WHO launches Global Service Delivery Network for universal health coverage

A global network aimed at supporting the implementation of the WHO Framework on integrated people-centred health services (IPCHS) has been established by the WHO Service Delivery and Safety Department. The WHO Global Service Delivery Network (GSDN) was launched on 20 June in Almaty, Kazakhstan, alongside the first Primary Health Care Advisory Group meeting to the WHO Regional Director/EURO and WHO inter-regional hospitals meeting.

The first meeting of the GSDN took place on 22 June and convened an initial group of network members representing professional associations, civil society groups and other non-governmental organizations including:

• International Council of Nurses (ICN)
• International ...

New WHO advisory group launched in Almaty to shape the future of primary health care

Experts convened in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on 20–21 June 2017 for the inaugural meeting of the Primary Health Care Advisory Group. The WHO Regional Director for Europe launched the Advisory Group to advance primary health care in the WHO European Region.

At its first meeting, the Advisory Group engaged in discussions on the readiness and responsiveness of primary health care to embrace future health and social needs.

The need for transformation and new relationships

In her opening remarks, WHO Regional Director for Europe Dr Zsuzsanna Jakab thanked the Government of Kazakhstan for its generosity and leadership, which has made possible ...

Blog: Building the learning agenda on quality - Spotlight on the Global Learning Laboratory for Quality UHC

This blog was authored by Nana A Mensah Abrampah with contributions from Melissa Kleine-Bingham and the WHO Global Learning Laboratory Team.

Improving the delivery of quality health services is messy! Vast amounts of knowledge and experience are generated daily. We need to help capture this knowledge and experience – both the explicit knowledge that can be easily identified, captured and transferred as well as the tacit knowledge that is often difficult to identify, capture and transfer. We cannot assume that knowledge generated at the local level will spread through the various structures at the sub-national and national level to inform national-level ...

Blog: Developing a national quality plan through a participatory approach - Lessons from Colombia

This blog was authored by Germán Escobar Morales, MD. MPH; Chief of the Office of Quality of Care, Ministry of Health and Social Protection, Republic of Colombia.

I work at the Ministry of Health and Social Protection in Colombia as Chief of the Office for Quality of Care. The office is in charge of designing the national quality policy and monitoring coverage of the entire health care system. Colombia’s health care system provides universal health coverage, with one of the largest financial protection systems (among developing countries) for its users, across the world. In Colombia, health system out-of-pocket ...

WHO video: What is people-centred care?

What is people-centred care and why does it matter? View this new WHO video to learn more.

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pj-AvTOdk2Q 

Globally, 1 in 20 people still lacks access to essential health services that could be delivered at a primary care clinic instead of a hospital. Where services are accessible, they can be fragmented and of poor quality. WHO is supporting countries to progress towards universal health coverage by designing health systems for people instead of diseases and health institutions, so that everyone gets the right care, at the right time, in the right place.

Launch of WHO Bulletin theme issue on "Measuring Quality of Care"

Global and national efforts to meet the health Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) expanded basic healthcare coverage to tackle infectious diseases and child mortality. These efforts achieved some success. However, a focus beyond healthcare coverage is now needed. If the global community is to reach SDG 3, which aims to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages, it must address a critical issue: the quality of health care.

In June 2017 the WHO Bulletin launched a theme issue on quality of care in the era of SDGs. The papers of the theme issue provide a glimpse into ...

Health closer to home: transforming care in the Solomon Islands

(Feature story originally posted by the World Health Organization: http://who.int/features/2017/health-solomon-islands/en/) 

Imagine spending your entire weekly food budget on an hours-long truck ride along a bumpy, dusty dirt road in tropical heat to reach the nearest hospital. Now imagine doing it pregnant. Six times.

That’s the journey Judith Olivia has made to deliver each of her children, from the remote village of Malatoha in the Solomon Islands to the National Referral Hospital in the capital, Honiara.

The closest health clinic to Malatoha is six hours’ walk away, in the town of Belaha, but Ms ...

IFMSA hosts Youth Caucus on NCDs and adopts the Budva Youth Declaration: A Call to Action on Noncommunicable Diseases

Blog originally posted by the International Federation of Medical Students Association on https://ifmsa.org/2017/03/16/ifmsa-hosts-youth-caucus-ncds-adopts-budva-youth-declaration-call-action-noncommunicable-diseases/ 

Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs) represent one of the greatest health threats of our century. NCDs are responsible for around 70% of the worlds deaths, of which more than 40% are premature. In IFMSA, we find it crucial to take urgent action to prevent and control NCDs, to ensure our health systems can appropriately manage and treat patients and it is imperative that medical students are trained in all aspects of this increasingly critical challenge of our generation.

Last week, IFMSA hosted an ...

Advancing Health through Attention to Gender, Equity and Human Rights

Attention to gender, equity and human rights can advance health. But the question is: how can this be done? How can health programmes consider the concerns and experiences of women, men, girls and boys from diverse groups as an integral dimension of the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programmes? Health programmes are increasingly recognizing that one-size-fits-all does not deliver benefits equitably to all population groups and that in some cases inequity may even be exacerbated. Programmes have also learned that attention to gender, equity and human rights is crucial for sustaining achievements in health and development.

In ...

The contribution of integrated people-centered health services to ensuring UHC, the right to health, and leaving no one behind in the SDG era

There is a need to ensure that the voices of the most vulnerable populations are included on the path to universal health coverage. This requires an integrated and people-centred approach in how health services are planned, delivered, monitored and evaluated. Strategies that focus on engaging and empowering underserved and marginalized subpopulations are essential to inform policy and decision-makers on how they can improve access to quality health services and financial protection for disadvantaged subpopulations and address broader societal goals such as equity, social justice, solidarity, and social cohesion. These were some of the key messages to come out of a ...