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Biomedical subjects

G Walt

Publications and source records attributed to G Walt.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2002

The historical development of human resources policies in the health sector of four Caribbean territories: imitated or created?

Health systems are labour intensive, dependent on a mix of professionals to provide health care in both public and private sectors. In this paper, we explore the historical development of human resources, focusing on doctors and nurses, in four Caribbean territories-the Bahamas, Martinique, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago. All these territories have faced issues around the out-migration of doctors and nurses and tensions between public health, hospital services and private sector policies. Early policies to increase the number of nurses and doctors were costly, because they were implemented against a tide of increasing outward migration. Both push and pull factors were evident. Human resources policies focused on ways to counter pull factors-such as introducing regional medical training-but neglected push factors. These began to be addressed from the 1980s on, although tensions between public health, hospital services and private sector policies led to resistance and conflicts in attitudes to reform among health professionals. Policy responses were the product of many influences, and it is too simple to conclude they were either imported from abroad or internally generated. However, it is clear that in all four territories the medical profession played a dominant role in human resources policy development either directly or indirectly.

Bahamas↗
PubMed2001

A political analysis of corporate drug donations: the example of Malarone in Kenya.

This paper describes the introduction of the Malarone Donation Programme in KENYA: Using a policy analysis approach it illustrates the political nature of donation programmes and how they are affected by a large and varied group of national, regional and international stakeholders, with different levels of influence and experience. The paper shows that interaction between these different groups may affect the development and implementation of the donation programme. It ends by raising some more general questions about public/private partnerships and corporate donation programmes, and their potential impact on national drug policies.

Antimalarials↗
PubMed2001

The role of MCH and family planning services in HIV/STD control: is integration the answer?

During the mid 1990s, high HIV and sexually transmitted disease (STD) prevalence led to calls for the integration of effective services with maternal and child health and family planning (MCH/FP) programs. There are advantages and disadvantages to integration, but little evidence existed to assess the practicalities of implementing this policy. Analysis of policy development for integration was conducted in Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, and Zambia. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with policy-makers at national, provincial and district levels and a survey of facilities was undertaken to identify gaps between policy intent and implementation. Significant advances had been made at the national level to formulate policies to integrate reproductive health and primary health care. However, barriers to implementation included entrenched HIV/STD and MCH/FP vertical programs; diverse demands on district managers and providers, such as on-going institutional reform; and conflicting objectives of international donors. Policy-makers need to address conflicting objectives between the needs for vertical accountability and the reality of providing integrated services. More careful consideration of implementation is required at earlier stages of policy design. Increased consultation with those who are to implement and provide integrated services is recommended.

Child↗
PubMed2000

Implementing the integration of component services for reproductive health.

In the wake of the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo, considerable activity has occurred both in national policymaking for reproductive health and in research on the implementation of the Cairo Program of Action. This report considers how effectively a key component of the Cairo agenda--integration of the management of sexually transmitted infections, including human immunodeficiency virus, with maternal and child health-family planning services--has been implemented. Quantitative and qualitative data are used to illuminate the difficulties faced by implementers of reproductive health programs in Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, and Zambia. In these countries, clear evidence is found of a critical need to reexamine the continuing focus on family planning services and the nature of the processes by which managers implement reproductive health policies. Implications of findings for policy and program direction are discussed.

Data Collection↗
PubMed2000

Global public-private partnerships: Part II--What are the health issues for global governance?

This is the second of a two-part review of global public-private partnerships (GPPPs) for health development. Part I was published in the April issue of the Bulletin (Vol. 78, No. 4). The recent emergence of GPPPs is rapidly reconfiguring the international health landscape. While most multilateral and bilateral agencies are currently grappling with how to proceed, there is little information in the public domain concerning how individual partnerships work and to date very little consideration of the many implications of this trend. This paper differentiates between product-based, product development-based and issues/systems-based GPPPs and describes a number of examples of each type in the health sector. The benefits of these initiatives, not least the major resources which they harness for specific health problems, are identified. The final section of the paper explores the implications and dilemmas posed by GPPPs. It discusses whether or not shared goals can transcend conflicting values and mandates and how governance of partnership arrangements may transform and undermine certain attributes of multilateral organizations. The paper concludes that the current climate of goodwill between public and private sectors offers an opportunity that should not be missed: it can be used not only to foster new partnership but to ensure that partnership is truly in the interests of international public health.

