Friday, July 25, 2008

[EQ] Social protection in health schemes for mother and child population: lessons learned from the Latin American Region

Social protection in health schemes for mother and child population:
lessons learned from the Latin American Region

 

Pan American Health Organization. Area of Health Systems Strengthening. Health Policies and Systems Unit.

Washington, D.C.: PAHO/WHO - 2008.

 

English:  PDF [178p.] at: http://www.paho.org/english/AD/THS/OS/SPHS-eng.pdf

 

Spanish: PDF [181p] at: http://www.paho.org/spanish/AD/THS/OS/SPHS-spa.pdf

 

“….Due to the wide variety of interventions in place, the task of identifying and describing social protection in health schemes (SPHS) for mother, newborn and child populations in the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) region is an arduous one. While nearly all Latin American countries have implemented immunization and nutrition programs that are standardized according to a global consensus based on worldwide experience on what works best, health protection schemes aimed at guaranteeing access to health care to mothers and children are heterogeneous and have achieved varying degrees of success.

 

Along with those factors within the health sector that hinder the timely delivery and quality of health services, a number of conditions outside the health sector play a key role in determining access to care and health outcomes in LAC countries. The political situation and social determinants of health are of paramount importance in the performance of social protection in health schemes SPHS in the region, given the fact that political instability and inequity shape the social landscape of many countries….”   from Pedro Brito

 

Content:

 

Executive Summary

1. Introduction

2. Background

3. Conceptual Framework

3.1) Description of the Social Protection in Health Schemes (SPHS) currently in place in the region -

3.2) Analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the SPHS

4. Analytical Framework

4.1) Objectives

4.2) Methods

4.3) Conducting the Analysis

4.4) Information Sources

4.5) Limitations of the analysis

5. Case Studies

5.1) Universal Mother & Child Insurance (Bolivia)

5.2) The Family Health Program (Brazil)

5.3) Mother & Child Social Health Protection Policy (Chile)

5.4) Free Maternity and Child Care Law (Ecuador)

5.5) Mother and Child Voucher (Honduras)

5.6) OPORTUNIDADES Program (Mexico)

5.7) Integrated Health Insurance (Peru)

6. Results

7. Discussion and Lessons Learned

References

 

 

 

 

This report is the product of a joint initiative between PAHO/WHO, USAID, SIDA and AECI

Two teams: from the Health Policies and Systems Unit (HSS-HP) and the Women and Reproductive Health Unit (FCH-CLAP/WR) and Child and Adolescent Unit (FCH-CA), under the supervision of Eduardo Levcovitz and Gina Tambini. - Cecilia Acuña, HSS-HP led the research team.
The research team:  Virginia Camacho, FCH-CLAP/WR;  Andrew Griffin, HSS-HP;  Rafael Obregon, FCH-CA;  Jessica Rada, Intern, HSS-HP;  Caroline Ramagem, HSS-HP;  Sarah Watson, Intern, HSS-HP. Information support: Soledad Urrutia, HSS-HP and Rachel Kauffmann, FCH-WR.  Administrative support, Cristine Sulek

 

 

 

 

 

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This message from the Pan American Health Organization, PAHO/WHO, is part of an effort to disseminate
information Related to: Equity; Health inequality; Socioeconomic inequality in health; Socioeconomic
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[EQ] How have Global Health Initiatives impacted on health equity?

How have Global Health Initiatives impacted on health equity?

 

Johanna Hanefeld

Health Policy Unit, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Promotion & Education, Vol. 15, No. 1, 19-23 (2008)

 

PDF online at: http://ped.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/15/1/19

 

Website: http://ped.sagepub.com/cgi/content/refs/15/1/19

 

“……..This review examines the impact of Global Health Initiatives (GHIs) on health equity, focusing on low- and middle-income countries.

 

It is a summary of a literature review commissioned by the WHO Commission on the Social Determinants of Health. GHIs have emerged during the past decade as a mechanism in development assistance for health.

 

The review focuses on three GHIs, the US President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the World Bank's Multi-country AIDS Programme (MAP) and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria. All three have leveraged significant amounts of funding for their focal diseases — together these three GHIs provide an estimated two-thirds of external resources going to HIV/AIDS.

