Course: Transforming Primary Health Care through Health Systems Strengthening

Health insurance schemes, whether private, community-based or national/social schemes, are widespread across low- and middle-income countries. But what evidence do we have that they are effective in these countries? Beyond …

Prepayment and pooling are essential to achieving universal coverage and social health protection. Private and community-based insurance schemes usually have low population coverage and small risk pools, and are often …

Usually the first question for countries striving for universal health coverage (UHC) is “How should we raise revenue?” Jowett and Kutzin (2015) make a clear statement that the priority for …

Reflect on the different methods of raising revenue for health care. Can you identify a low- or middle-income country that has used mainly tax funding for its public health system? …

In your opinion, what is the most important impact of failing to address the ‘cost coverage’ dimension of Universal Health Coverage? Low utilisation of health services (due to inability to …

Are there any guiding principles we can draw out of the many complexities and challenges of selecting and then implementing health systems strengthening interventions? We can share with you our …

What do we mean by ‘social accountability’ and why does it matter? While you may not use the term ‘accountability’ very often, you are probably involved in the activity of …

What are strategies that we can use to strengthen health systems, and how can we select the right one for any particular context? Selecting the right health system strengthening (HSS) …

One of the challenges for community health systems is the linkage with the formal public health system. The WHO community health worker guidelines note that ‘successful CHW programs are integrated …

This video demonstrates the importance of country context in community health programs, and how programs adapt to contextual differences. Select one of the programs discussed in the video: Health extension …

Let us examine the experience of one country that has made extensive use of community health workers. Bangladesh was one of the first countries to train and deploy community health …

At the heart of the community health system is the community health worker. Who do you think of as community health workers? The village midwife who delivers babies in the …

What is community health and why does it matter? In 2014-15, the Ebola virus swept through Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, with an estimated 28,000 cases and 11,300 deaths. Why …

If you have experienced a health system caught in the ‘decentralisation pendulum’, or seen the effects of disagreements between national and subnational health system levels over decision space and accountability, …

In the previous steps we identified some of the challenges that District Health Systems (DHS) face in providing flexibility and responsiveness to the health needs and demands of their populations. …