Research directly involving teenagers and their families in Sierra Leone to reduce teenage pregnancy has helped pave the way for a new community-friendly Child and Family Welfare Policy. Thanks to the project, condom use increased, teenage girls reported feeling more confident to say ‘no’ and boys showed more willingness to act responsibly. The findings directly influenced the Sierra Leone government’s development of a new policy on child protection.
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In low or middle income countries chronic diseases are rapidly becoming the main cause of disease burden. However, the main focus of health policymakers has been on preventing death from cancer and heart disease, with very little attention to the growing problem of long-term needs for care (dependence). Numbers of dependent older people are set to quadruple by 2050. The economic impact of providing long-term care is likely to be substantial.
A recent Health and Accountability workshop attracted between 80-90 participants from donors, multilateral agencies, national and global civil society, and research institutions over three days. ‘Unpicking power and politics for transformative change: Towards accountability for health equity’ aimed to critically examine the practices and politics shaping accountability in health systems from the local to the global levels.
In his blog Has politics shaped the terms 'accountability' and 'participation'? Luiz Eduardo Fonseca explores how politics has shaped the meaning of the terms 'accountability' and 'participation'.
