case studies are featured.
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Advance Copy
Accessed: 08.03.2020