Creating the Foundation for Health System Resilience in Northern Nigeria (original) (raw)

HEALTH SECTOR DEVELOPMENT AND SUSTAINABILITY IN NIGERIA USING THE RESILIENT HEALTH SYSTEMS FRAMEWORK

Health care delivery in Nigeria is complex and dependent on several determinants of health. While, re-emerging health threats such as the Ebola which occurred in Nigeria and some other parts of West Africa in 2014 have given rise to the need to understand what it means for a health system to be resilient. Although the present health system in Nigeria remains less resilient, the work of Kruk, Myers, Varpilah, and Dahn (2015) on resilient health systems (RHS) framework is beneficial to develop and sustain it. The resilient health systems framework offers insights on the need for health systems to be aware, diverse, self-regulating, integrated and adaptive in their approach to public health and primary care matters. This paper focuses on how Nigeria can develop, strengthen and sustain its health system by becoming more resilient using the RHS framework.

Building Health System Resilience in Africa During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Global Biosecurity

Many essential health services have been paused because of the COVID-19 pandemic. To ensure that adequate health delivery is not impeded during the COVID-19 pandemic, this study aimed to describe the strategies for building health system resilience in Africa during the COVID-19 pandemic. The integration of COVID-19 care into routine healthcare delivery across African countries should be prioritized. Investment in human and material resources for the health sector should be prioritized by policymakers. Adequate community engagement should be prioritized across all communities in Africa. Investment in leadership development training across all health sectors would promote initiative-driven decision making and promote infection control practices in health facilities.

Health Systems as a Neglected Developmental Pillar: The case of Ebola in West Africa

2016

At a macro-level there appears to be a shift taking place in health care in Africa and related outputs.1 Weak and burdened management of social services is unable to cope with the ever-increasing human development challenges which unfortunately continue to linger on even today on the continent. As a developmental state-building pillar and human right, access to public health care remains widely limited, with many health systems still largely underdeveloped and suffering from ‘brain drain ’ and the effects of dwindling education systems. Now more than ever it is crucial that African leadership give due consideration to the developmental rewards of an efficient and effective health care system – something which has been largely neglected thus far. It comes as no surprise that Africa was unable to come forward as a primary respondent with an adequate response to the West African Ebola crisis of 2014. The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines a health care system as a collection of in...

Strengthening Health Systems While Responding to a Health Crisis: Lessons Learned by a Nongovernmental Organization During the Ebola Virus Disease Epidemic in Sierra Leone

An epidemic of Ebola virus disease (EVD) beginning in 2013 has claimed an estimated 11 310 lives in West Africa. As the EVD epidemic subsides, it is important for all who participated in the emergency Ebola response to reflect on strengths and weaknesses of the response. Such reflections should take into account perspectives not usually included in peer-reviewed publications and after-action reports, including those from the public sector, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), survivors of Ebola, and Ebola-affected households and communities. In this article, we first describe how the international NGO Partners In Health (PIH) partnered with the Government of Sierra Leone and Wellbody Alliance (a local NGO) to respond to the EVD epidemic in 4 of the country's most Ebola-affected districts. We then describe how, in the aftermath of the epidemic, PIH is partnering with the public sector to strengthen the health system and resume delivery of regular health services. PIH's experience in Sierra Leone is one of multiple partnerships with different stakeholders. It is also one of rapid deployment of expatriate clinicians and logistics personnel in health facilities largely deprived of health professionals, medical supplies, and physical infrastructure required to deliver health services effectively and safely. Lessons learned by PIH and its partners in Sierra Leone can contribute to the ongoing discussion within the international community on how to ensure emergency preparedness and build resilient health systems in settings without either.

Governance and Capacity to Manage Resilience of Health Systems: Towards a New Conceptual Framework

International journal of health policy and management, 2017

The term resilience has dominated the discourse among health systems researchers since 2014 and the onset of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. There is wide consensus that the global community has to help build more resilient health systems. But do we really know what resilience means, and do we all have the same vision of resilience? The present paper presents a new conceptual framework on governance of resilience based on systems thinking and complexity theories. In this paper, we see resilience of a health system as its capacity to absorb, adapt and transform when exposed to a shock such as a pandemic, natural disaster or armed conflict and still retain the same control over its structure and functions.

Building health system resilience in the context of primary health care revitalization for attainment of UHC: proceedings from the Fifth Health Sector Directors’ Policy and Planning Meeting for the WHO African Region

BMC Proceedings

Background The recent 2018 Declaration of Astana recognized primary health care (PHC) as a means to achieve universal health coverage (UHC) and the health-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Following this declaration, country progress on operationalization of the PHC agenda and attainment of UHC has been stalled by the new challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic has also disrupted the continuity of essential health service provision and tested the resilience of the region’s health systems. Methods In accordance with this, the WHO Regional Office for Africa convened the Fifth Health Sector Directors’ Planning and Policy Meeting across the 47 Member States of the Region. The two-day forum focused on building health system resilience to facilitate service continuity during health threats, PHC revitalization, and health systems strengthening towards UHC. Results The Regional Forum provided evidence on building resilient health systems in the WHO African Region...