Delivery of Health Care↗
PubMed2000

Global public-private partnerships: Part I--A new development in health?

The proliferation of public-private partnerships is rapidly reconfiguring the international health landscape. This article (part I of two on the subject) traces the changing nature of partnership, and discusses the definitional and conceptual ambiguities surrounding the term. After defining global public-private partnerships (GPPPs) for health development, we analyse the factors which have led to the convergence of public and private actors and discuss the consequences of the trend toward partnership between UN agencies (including the World Bank) and commercial entities in the health sector. Generic factors such as globalization and disillusionment with the UN, and factors specific to the health sector, such as market failure in product development for orphan diseases, are examined. Reviewed are the interests, policies, practices and concerns of the UN, the private-for-profit sector, bilateral organizations, and governments of low-income countries with respect to public-private partnership. While GPPPs bring much needed resources to problems of international health, we highlight concerns regarding this new organizational format. Part II, which will be published in the May issue of the Bulletin, presents a conceptual framework for analysing health GPPPs and explores the issues raised.

Global Health↗
PubMed1999

Health sector development: from aid coordination to resource management.

Aid coordination has assumed a prominent place on health policy agendas. This paper synthesizes the findings of research undertaken to explore the changing practices of aid coordination across a number of countries. It begins by reviewing the key issues giving rise to increased attention to aid coordination in the health sector. The second section describes, assesses and compares the strengths and weaknesses of the dominant mechanisms or instruments which were found to be employed to coordinate health sector aid in the case studies. From this analysis, four factors become clear. First, in many countries, coordination mechanisms have been introduced as a part of an incremental process of trying out different approaches--there is no one model that stands out at any one time. Secondly, some instruments function largely for consultation, predominantly coordinating inputs, while others are more directive and operational, and are used to manage inputs, processes and outputs. Third, many of the mechanisms have not excelled, although, fourth, it is difficult to judge the effectiveness or impact of aid coordination. It is therefore argued that concern with the effectiveness of aid coordination arrangements must give way to a broader analysis of the processes, outputs and outcomes governing the use of both external and domestic resources, focusing on institutional characteristics, the distribution and nature of influence among the actors, and the interests which they pursue through the aid regime. These factors varied considerably across the countries indicating that aid management is context dependent and subject to continuing changes. Finally, the paper looks at the findings in the light of the introduction of sector-wide approaches.

Budgets↗
PubMed1999

Managing external resources in the health sector: are there lessons for SWAps (sector-wide approaches)?

Drawing on the case studies presented in this issue, from Bangladesh, Cambodia, Mozambique, Zambia and South Africa, and examples from other countries, this paper asks what general conclusions can be drawn about the management of external resources, and specifically what lessons could inform the future implementation of sector-wide approaches (SWAps) in the health sector. Factors constraining the management of aid by ministries of health are grouped under three themes: context and timing, institutional capacities and the interplay of power and influence in negotiations over aid. Two factors, often underplayed, were found to be important in facilitating management of resources: the inter-relationship of formal and informal relationships, and the extent to which incremental changes are tolerated. The main conclusion is that coordination and management of external resources is inherently unstable, involving a changing group of actors, many of whom enjoy considerable autonomy, but who need each other to materialize their often somewhat different goals. Managing aid is not a linear process, but is subject to set-backs and crises, although it can also produce positive spin-offs unexpectedly. It is highly dependent on institutional and systemic issues within both donor and recipient environments. In promoting sector-wide approaches the key will be to recognize context-specific conditions in each country, to find ways of building capacity in ministries of health to develop and own the future vision of the health sector, and to negotiate a realistic package that is explicit in its agreed objectives. The paper ends with identifying crucial actions that will enable ministries of health to take the lead role in developing and implementing SWAps.

Developing Countries↗
PubMed1999

Integrating reproductive health: myth and ideology.

