Health
Interview: Evidence review on health systems strengthening Due to the lack of clear definitions and the potentially huge volume of evidence, comprehensive reviews of health systems strengthening (HSS) interventions are relatively uncommon. In this interview lead author Sophie Witter (Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh) discusses one such rapid evidence review, recently commissioned by the UK Department for… Read more
This blog offers advice for practitioners wanting to apply gender transformative approaches to WASH programming. This blog was written by Elaine Mercer for the CLTS Knowledge Hub and originally appeared on their website. It has been partly adapted from the workshop ‘Gender Transformative WASH’ (April 2019) that the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) co-facilitated with Dr Sue… Read more
HEART partners hera‘s Alice Behrendt and Marieke Devillé, under supervision of Dia Timmermans, are currently working on a UNFPA funded systematic review investigating factors determining women’s ability to make their own decisions regarding sexual relations, contraceptive use and reproductive health care in lower and middle income settings. The team is working with the UNFPA human… Read more
Monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) is used to guide the implementation of a programme, understand the performance of the programme, and assess the best approach to future developments. To ensure the success of healthcare system reforms, and projects being implemented around them, an innovative MEL design is needed. Often, traditional models measuring the outputs of… Read more
This blog, written by Alex Jones, originally appeared on the Oxford Policy Management website and is reposted with their permission. The answer to the question ‘would you rather give birth in 1900 or 2018’ might depend on where in the world you are. In 1900 in Sweden, before the construction of modern hospitals or the… Read more
In recent years, the global health security agenda has gained prominence, as it pursues a multilateral and multi-sectoral approach to respond to health emergencies. It aims to strengthen capacity at a global and national level to prevent, detect, and respond to the spread of infectious diseases. Despite great progress in improving access to healthcare for all,… Read more
Effective health planning is critical in ensuring affordable, accessible, and high quality health services for all. Many low- and middle-income countries rely on donor funding to establish or maintain the basic healthcare services, and often struggle to ensure sustainability of these when sources of funding in the sector change. Multilateral organisations and government partners have… Read more
According to the World Bank, fragility, conflict, and violence is a critical development challenge that threatens efforts to end extreme poverty, affecting both low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Many of the world’s crises are caused by or exacerbated by fragility, from violent conflict to internal and external displacements and climate shocks. Compared to other LMICs, fragile… Read more
The ability of countries to provide available, affordable, and high quality healthcare services to their populations has become a global priority. However, at least half of the population around the world still don’t have access to essential healthcare, and around 100 million people are pushed into extreme poverty because they have to pay for healthcare. Universal… Read more
Capacity building is an important element in health for successfully tackling social health inequalities by improving the capacity of health actors and institutions at national, regional, and local levels. Capacity building looks at “development of sustainable skills, organisational structures, resources, and commitment to health improvement in health and other sectors, to prolong and multiply health gains”…. Read more
Girls and women need effective, safe, and affordable menstrual products. Single-use products are regularly selected by agencies for resource-poor settings; the menstrual cup is a less known alternative. The authors reviewed international studies on menstrual cup leakage, acceptability, and safety and explored menstrual cup availability to inform programmes. The review indicates that menstrual cups are… Read more