The availability of controlled medicines is crucial for patients requiring palliative care, pain relief and symptom management. Many individuals worldwide, especially in low- and middle-income countries, continue
...
to experience limited access to these essential medicines. Enhancing access to controlled medicines is paramount in promoting universal health coverage. This report offers a detailed situational analysis of policies and programmes aimed at improving access to affordable, high-quality controlled medicines for pain management in the WHO South-East Asia Region. The report identifies the existing barriers, challenges and possible solutions to facilitate access to such medicines across all Member States.
more
Yaya et al. BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth (2018) 18:194
Ensuring equitable access to maternal health
...
care including antenatal, delivery, postnatal services
and fertility control methods, is one of the most critical challenges for public health sector. There are significant
disparities in maternal health care indicators across many geographical locations, maternal, economic, sociodemographic
factors in many countries in sub-Sahara Africa. In this study, we comparatively explored the utilization
level of maternal health care, and examined disparities in the determinants of major maternal health outcomes
more
The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic exacerbated pre-existing inequalities in the treatment and care of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). This report examines the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on a
...
ccess to NCD medicines, and the policies and strategies implemented by countries and health systems to anticipate and mitigate stresses across NCD medicine supply chains. The full range of upstream and downstream impacts are investigated, including: manufacturing; procurement, importation and last mile delivery; patient-level effects through affordability and availability; and the effects on NCD medicine availability by category of disease. The report culminates in recommended actions and interventions for key stakeholders in the NCD pharmaceutical supply chain, including governments, regulatory authorities, manufacturers and the private sector; as well as directions for future research for improving access and supply chain access resilience.
more
Community health workers (CHWs) enable marginalised communities, often experiencing structural poverty, to access healthcare. Trust, important in a
...
ll patient–provider relationships, is difficult to build in such
communities, particularly when stigma associated with HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and now COVID-19, is widespread.
CHWs, responsible for bringing people back into care, must repair trust. In South Africa, where a national CHW programme is being rolled out, marginalised communities have high levels of unemployment, domestic violence and injury. In this complex social environment, we explored CHW workplace trust, interpersonal trust between the patient and CHW, and the institutional trust patients place in the health system
more
Countries must invest at least 1% more of GDP on primary health care to eliminate glaring coverage gaps
At current rates of progress up
...
to 5 billion people will miss out on health care in 2030
Countries must increase spending on primary healthcare by at least 1% of their gross domestic product (GDP) if the world is to close glaring coverage gaps and meet health targets agreed in 2015, says this new report. They must also intensify efforts to expand services countrywide.
The world will need to double health coverage between now and 2030, according to the Universal Health Coverage Monitoring Report. It warns that if current trends continue, up to 5 billion people will still be unable to access health care in 2030 – the deadline world leaders have set for achieving universal health coverage. Most of those people are poor and already disadvantaged.
more
Value in Health Regional Issues 4 C (2014) 37-40
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a threat to global health and development and it contributes to millions of deaths worldwide each year. Inappropr
...
iate use and overuse of antibiotics are driving an increase in AMR and have a detrimental impact on the effectiveness of these critical medicines. Through the Global Action Plan on AMR, WHO is working to improve the surveillance of antimicrobial resistance and reduce inappropriate antibiotic consumption.
There is a recognized need for high-quality resources to improve antibiotic prescribing globally. To address this need, a pragmatic approach was taken by WHO to develop actionable guidance for empiric antibiotic use.
The WHO AWaRe (Access, Watch, Reserve) antibiotic book provides concise, evidence-based guidance on the choice of antibiotic, dose, route of administration, and duration of treatment for more than 30 of the most common clinical infections in children and adults in both primary health care and hospital settings. The information included in the book supports the recommendations for antibiotics listed on the WHO Model Lists of Essential Medicines and Essential Medicines Children and the WHO AWaRe classification of antibiotics.