Since 1994, integrating human immunodeficiency virus/sexually transmitted disease (HIV/STD) services with primary health care, as part of reproductive health, has been advocated to address two major public health problems: to control the spread of HIV; and to improve women's reproductive health. However, integration is unlikely to succeed because primary health care and the political context within which this approach is taking place are unsuited to the task. In this paper, a historical comparison is made between the health systems of Ghana, Kenya and Zambia and that of South Africa, to examine progress on integration of HIV/STD services since 1994. Our findings indicate that primary health care in Ghana, Kenya and Zambia has been used mainly by women and children and that integration has meant adding new activities to these services. For the vertical programmes which support these services, integration implies enhanced collaboration rather than merged responsibility. This compromise between comprehensive rhetoric and selective reality has resulted in little change to existing structures and processes; problems with integration have been exacerbated by the activities of external donors. By comparison, in South Africa integration has been achieved through political commitment to primary health care rather than expanding vertical programmes (top-down management systems). The rhetoric of integration has been widely used in reproductive health despite lack of evidence for its feasibility, as a result of the convergence of four agendas: improving family planning quality; the need to improve women's health; the rapid spread of HIV; and conceptual shifts in primary health care. International reproductive health actors, however, have taken little account of political, financial and managerial constraints to implementation in low-income countries.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

Globalisation of international health.

40 years ago, activities in international health were the domain of WHO, governments (based on bilateral agreements), and non-governmental organisations. This has changed. Today, new players (such as the World Bank and, increasingly, the World Trade Organisation) have an influence on international health. As globalisation of trade and markets takes hold, new coalitions and alliances are forming to examine and deal with the direct and indirect consequences on health. This paper examines the changing context of cooperation in international health, and voices concerns about rising potential inequalities in health, both within and between countries. The question of how such changes will affect the actions of organisations working in international health is also addressed.

Global Health↗
PubMed1998

Family planning policies and programmes in eight low-income countries: a comparative policy analysis.

The extent to which family planning programmes are successful at reducing fertility remains a major debate among population scholars. A comparative policy analysis of four pairs of low-income countries (Bangladesh/Pakistan, Thailand/Philippines, Tunisia/Algeria and Zimbabwe/Zambia) was carried out to understand why some countries develop appropriate and effective programmes, while other countries do not. The study found that the formation of coalitions among policy elites, spread of policy risk, and institutional and financial stability were factors which supported or inhibited the adoption of strong population policies and family planning programmes.

Developing Countries↗
PubMed1997

An unruly mélange? Coordinating external resources to the health sector: a review.

The past two decades have witnessed an upsurge in the number of external agencies involved in the health sectors of developing countries. Concomitantly, there has been an increase in the volume of resources transferred through multilateral, bilateral and non-governmental organizations to these health systems. Notwithstanding the beneficial impact of increased resources, recipients and donors are increasingly concerned about the effects of this trend. This is particularly pertinent where the effort lacks adequate coordination. Recipients despair of an unruly mélange of external ideas and initiatives, that too often results in project proliferation and duplication, unrealistic demands, and ultimately a loss of control over the health development process. Donors on the contrary, are concerned about aid efficiency and effectiveness, two areas it is assumed will gain from increased attention to coordination. Both recipients and donors are looking for ways of better managing the aid relationship. Although there has been considerable experience with coordination strategies, most writing has considered external assistance in general, rather than the health sector in particular. The literature is striking in its bias towards the needs and perspectives of the donor community. There has been little analysis of the manner in which recipient ministries of health manage donors and the influx of resources. This review begins to fill this gap. Its focus is country-level, where most direct gains from coordination are to be reaped. The paper begins with an enumeration of the many and diverse trends which have raised the salience of aid coordination. A definition of coordination, a term used ambiguously in the existing literature, is then developed and the principles of aid coordination outlined. Finally, attention is directed to the initiatives of recipients and donors to improve the coordination of health sector aid.

Delivery of Health Care, Integrated↗
PubMed1996

Who should be doing what in the international health: a confusion of mandates in the United Nations?

Since 1945 at least five United Nations organisations have become substantially involved in international health activities. This has led to considerable confusion among policy makers, scholars, and UN staff over distinct and appropriate mandates. Interviews with staff an a historical analysis have shown that while formal mandates have been complementary, effective mandates have led to an unclear delineation of activities. The process of translating formal into effective mandates have been influenced by the decentralised nature of the UN, lack of a master plan for its activities, the considerable growth in the policy agenda and the shift towards a multisectoral approach to health. The identification of each organisation's comparative advantage, at both the global and country levels, is one way of understanding what each organisation does best and perhaps should be doing. There is a need for improved mechanisms to define effective mandates, taking into account comparative advantages, if the mandates of UN organisations are appropriate to meet future challenges in international health.

Global Health↗