Global health action
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Global health action · Jan 2017
The social construction of fibromyalgia as a health problem from the perspective of policies, professionals, and patients.
Fibromyalgia is a painful chronic disease, suffered mainly by women, that consolidates a number of symptoms and skeletal muscle issues which are little understood. ⋯ Political, professional and individual spheres have an influence on how this disease is constructed on a social level: as one of the "invisible women's diseases". It is recommended to resolve the disease's lack of recognition by i) implementing specific policies for FM and ii) increasing the training and sensitization of health providers about the severity of FM and the existence of gender prejudices biasing the attention.
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Global health action · Jan 2016
Involvement of stakeholders in determining health priorities of adolescents in rural South Africa.
When developing intervention research, it is important to explore issues from the community perspective. Interventions that promote adolescent health in South Africa are urgently needed, and Project Ntshembo ('hope') aims to improve the health of young women and their offspring in the Agincourt sub-district of rural northeast South Africa, actively using stakeholder involvement throughout the research process. ⋯ The process brought researchers and stakeholders to consensus on the most important health issues facing adolescents, and a stakeholder forum was developed within which to address the issues. Stakeholder involvement as part of a research engagement strategy can be of mutual benefit to the researchers and the community in which the research is taking place.
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Global health action · Jan 2016
ReviewScoping review: national monitoring frameworks for social determinants of health and health equity.
The strategic importance of monitoring social determinants of health (SDH) and health equity and inequity has been a central focus in global discussions around the 2011 Rio Political Declaration on SDH and the Millennium Development Goals. This study is part of the World Health Organization (WHO) equity-oriented analysis of linkages between health and other sectors (EQuAL) project, which aims to define a framework for monitoring SDH and health equity. ⋯ Our review illustrates that the attention to SDH monitoring has grown in terms of its importance and complexity within the scientific health literature. We identified a need to make indicators more wide-ranging in order to include a broader range of social conditions. The WHO EQuAL framework can provide intersectoral and interdisciplinary means of building a more comprehensive standardised approach to monitoring the SDH and improving equity in health.
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Global health action · Jan 2016
Health worker preferences for performance-based payment schemes in a rural health district in Burkina Faso.
One promising way to improve the motivation of healthcare providers and the quality of healthcare services is performance-based incentives (PBIs) also referred as performance-based financing. Our study aims to explore healthcare providers' preferences for an incentive scheme based on local resources, which aimed at improving the quality of maternal and child health care in the Nouna Health District. ⋯ The early involvement of health workers and other stakeholders in designing an incentive scheme proved to be valuable. It ensured their effective participation in the process and overall acceptance of the scheme at the end. This study is an important contribution towards the designing of effective PBI schemes.
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Global health action · Jan 2016
Exploring models for the roles of health systems' responsiveness and social determinants in explaining universal health coverage and health outcomes.
Intersectoral perspectives of health are present in the rhetoric of the sustainable development goals. Yet its descriptions of systematic approaches for an intersectoral monitoring vision, joining determinants of health, and barriers or facilitators to accessing healthcare services are lacking. ⋯ This paper adds to the literature on comparative health systems research. National and international health monitoring frameworks need to incorporate indicators on trends in and impacts of other policy sectors on health. This will empower the health sector to carry out public health practices that promote health and health equity.