The WHO AWaRe antibiotic book is accompanied by summary infographics for each infection for both adults and children that provide a quick-reference guide for health care workers at the point of care.
more
BMC Public Health (2018) 18:668 https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-018-5594-3
Over 6 million people worldwide are infected with Trypanosoma cruzi, the protozoan that causes Chagas disease
(CD). T. cruzi is transmitted by triatomine insects, congenitally, through uncontrolled blood donations and organ transplants,
and via consumption of food or drink contaminated by triatomi
...
nes.
more
Internally displaced persons (IDPs), refugees, migrants and returnees constitute a sizeable population in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region. There were 12 million refugees (half are Palestinians) and 13 million IDPs in the Region as of 2018. These populations are often vul
...
nerable to poor health due to the conditions they live in and limited access to needed quality health care. In addition, those who can access care, are often faced with financial hardship. There are also 46 million professionals and low-income labour migrants in the Region (of which 22 million are from the Region), with differential access to health services and varied health coverage schemes
more
Kangaroo mother care (KMC) is a critical strategy to care for preterm and low birth weight infants in resource-limited settings. Despite evidence o
...
f its effectiveness and low cost, coverage has remained low, largely due to sociocultural barriers. We aimed to better understand social norms and community perceptions of preterm infants and KMC (facility-initiated and community-continued) in Malawi, a country with a high preterm birth rate, to inform a pilot social and behavior change program.
more
Despite the considerable improvement in global health, millions of people still lack access to quality
...
health services, including access to effective antimicrobial medicines, or are impoverished as a result of health spending. At the same time, antimicrobial resistance – a consequence of overuse and misuse of antimicrobials – is increasingly a barrier to accessing effective care. The declining effectiveness of antibiotics is driven by multiple factors, many of which can be addressed through well functioning primary health care. However, primary health care has not always had much attention in national health sector responses to
antimicrobial resistance, which often focus on tertiary care, laboratory detection and surveillance. The three pillars of primary health care (community engagement, front-line health services including primary care and essential public health, and multisectoral action on wider health determinants) are central not just to Universal Health Coverage and the Sustainable Development Goals, but also to an effective response to antimicrobial resistance.
more
Policy Note #1: Myanmar Health Systems in Transition Policy Notes Series
The Government of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar is committed to achieving universal
...
health coverage (UHC) by 2030. In practice, this means that over the next 15 years the aim is to progressively ensure that all people in all parts of the country have access to the health-care services they need – both preventive and curative – without suffering financial hardship when paying for them.
This policy note is the first in a set of four. It provides an overview of the challenges to be overcome in making progress toward UHC and sets out recommendations for how they can be tackled. The other notes look in more detail at three specific issues: how UHC can improve equity, and how strengthening the township health system and expanding financial risk protection contribute to UHC.
more
BioMed Central DOI 10.1186/s12963-016-0096-y
Women and girls have specific needs that are often ignored during crisis. While on the run or while living in shelters, women and girls continue to become pregnant, but they often lack access
...
to basic sexual and reproduc-tive health care. Without assistance by midwifes or access to contraceptives, women and girls are at increased risk of unsafe sex, unwanted pregnancy and unsafe delivery, and are at a higher risk of infection by HIV and other sexually transmitted infections. In addition, displaced women have virtually no access to protection, security, justice, and other services related to gender-based violence (GBV). For these reasons, the delivery of sexual and reproduc-tive health and rights (SRHR) as well as GBV services to conflict-affected communities – most of whom are living in protracted displacement – is a key part of UNFPA’s Women and Girls First Programme (WGF). The initia-tive is a commitment to prevent and respond to violence perpetrated against women and girls in Myanmar, and to realize their sexual and reproductive health and rights.
more
Observatory report by Médecins du Monde/Doctors of the World Germany:“Deprived of the right to health. Sick and without medical care in Germany
...
gives a rare insight into the situation of those who have no or only limited access to the German health system.
more
In the area of nutrition and HIV, children deserve special attention because of their additional needs to ensure growth and development and their dependency on adults for adequate care. It was ther
...
efore proposed to first develop guidelines for children and thereafter consider a similar approach for other specific groups.
The content of these guidelines acknowledges that wasting and undernutrition in HIV-infected children reflect a series of failures within the health system, the home and community and not just a biological process related to virus and host interactions. In trying to protect the nutritional well-being or reverse the undernutrition experienced by infected children, issues of food insecurity, food quantity and quality as well as absorption and digestion of nutrients are considered. Interventions are proposed that are practical and feasible in resource-poor settings and offer a prospect for clinical improvement.
The guidelines do not cover the feeding of infants 0 to 6 months old, because the specialised care in this age group is already addressed in other WHO guidelines and documents.
more
Policy note: Cambodia Health Systems in Transition.
The health system includes a mix of public and private providers. The use of private providers is much greater among the wealthy, while the u
...
se of informal-sector health providers is greater among the poor. Due to these circumstances there is considerable scope to establish appropriate public-private cooperation and to reinforce the regulatory mandate of the Ministry of Health (MOH).
more