 

This paper examines their impact on gender equity. An analysis of these Initiatives finds that they have a significant impact on health equity, including gender equity, through their processes of programme formulation and implementation, and through the activities they fund and implement, including through their impact on health systems and human resources.

 

However, GHIs have so far paid insufficient attention to health inequities. While increasingly acknowledging equity, including gender equity, as a concern, Initiatives have so far failed to adequately translate this into programmes that address drivers of health inequity, including gender inequities.

 

The review highlights the comparative advantage of individual GHIs, which point to an increased need for, and continued difficulties in, harmonisation of activities at country level. On the basis of this comparative analysis, key recommendations are made. They include a call for equity-sensitive targets, the collection of gender-disaggregated data, the use of policy-making processes for empowerment, programmes that explicitly address causes of health inequity and impact assessments of interventions' effect on social inequities. ….”

 

 

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This message from the Pan American Health Organization, PAHO/WHO, is part of an effort to disseminate
information Related to: Equity; Health inequality; Socioeconomic inequality in health; Socioeconomic
health differentials; Gender; Violence; Poverty; Health Economics; Health Legislation; Ethnicity; Ethics;
Information Technology - Virtual libraries; Research & Science issues.  
[Knowledge Management and Communications  DD/KMC Area]

“Materials provided in this electronic list are provided "as is". Unless expressly stated otherwise, the findings
and interpretations included in the Materials are those of the authors and not necessarily of The Pan American
Health Organization PAHO/WHO or its country members”.

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[EQ] HIV/AIDS in Latin America and the Caribbean

HIV/AIDS in Latin America and the Caribbean

The Lancet,  Volume 372, Number 9635, 26 July 2008

Website: http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS014067360861082X/fulltext

“…..Mexico City is gearing up to host the XVII International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2008) on Aug 3–8. Around 20000 people are expected to attend this biennial meeting, which for the first time is being held in Latin America and the Caribbean. The conference should provide a unique opportunity to focus attention on a region that often gets sidelined in the global response to HIV/AIDS.

Nearly 2 million people are estimated to be living with HIV/AIDS in Latin America and the Caribbean—more than in the USA, Canada, western Europe, Australia, and Japan combined. Most transmission is through unprotected sex but of growing concern is the spread from unsafe injecting drug use. The average HIV prevalence rate in adults in Latin America is low (0·5%) compared with Africa (5%), yet the numbers of people affected are still considerable. Most infections are in men who have sex with men, followed by sex workers and their clients, intravenous drug users, and migrants. An increasing problem in the region is that many men have sex with both men and women, which is contributing to the rapid spread of the epidemic in women….”

Financing the response to AIDS in low- and middle- income countries: International assistance from
the G8, European Commission and other donor Governments, 2007 (

UNAIDS and Kaiser Family Foundation release new report assessing funding for AIDS by G8 countries and other major donors

PPT; http://data.unaids.org/pub/Presentation/2008/080704_unaids_kff_g8_slide_set_en.ppt

 

UNAIDS 2007 AIDS epidemic update

 

Website: http://www.unaids.org/en/Knowl...

The 2007 AIDS epidemic update reports on the latest developments in the global AIDS epidemic.
The 2007 edition provides the most recent estimates of the AIDS epidemic and explores new findings and trends in the epidemic’s evolution.

AIDS epidemic update 2007
Regional Summaries - 16 April 2008

Asia ( en | fr | es | ru )
Sub-Saharan Africa ( en | fr | es | ru )
Caribbean ( en | fr | es | ru )
Eastern Europe and Central Asia (en | fr | es | ru)
Latin America (en | fr | es | ru )
Middle East and North Africa (en | fr | esru )
North America, Western and Central Europe (en | fr | es | ru )

 

AIDS 2008 - XVII International AIDS Conference 3-8 August 2008, Mexico City

 

Website: http://www.aids2008.org/

 

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This message from the Pan American Health Organization, PAHO/WHO, is part of an effort to disseminate
information Related to: Equity; Health inequality; Socioeconomic inequality in health; Socioeconomic
health differentials; Gender; Violence; Poverty; Health Economics; Health Legislation; Ethnicity; Ethics;
Information Technology - Virtual libraries; Research & Science issues.  
[Knowledge Management and Communications  DD/KMC Area]

“Materials provided in this electronic list are provided "as is". Unless expressly stated otherwise, the findings
and interpretations included in the Materials are those of the authors and not necessarily of The Pan American
Health Organization PAHO/WHO or its country members”.

