All posts in low-income countries

Are women empowered by volunteer community health work? The story of Eleni

By: Svea Closser (Johns Hopkins University), Kenneth Maes (Oregon State University), and Sarah Fossett (Middlebury College)

Women’s Development Army

This Wednesday, as usual in this small town in rural Amhara, Eleni was running a weekly meeting with 30 women. The meeting was delayed in the midst of a spontaneous…

Share

Read more

“Losing a billion dollars a day”: The Cost of Not Breastfeeding

By: Dr. Dylan Walters (Project Director, Health Economics, Nutrition International)
[Interactive infographic below. Download the PDF here: Cost of not breastfeeding]

Recent history has shown us the powerful effect of data in appealing to both the emotional and rational interests of people. Shocking claims of the number of preventable deaths…

Share

Read more

Meeting global ICPD Commitments: putting SRH-HIV integration at the heart of health systems strengthening

By Susannah Mayhew (London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine) and Charlotte Warren (Population Council)

The UN’s World Population Day (11th July) calls attention to the need for the world to remember its commitments at the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) 25 years ago to make reproductive…

Share

Read more

Health Policy and Planning’s 2018 Impact Factor and Top 10

By Natasha Salaria (London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine)

Another year, another impact factor. Health Policy and Planning’s new 2018 Impact Factor has seen another increase to 2.714, placing us 14th out of 81 journals in the Health Policy and Services category (Quartile 1). While most people…

Share

Read more

Digital Health for Communities: “It makes you someone who changes with the times”

By Kristy M. Hackett (Department of Global Health and Population, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health)

With the release of the World Health Organization’s Global Strategy on Digital Health, the inaugural State of Digital Health 2019, and novel tools like the Digital Health Atlas, the digital health…

Share

Read more

“Cashgate”, foreign aid, trust and relationships amongst stakeholders and its impact on Malawi’s health system

By Radha Adhikari, Jeevan Sharma and Pam Smith (University of Edinburgh)

In June 2014, we arrived in Lilongwe, Malawi from the University of Edinburgh for the first time, to start a research project in collaboration with the Kamuzu College of Nursing. There was a presidential election coming up, so every…

Share

Read more

What is driving antimicrobial resistance? Well, depends on who you ask.

By Anna Durrance-Bagale and Mishal Khan (London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine)
 A UN report released last week highlighted yet again the serious threats to health and economic development posed by antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The report was picked up by newspapers around the world, from New Zealand to…

Share

Read more

‘DOING MORE WITH LESS’ – Voices of Frontline Health Service Providers in South Africa

By: Carrie-Brooke Sumner (Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drug Research Unit, South African Medical Research Council & University of Cape Town)
Health systems under pressure

If you work in a health system or health systems research, you’re no stranger to messages about budget cuts, the need for efficiencies, ‘working…

Share

Read more

Tuberculosis: Health Policy and Systems Research

By Mishal Khan (London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine)

This is the first World Tuberculosis (TB) Day since high-level UN General Assembly meeting on TB in September 2018. Strong commitments were made by political leaders and hopes are high. Enthusiasm for a revolutionary shift in tackling infectious diseases…

Share

Read more

Using the Polio Legacy to Strengthen International Health Regulations for Global Health Security

By Nirmal Kandel1, Graham Tallis2, Stella Chungong1, Jaouad Mahjour1

1Department of Country Health Emergency Preparedness and IHR, World Health Organisation

2Department of Polio Eradication, World Health Organisation

Continuing outbreaks, disasters and conflict are sufficient evidence that the world remains vulnerable to health emergencies. Emergencies can have significant health, social, economic…

Share

Read more