{"id":1580,"date":"2018-07-09T11:48:35","date_gmt":"2018-07-09T10:48:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.lshtm.ac.uk\/hppdebated\/?p=1580"},"modified":"2018-07-10T15:36:56","modified_gmt":"2018-07-10T14:36:56","slug":"supplement-launch-strengthening-health-system-leadership-for-better-governance-what-does-it-take","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.lshtm.ac.uk\/hppdebated\/2018\/07\/09\/supplement-launch-strengthening-health-system-leadership-for-better-governance-what-does-it-take\/","title":{"rendered":"SUPPLEMENT LAUNCH: Strengthening health system leadership for better governance: what does it take?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Lucy Gilson (University of Cape Town)<\/strong><\/p>\n

http:\/\/bit.ly\/HealthSystemLeadership<\/a><\/p>\n

Why is health system leadership so important? And what can be done to improve health system leadership in low- and middle-income countries for better governance? A new supplement in Health Policy and Planning<\/em> addresses these questions providing evidence of leadership in public hospital settings and of existing initiatives put in place to strengthen leadership in Africa and have been written by predominantly African author teams.<\/p>\n

What are the lessons that can be learnt from this supplement?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The key messages from these papers demonstrate the weaknesses of current leadership practices \u2013 \u00a0which commonly involve authoritarian approaches and power plays and often work to undermine staff motivation, and have knock-on negative consequences for patient care. However,\u00a0 these practices are also reflective of critical features of the broader public sector context. Such features not only include resource shortages, but also features of organizational culture such as centralized decision-making, individualized decision-making and medical professionals\u2019 dominance.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, these papers do also provide evidence that participatory leadership practices, such as encouraging teamwork, building relationships, creating a supportive environment and spreading motivation, can offer opportunities to encourage positive staff attitudes. Current African health leaders also judge these types of leadership practices are vital in strengthening health systems.<\/p>\n

Overall, then, these experiences show that the status quo of poor leadership and constraining contexts simply must be disrupted \u00a0– with changes are required at individual, team and system levels. Context-specific health leadership development interventions are needed and can be supported by research that acknowledges and engages with that context.<\/p>\n

Articles in this supplement<\/span><\/p>\n