UN Decade of Healthy Ageing – The Platform

The United Nations has proclaimed 2021–2030 the Decade of Healthy Ageing, with WHO leading international action to improve the lives of older people, their families and communities. The UN Decade of Healthy Ageing is a global collaboration that brings together diverse sectors and stakeholders including governments, civil society, international organizations, professionals, academic institutions, the media and the private sector to improve the lives of older people, their families and communities. The collaboration focuses on four action areas that are strongly interconnected:

Area 1. Combatting Ageism: changing how we think, feel and act towards age and ageing;

Area 2. Age-friendly Environments: developing communities in ways that foster the abilities of older people;

Area 3. Integrated Care: delivering person centred integrated care and primary health services responsive to older people; and

Area 4. Log-term Care: providing older people who need it with access to long-term care. To make the Decade of ...

WHO COVID-19 Health Services Learning Hub

The COVID-19 pandemic is causing wide ranging disruption to the operation of health services around the world. A recent WHO global pulse survey revealed 90% of countries have reported disruption of services across the board – including outreach services, immunisations and emergency care amongst others.

The WHO COVID-19 Health Services Learning Hub (HLH) is a dynamic new knowledge platform that will use innovative approaches to collate, document and synthesise emerging areas of learning on the maintenance of essential health services to support countries during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond, including the recovery and post- pandemic phase

The HLH supports implementation of WHO’s operational guidance on maintaining essential health services.

key Features

• ACTION BRIEFS: Innovative examples of efforts to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on essential health services.
• LEARNING BRIEFS: A synthesis of emerging themes to inform the global response.
• LEARNING LABS: Dynamic communitites of practice that will focus on solving ...

Emerging Researchers and Professionals in Integrated Care (ERPIC) to launch a Journal Club

In 2021, Emerging Researchers and Professionals in Integrated Care (ERPIC) is preparing to launch a new networking activity: ERPIC Journal Club! Beginning in February, every 2 months the ERPIC Journal Club will host discussion sessions with the author(s) of foundational academic articles on integrated care. Details will follow.

In March 2021, the second round of the ERPIC Mentorship Program will commence. A call will be advertised for Mentors and Mentees in January.

Book reviews are still open! In collaboration with the International Journal of Integrated Care (IJIC), a list of books on integrated care to be reviewed is available. ERPIC members are invited to choose a book to review (a free copy will be sent to you) and your review will be published in IJIC.

Join ERPIC today!   Link (https://integratedcarefoundation.org/emerging-researchers-professionals-in-integrated-care)

COVID-19 technology access pool

Commitments to share knowledge, intellectual property and data

The single most important priority of the global community is to stop the COVID-19 pandemic, halt its rapid transmission and reverse the trend of consequential global distress. This goal is only achievable when everyone, everywhere can access the health technologies they need for COVID-19 detection, prevention, treatment and response.

The COVID-19 Technology Access Pool (C-TAP) will compile, in one place, pledges of commitment made under the Solidarity Call to Action to voluntarily share COVID-19 health technology related knowledge, intellectual property and data. Shared knowledge, intellectual property and data will leverage our collective efforts to advance scientific discovery, technology development and broad sharing of the benefits of scientific advancement and its applications based on the right to health.

Holders of COVID-19 health technology related knowledge, intellectual property and/or data are invited to "TAKE ACTION NOW"

Access to COVID-19 Tools (Act) Accelerator- A ...

WHO and Costa Rica preview technology pooling initiative to ensure access to COVID-19 health products for all

Presidents Carlos Alvarado Quesada of Costa Rica and Sebastián Piñera of Chile joined WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to announce progress on a technology platform that aims to lift access barriers to effective vaccines, medicines and other health products against COVID-19.

The platform will pool data, knowledge and intellectual property for existing or new COVID-19 health products to deliver ‘global public goods’ for all people and all countries. Through the open sharing of science and data, numerous companies will be able to access the information they need to produce the technologies, thereby scaling up availability worldwide, lowering costs and increasing access. 

WHO and Costa Rica will officially launch the platform on 29 May. On that date, a Solidarity Call to Action will be published on WHO’s web site where governments, research and development funders, institutions and companies can express their support.

The solidarity of all of ...

How does integrated knowledge translation (IKT) compare to other collaborative research approaches to generating and translating knowledge? Learning from experts in the field

Research funders in Canada and abroad have made substantial investments in supporting collaborative research approaches to generating and translating knowledge as it is believed to increase knowledge use. Canadian health research funders have advocated for the use of integrated knowledge translation (IKT) in health research, however, there is limited research around how IKT compares to other collaborative research approaches. The aim of this study was to better understand how IKT compares with engaged scholarship, Mode 2 research, co-production and participatory research by identifying the differences and similarities among them in order to provide conceptual clarity and reduce researcher and knowledge user confusion about these common approaches.

Communication and Coordination Processes Supporting Integrated Transitional Care: Australian Healthcare Practitioners’ Perspectives

Although a large body of research has identified effective models of transitional care, questions remain about the optimal translation of this knowledge into practice. In Australia, the introduction of a model of consumer-directed care uniquely challenges the practice of integrated care transitions for older adults. This study aimed to identify strengths and weaknesses in transitional care for older adults in an Australian setting by describing healthcare practitioners’ experiences of care provision.