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    IMPORTANT: This transmission is for use by the intended recipient and it may contain privileged, proprietary or confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient or a person responsible for delivering this transmission to the intended recipient, you may not disclose, copy or distribute this transmission or take any action in reliance on it. If you received this transmission in error, please notify us immediately by email to infosec@paho.org, and please dispose of and delete this transmission. Thank you.  

[EQ] Challenging orthodoxies: The road ahead for health and human rights

Challenging orthodoxies: The road ahead for health and human rights

 

 

“….Health and Human Rights will include two synergistic sections. The first, entitled “Critical Concepts,” will examine the conceptual foundations of a human rights approach to health through rigorous scholarship. The second, “Health and Human Rights in Practice,” provides a forum to analyze challenges and solutions in implementing rights-based approaches to health. These two rubrics will resist the traditional dichotomy between theory and practice, seeking instead to foster engaged scholarship and reflective activism. In doing so, they will open directions for informed action by and with communities to realize the full spectrum of human rights….”

 

Table of Contents, Vol 10, No 1 (2008), Health and Human Rights

Introduction

From the editors Paul Farmer, Alexander Irwin, Evan Lyon, Vivek Maru, Alicia Ely Yamin

fileHTML filePDF

 

Challenging orthodoxies: The road ahead for health and human rights

Paul Farmer fileAbstract fileHTML filePDF

 

Excluding the poor from accessing biomedical literature: A rights violation that impedes global health

Gavin Yamey fileAbstract fileHTML filePDF

Critical Concepts

Critical concepts: From the editor Alicia Ely Yamin fileAbstract fileHTML filePDF

 

Will we take suffering seriously? Reflections on what applying a human rights framework to health means and why we should care

Alicia Ely Yamin fileAbstract fileHTML filePDF

 

What is a human-rights based approach to health and does it matter?

Leslie London fileAbstract fileHTML filePDF

 

Heath systems and the right to the highest attainable standard of health

Paul Hunt, Gunilla Backman fileAbstract fileHTML filePDF

 

A human rights approach to quality of life and health: Applications to public health programming

Armando De Negri Filho fileAbstract fileHTML filePDF

Spanish:
El enfoque de los derechos humanos en calidad de vida y salud y su aplicación en la reestructuración programática y la reorganización de los servicios: reflexiones alrededor de una estrategia de aplicación
http://hhrjournal.org/blog/perspectives/a-human-right-approach-to-quality-of-life-and-health-spanish/

Health and Human Rights in Practice

Health and human rights in practice: From the editors Evan Lyon, Vivek Maru

fileAbstract fileHTML filePDF

 

Notes on the rights of a poor woman in a poor country

Tarek Meguid fileAbstract fileHTML filePDF

 

Nationals” and “expatriates”: Challenges of fulfilling “sans frontières” (“without borders”) ideals in international humanitarian action

Olga Shevchenko, Renée C. Fox

fileAbstract fileHTML filePDF

 

From market competition to solidarity? Assessing the prospects of US health care reform plans from a human rights perspective

Anja Rudiger fileAbstract fileHTML filePDF

 

The right of children in developing countries to be born and live HIV-free

Agnès Binagwaho fileAbstract fileHTML filePDF

 

 

 

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This message from the Pan American Health Organization, PAHO/WHO, is part of an effort to disseminate
information Related to: Equity; Health inequality; Socioeconomic inequality in health; Socioeconomic
health differentials; Gender; Violence; Poverty; Health Economics; Health Legislation; Ethnicity; Ethics;
Information Technology - Virtual libraries; Research & Science issues.  
[Knowledge Management and Communications  DD/KMC Area]

“Materials provided in this electronic list are provided "as is". Unless expressly stated otherwise, the findings
and interpretations included in the Materials are those of the authors and not necessarily of The Pan American
Health Organization PAHO/WHO or its country members”.

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