IPCHS. Integrated People-Centred Health Services

Publications

This growing repository holds WHO documents, scientific publications, policy documents, implementation reports, presentations and others with information and insights about integrated people-centred health services. Share your publication by clicking “Add publication”.

Nov. 3, 2023 Western Pacific

'Walking-the-talk': How to co-design an innovative and sustainable integrated care learning programme

Integrated care facilitates better outcomes for patients and their family, health workforce and health and social care systems. Accordingly, integrated care is a global and inherent area of work for health professionals. Despite this, formal learning programmes for workforce development in integrated care are still rare. In this paper, I have shared lessons about developing an innovative and sustainable integrated care learning programme for teachers, practitioners and learners in integrated care discipline. These lessons are drawn from my experience of leading an integrated care specialisation programme (that sits at Australian Qualification Framework Level 9) at a public university in Australia ...

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Oct. 27, 2023 Western Pacific

Integrated care for older people with cancer: a primary care focus

Estimates from a 2023 study indicate that cancer will continue to grow as a leading cause of health and economic burden alongside global population ageing.

Consequently, health-care providers, including primary care teams, will increasingly face substantial challenges in caring for older people with cancer who have evolving, complex, and specific needs. More than 60% of new cancer diagnoses occur in adults aged 65 years and older in high-income countries, underpinning the importance of empowering primary health-care providers (including general practitioners, community nurses, allied health professionals, and pharmacists) to provide high-quality care to this at-risk population.

Nevertheless, geriatric oncology remains peripheral ...

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Sept. 14, 2023 Africa South-East Asia Eastern Mediterranean Western Pacific

Primary health care case studies in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic

Overview

 Since 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has showcased the importance of primary health care (PHC) and revealed health system strengths as well as weaknesses.

As a defining global and national policy priority, COVID-19 has had enormous impacts on country health systems, often unveiling inequities as well as governance, stewardship and leadership challenges. COVID-19 demonstrates that trust between communities and service providers, and effective collaboration across sectors, are essential elements of successful public health responses and primary care continuity. 

In 2015, the Alliance commissioned Primary Health Care Systems (PRIMASYS) case studies in twenty low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Building on these ...

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July 20, 2023 Western Pacific

Regional framework on the future of primary health care in the Western Pacific

Regional Framework on the Future of Primary Health Care (PHC) was adopted by Member States at the seventy-third session of the Regional Committee for the Western Pacific in 2022. The framework outlines five key attributes of PHC including people and community-centered, continuous, high-quality and equitable, integrated, and innovative. It highlights five strategic areas of actions needed which pivot around models of service delivery, individual and community empowerment, workforce and provider base, financing, enabling and supportive environment to enable this transformation. It calls on critical health system transformation for the future to achieve Universal Health Coverage and Sustainable Development Goals.

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July 6, 2023 Western Pacific

Models, theoretical design and formal evaluation of integrated specialist community health service provision for the first 2000 days: a scoping review

This scoping review identifies evidence for design, models and evaluation of integrated care service provision for families and children in the first 2000 days, in the context of community-based specialised health, education and welfare services.

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July 3, 2023 Western Pacific

Successes and challenges of primary health care in Australia: A scoping review and comparative analysis

Australia has achieved universal health insurance for its population since 1975 - a major step forward for increasing access to primary care (PC). Nevertheless, there are reports of several multi-layered challenges, including inequity, that persist. This analysis aims to undertake a scoping review of the success, explanatory factors, and challenges of Primary Health Care (PHC) in Australia guided by the World Health Organization (WHO)-defined key characteristics of good PC.

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April 26, 2023 Western Pacific

Patient-Centered Integrated Model of Home Health Care Services in South Korea (PICS-K)

As South Korea is fast becoming an aging society, the need for integrated care of the elderly has increased. ‘Community Integrated Care Initiatives’ have been implemented by the Ministry of Health and Welfare. However, home healthcare is insufficient to meet this need.

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April 25, 2023 Western Pacific

Diagnostic performance analysis of the ICOPE screening tool for identifying decline in intrinsic capacity

Intrinsic capacity (IC) is a comprehensive indicator of an individual's positive attributes. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends a two-step approach to assess IC decline among older people. The first step involved using the Integrated Care for Older People (ICOPE) screening tool to identify potential issues, and the second step involved using detailed assessments for confirmation. This study aimed to assess the diagnostic performance of ICOPE screening tool as a simple preliminary screening to identify IC decline among community-dwelling older adults, which was rarely reported in China.

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April 21, 2023 Western Pacific

Patient-centered care and geriatric knowledge translation among healthcare providers in Vietnam: translation and validation of the patient-centered care measure

People are living longer, and the majority of aging people reside in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). However, inappropriate healthcare contributes to health disparities between populations of aging people and leads to care dependency and social isolation. Tools to assess and evaluate the effectiveness of quality improvement interventions for geriatric care in LMICs are limited. The aim of this study was to provide a validated and culturally relevant instrument to assess patient-centered care in Vietnam, where the population of aging people is growing rapidly.

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March 30, 2023 Western Pacific

Integrating Health and Care for Older People in China: What Has Been Accomplished? What is Next?

In China, in addition to its rapid ageing process and large older population, the incidence of chronic disease and disability in the elderly is astonishingly high. Among the 267 million people aged 60 and over in 2021, there were about 190 million people with at least one chronic disease and 40 million living with disability [1]. This has created a huge challenge for the world’s most populous country which is also a middle-income economy in caring for its senior citizens. In response to the complex needs of the elderly and drawing from international experience, China has adopted an active ...

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