Making Integrated Care Happen

IFIC Ireland will host and facilitate a series of 6 webinars throughout 2020 titled ‘Making Integrated Care Happen’ which forms one of the key delivery mechanisms enabling knowledge mobilisation across all stakeholders with an interest in developing and implementing integrated care within the healthcare systems on the island of Ireland.

It is important that those taking integrated care forward are enabled to share their experience, success and failures with others. Spread and sustainability can be accelerated if innovators and leaders are supported to work together in learning networks through which information and intelligence can be shared. This helps to avoid the same mistakes being made, can avoid unnecessary duplication of effort and can help build commitment and support by enabling leaders to work together in a community of practice.

From self-assessment to knowledge transfer and improvement in integrated care: How to engage voluntary sector in the provision of integrated care?

Integrated care is a recognised solution to address the challenge of ageing population. Hence, it is important to commit to opportunities that increase the readiness and capacity of regions to implement integrated care. Knowledge transfer has been greatly recognised as an effective enabler to access existing evidence and learning on integrated care. It encompasses a very broad range of activities to support mutually beneficial collaborations between the interested stakeholders. 

Health literacy as a social practice: Social and empirical dimensions of knowledge on health and healthcare

Health literacy has become a hot topic in health research and public health promotion. Most definitions specify health literacy as an individual cognitive skill, and surveys such as the EU-HLS which ask people to self-rate their decision-making capacity in the health system, grade a majority of the population as having an inadequate health literacy. Inspired by a praxeological understanding of knowledge and based on an empirical study on welfare bricolage in superdiverse urban neighborhoods, this paper explores health literacy ethnographically and highlights people's knowledge, creative practices and experiences concerning health and healthcare.

The effect of community health worker–led education on women’s health and treatment– seeking: A cluster randomised trial and nested process evaluation in Gujarat, India

A community-based health insurance scheme operated by the Self-Employed Women´s Association in Gujarat, India reported that the leading reasons for inpatient hospitalisation claims by its members were diarrhoea, fever and hysterectomy- the latter at the average age of 37. This claims pattern raised concern regarding potentially unnecessary hospitalisation amongst low-income women. 

Report on the Global Knowledge Commons for Innovations in mHealth and eHealth

The International Society for Telemedicine & eHealth publishes (in an electronic form) the Report of the Innovation Working Group (IWG) Task Force on the Global Knowledge Commons for m-eHealth Innovations.

The report addresses the key challenge facing digital health, which is that of converting our collective knowledge into a global public good, accessible to all, thus enabling each actor in the ecosystem to benefit from what others know. The document postulates that a Global Knowledge Commons (GKC) for innovation in health or simply "the Commons", would be composed of three main constituents:

• A database of projects, products and services;
• A "Who is who in eHealth" - individual experts and institutions; and
• Reusable m-eHealth knowledge objects, in various formats, such as articles, presentations, videos, etc.

The Commons would leverage existing repositories of the digital health space, and lead to five significant beneficial outcomes:

• Digital intelligence at-a-glance through dash-boards by geography, application area and ...

Global Learning Laboratory for Quality Universal Health Coverage

Welcome to the Community of Practice for the WHO Global Learning Laboratory (GLL) for Quality Universal Health Coverage (UHC). The GLL is deeply rooted in the five interwoven strategies of the Integrated People Centred Health Services Framework—engaging and empowering people and communities; strengthening governance and accountability; reorienting health services; strengthening coordination of care and creating an enabling environment. The GLL recognizes the key role of people-centred health services in order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and UHC.

The GLL highlights the need to focus care on the needs and preferences of people. To this end, the GLL aims to create a safe space to share lessons, experiences and ideas; challenge those ideas and spark innovation on quality within the content of UHC. The GLL is organized around three areas. First, national quality policy and strategy (NQPS) in order to drive quality across all levels of the health ...

Primary Care guideline for adults Western Cape, South Africa

The Knowledge Translation Unit (“KTU”) is a clinical research unit within the University of Cape Town Lung Institute (“UCTLI”) which has spent 15 years developing the Practical Approach to Care Kit (“PACK programme”) to support and empower nurses, doctors and other health workers working in primary healthcare.

PACK Adult is a comprehensive clinical practice guideline that aims at equipping nurses and other clinicians to diagnose and manage common adult conditions at primary level. The starting point is any of 40 common symptoms, each of which provides the opportunity to identify one or more of 20 important chronic conditions in the second half of the guideline. These include infectious diseases, chronic respiratory diseases, cardiovascular risk, hypertension and diabetes, mental health conditions, musculoskeletal disorders, epilepsy and women’s health. See sample pages and contents pages below.

BMJ has partnered with the KTU to make the PACK programme available to assist in improving ...

Primary Care guideline for adults Western Cape, South Africa

The Knowledge Translation Unit (“KTU”) is a clinical research unit within the University of Cape Town Lung Institute (“UCTLI”) which has spent 15 years developing the Practical Approach to Care Kit (“PACK programme”) to support and empower nurses, doctors and other health workers working in primary healthcare.

PACK Adult is a comprehensive clinical practice guideline that aims at equipping nurses and other clinicians to diagnose and manage common adult conditions at primary level. The starting point is any of 40 common symptoms, each of which provides the opportunity to identify one or more of 20 important chronic conditions in the second half of the guideline. These include infectious diseases, chronic respiratory diseases, cardiovascular risk, hypertension and diabetes, mental health conditions, musculoskeletal disorders, epilepsy and women’s health. See sample pages and contents pages below.

BMJ has partnered with the KTU to make the PACK programme available to assist in improving ...