HLH Newsletter - September 2021

Welcome to the HLH Newsletter!

The HLH is a WHO knowledge platform to share cross-country learning on maintaining essential health services during the COVID-19 pandemic and in the post-pandemic recovery. Learn more about us here.

The HLH Newsletter is a place to share up-to-date information on key knowledge products from WHO and the Network of Networks. If you have any queries or wish to contribute, please email us: hlh@who.int.

Additionally, you can still submit your action brief. If you have an innovative approach to share on maintaining essential health services during COVID-19, tell us more and Submit your Action Brief!

HLH Network of Networks

• The International Hospital Federation (IHF) launched a new podcast series to feature thought leaders talking about their experience and key learnings from the COVID-19 pandemic.
  For the first episode of the series, the IHF featured Lord Nigel Crisp and Dr. Robyn Begley.  Crisp and Begley sat down and discussed the impact of global nursing initiatives—such as the Nursing Now Campaign and the Nightingale Challenge.
  For a deeper dive into the topics presented on each podcast, catch our speakers in the upcoming 44th World Hospital Congress, a hybrid event happening on 8-11 November 2021 at the Fira Montjuïc in Barcelona, Spain, and streamed live online.
   
• The ESTHER Alliance for Global Health Partnerships released a new self-assessment version of the EFFECt Tool for quality health partnership. The purpose of the EFFECt Tool is to help guide your discussion about the quality of your partnership and identify potential areas for improvement.
  Health Partnerships between Northern and Southern countries aim to be equal and beneficial to both Institutional Health Partnership. The EFFECt tool encourages both partners to reflect on and evaluate their roles within the partnership, moving away from the traditional expectation that the Northern Partner automatically leads the project and instead supports the notion of an equally balanced relationship/equality in the partnership.
  Access The New EFFECt Tool
  Access The Discussion Guide for The New EFFECt Tool
   
• Global Health Compassion Rounds - The movement to eliminate neglected tropical diseases (NTDs): The successes and challenges of a foundation in compassion | Register Here
  Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2021  -  11:00 am – 12:30 pm EDT (GMT -4)
  Throughout its history, compassion has been prominent in the NTD movement. While the eradication of diseases, such as polio and smallpox, has focused almost exclusively on prevention, the goals of NTD elimination are to both interrupt disease transmission and provide care to those already affected. Compassion is integral to both. The NTD community also emphasizes human rights approaches in its programming, ensuring that affected persons have a prominent voice in the design and evaluation of programs. Nevertheless, critics have sometimes perceived the NTD community’s efforts as being characterized by ‘pity’ or ‘charity,’ rather than compassion.

  This GHCR will explore these dimensions of compassion in the NTD community through an impassioned conversation with persons affected by NTDs, NTD experts from around the world, and global public health authorities.

• Bursaries available to attend THET’s Annual Conference 2021 | Power of Partnership: Solidarity in the shadow of COVID-19
  7th - 8th and 11th - 12th October 2021
  THET is delighted to offer healthcare workers from low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) complimentary tickets to THET's Annual Conference through a short application process. This opportunity is open to healthcare workers of all professions and cadres, including non-clinical roles.
  The conference will bring together leading voices from across the health, development, academic and government communities to discuss how the Health Partnership approach has evolved in response to the pandemic, conflict and aid cuts over the past year. Participants will be invited to celebrate the continuing exchanges of expertise that have characterised this year, and consider how global solidarity can help to sustain the wellbeing of health professionals at a time of unprecedented strain.  
  For full eligibility criteria and to apply, please click here.
   
• Global Fund Results Report Reveals COVID-19 Devastating Impact on HIV, TB and Malaria Programs. The COVID-19 pandemic had a devastating impact on the fight against HIV, TB and malaria in 2020, according to a new report released by the Global Fund today. The Results Report shows that while some progress was made, key programmatic results have declined for the first time in the history of the Global Fund.
   
• Joint Learning Network (JLN) has published Report on the Webinar on COVID-19 Preparedness and Response in Kenya; “Experience Sharing by the National Level and the Counties”. You can access the report here. If you want to hear more from JLN, don't forget to sign-up for their newsletter.
   
• Those of you who have joined Healthcare Information for All (HIFA.org) will know it is a global health community of 20,000 health professionals in 180 countries interacting in four languages on virtual discussion forums. WHO HLH is two-thirds the way through a 1-year project with HIFA to run a series of discussions on Maintaining essential health services during COVID-19 and beyond. See our first Action Brief here: https://hlh.who.int/ab-detail/findings-from-a-hifa-thematic-discussion   Building on this success, HIFA has started a sister project on Learning for quality health services, supported by the WHO Global Learning Laboratory for Quality UHC. Between 5.7 and 8.4 million deaths are attributed to poor quality care each year in low- and middle-income countries. This new project is exploring in depth how to improve quality. We have been discussing questions such as What does quality of care mean to you, in your particular context? Why is it important to make the case for quality of care? From your experience, what might work best to enhance quality of care at national, district and facility levels? Have you seen any practical solutions that should be shared wider?
  Outputs of the discussion are being synthesized into a learning brief and shared globally through the WHO GLL. Find out more and join the 24/7 global conversation here: www.hifa.org  Contact: neil@hifa.org
   
• Save the Date: World Health Summit 2021, 24-26 October, Berlin (digital participation also possible). This year's World Health Summit will reflect on pressing topics such as: pandemic preparedness and response, vaccines: health as a global public good, mental health and COVID-19, the role of the European Union in global health. More information available at the event's website.