BMC Health Services Research publishes supplement on UCC

Communities are more than a geographic location; they are a site of struggle and also a dynamic engine of change. Unlocking their capabilities to strengthen health systems requires understanding and adapting to local context, engaging a diversity of actors and working with the productive tensions inherent to collective action.

BMC Health Services Research has recently published a Supplement on Unlocking community capabilities across health systems across low and middle income countries - edited by Asha S. George, Kerry Scott, Eric Sarriot, Barun Kanjilal and David H. Peters. This supplement draws on extensive Future Health Systems research and experience in unlocking community capabilities to strengthen health systems in low- and middle-income countries.

Articles in the suplpement inlcude:

• Unlocking community capabilities across health systems in low- and middle-income countries: lessons learned from research and reflective practice Asha S. George, Kerry Scott, Eric Sarriot, Barun Kanjilal and David H. Peters

• Synergies, strengths and challenges: findings on community capability from a systematic health systems research literature review Asha S. George, Kerry Scott, Vrinda Mehra and Veena Sriram

• What is the role of community capabilities for maternal health? An exploration of community capabilities as determinants to institutional deliveries in Bangladesh, India, and Uganda Ligia Paina, Lalitha Vadrevu, S. M. Manzoor Ahmed Hanifi, Joseph Akuze, Rachel Rieder, Kitty S. Chan and David H. Peters

• How is perceived community cohesion and membership in community groups associated with children’s dietary adequacy in disadvantaged communities? A case of the Indian Sundarbans Debjani Barman and Lalitha Vadrevu

• Identifying community healthcare supports for the elderly and the factors affecting their aging care model preference: evidence from three districts of Beijing Tianyang Liu, Xiaoning Hao and Zhenzhong Zhang

• Unlocking community capabilities for improving maternal and newborn health: participatory action research to improve birth preparedness, health facility access, and newborn care in rural Uganda Elizabeth Ekirapa-Kiracho, Gertrude Namazzi, Moses Tetui, Aloysius Mutebi, Peter Waiswa, Htet Oo, David H. Peters and Asha S. George

• Unlocking community capability through promotion of self-help for health: experience from Chakaria, Bangladesh Abbas Bhuiya, Syed Manzoor Ahmed Hanifi and Shahidul Hoque

• Expressing collective voices on children’s health: photovoice exploration with mothers of young children from the Indian Sundarbans Upasona Ghosh, Shibaji Bose, Rittika Bramhachari and Sabyasachi Mandal

• Exploring pathways for building trust in vaccination and strengthening health system resilience Sachiko Ozawa, Ligia Paina and Mary Qiu

• How can health systems research reach the worst-off? A conceptual exploration Bridget Pratt and Adnan A. Hyder

WEBINAR: How can participatory engagement of stakeholders unveil health system complexities?

Identifying who various stakeholders are and engaging them in health policy and systems research and implementation is key for better understanding complex health system behavior. This webinar introduces you to a couple of tools and approaches that promote the application of systems thinking through the participatory engagement of stakeholders. In addition, our panelists will reflect on the current landscape of teaching health policy and systems research and the implications for teaching participatory engagement. Our discussion will focus on practical implications of engaging stakeholders in health policy and systems research.

Panelists:

Dr. Elizabeth Ekirapa, Lecturer - Department of Health Policy Planning and Management, Makerere University School of Public Health; Uganda team lead from the Future Health Systems Research Consortium (ekky@musph.ac.ug)

Dr. Martin Reynolds, Senior Lecturer in Systems Thinking and the Lead for postgraduate program in Systems Thinking in Practice - Department of Engineering and Innovation, The Open University (martin.reynolds@open.ac.uk)

Dr. David Peters, Professor - Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health; Co-facilitator of the Health Systems Global Technical Working Group on Teaching and Learning Health Policy and Systems Research; Research Director of the Future Health Systems Research Consortium (dpeters@jhu.edu)
Moderator:

Dr. Ligia Paina, Assistant Scientist - Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health; co-lead of the complexity science and systems thinking cluster; Member of the Future Health Systems Research Consortium (lpaina@jhu.edu)

Organizers:
HSG SHAPES TWG - Systems Thinking and complexity cluster and HSG Teaching and Learning HPSR TWG

How to join:
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/3882196714455898116
Twitter Hashtag: #engagingstakeholders

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"A nurse sings with visiting patiends and" (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) by  World Bank Photo Collection 

Looking beyond ‘public’ and ‘private’ in health systems

Last week three FHS researchers took part in a panel discussion titled “Beyond ‘public’ and ‘private’ in health systems” at the Institute of Development Studies 50th annual conference titled “States, Markets and Society Defining a New Era for Development”.

The panel was chaired by Gerry Bloom of the Institute of Development Studies and included presentations from David Peters of Johns Hopkins University, Lewis Hussain - an Associate Researcher at the Institute of Development Studies working on the FHS programme, and Bruno Meessen of the Institute of Tropical Medicine, Belgium.

The panel explored the changing relationships between government, markets and social organisations in the health systems of low- and middle-income countries. It looked at the realities of the pluralistic systems that have emerged with a wide variety of actors providing health services and drugs in terms of their ownership, level of skill and relationship to the regulatory system. These health markets include a wide spectrum of organisations from transnational corporations to informal drug sellers working outside any regulatory framework. On the demand side, individuals have access to large volumes of information from the mass media and, increasingly, the internet. They have much more choice than in the past, but issues of knowledge asymmetry and the importance of ensuring that services are safe and effective, underline the need for social regulation. Meanwhile, the rapid development of ICTs and low-cost diagnostics is changing the terrain in which the roles of markets, states and civil society are being negotiated.

The presentations focused on strategies for improving the performance of pluralistic health systems in providing access to safe and effective health services and on innovative partnerships that have emerged.

Here you can watch Gerry’s introduction to the session and the three presentations that followed.

FHS at the IDS 50th Anniversary Conference, 5-6 July 2016

As the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) turns 50 and development moves into a new era, IDS is inviting leading scholars, policymakers and practitioners to participate in a two day conference States, markets and society in a reconfigured world: Defining a new era for development on 5-6 July 2016 to debate the challenges and implications.

Future Health Systems will be hosting a panel session:

Beyond 'Public' and 'Private' in Health Systems
This panel will explore the changing relationships between government, markets and social organisations in the health systems of low- and middle-income countries. It will explore the realities of the pluralistic systems that have emerged with a wide variety of actors providing health services and drugs in terms of their ownership, level of skill and relationship to the regulatory system. The panel will focus on strategies for improving the performance of pluralistic health systems in providing access to safe and effective health services and on innovative partnerships that have emerged.

Chair: Gerry Bloom, IDS

David Peters, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, USA
Lewis Husain, Associate Researcher, IDS
Anu Joshi, IDS
Bruno Meessen, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Belgium

Follow the build-up and join the debate on Twitter using #IDS_50

For more information about the IDS 50th Anniversary conference see http://www.ids.ac.uk/events/states-markets-and-society-ids-50th-conference

FHS Researcher made Chair of The Alliance Board

We are pleased to announce that FHS Research Director, Professor David Peters of Johns Hopkins University (JHU), has become the new Chair of Board for The Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research. David Peters has served on the Alliance Board for three years and has collaborated with the Alliance in editing the last Flagship Report on Essential Medicines and on the Implementation Research Guide.