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HLH Newsletter - March 2022
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.
HLH - New knowledge products
WHO Initiatives
Mitigation of the impact of COVID-19 on essential Maternal, Neonatal, Child and Adolescent Health (MNCAH) services
The WHO Initiative for the mitigation of the impact of COVID-19 on essential MNCAH services has organized several regional events in March and April to synthesize and disseminate key lessons and findings from the initiative and 15 countries involved.
The WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean will facilitate a virtual meeting to share national reflections on mitigating the indirect impact of COVID-19 on the delivery and use of essential MNCAH services. Country-level teams from Pakistan, Sudan and Yemen will present key responses and challenges in maintaining MNCAH services and discuss future actions and priorities for ensuring essential health services during and beyond the pandemic.
The WHO Regional Office for South-East Asia has organized three webinars. The first event focuses on strengthening national Technical Advisory Groups for sustaining and accelerating the RMNCAH agenda and maintaining essential health services during the COVID-19 pandemic. The second webinar aims at sharing experience on preparedness and response plans for maintaining RMNCAH services during the pandemic and beyond; while the third one will highlight the use of digital health interventions for maintaining RMNCAH services during the COVID-19 pandemic. We will provide more information on these events in the next newsletter issues so stay tuned!
Transforming health care: stories of changemakers across the world
COVID-19 pandemic triggered a number of changes in health systems across the world as they were challenged by the unprecedented pandemic. A new WHO video weaves together stories from individuals and groups in health, who have been intentionally leading change. It reveals some of the many ways that these changemakers have managed to significantly impact their health care environments and improve health outcomes, often through relatively small, local interventions.
From improving patient safety and reducing patient harm, to promoting community health and introducing compassion in health leadership, these stories offer insights into how change can be ignited from the inside and spread outwards, by anyone and at any level of a health system. The key here is that change can be triggered by anyone, often starting small but that can then snowball. The message for policy-makers, funders and researchers is to connect our head and heart and invest in solutions developed by people and for people.
Review of COVID-19 Preparedness and Response Plans from 106 Countries indicated broad alignment of national planning with global WHO and UN guidance but with limitations in considerations for maintaining non-COVID-19 essential health services. Few plans included budgets for maintaining essential health services or referred to the role of or support to subnational or primary health care for essential health service delivery.
In an original research article published in Health Policy and Planning, WHO presents lessons learned and important considerations around maintaining essential health services for health systems resilience. This paper ranked as the third most downloaded article in the journal, Health Policy and Planning, in 2021 according to the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. Read the article: COVID-19 Preparedness and Response Plans from 106 countries: a review from a health systems resilience perspective | Health Policy and Planning | Oxford Academic (oup.com).
HLH Network of Networks
Healthcare Information For All is launching two new projects with the Norwegian Institute of Public Health and partners:
1. mHEALTH-INNOVATE is a 3-year project exploring how healthcare workers' informal and innovative uses of mobile phones are shaping service delivery and governance in LMICs. Find out more here.
2. SUPPORT-SYSTEMS is a 3-year project that will explore the question: How can decision-making processes for health systems strengthening and universal health coverage be made more inclusive, responsive and accountable? Read more here.
For both projects, HIFA will provide a channel for multi-stakeholder involvement and discussion around the issues raised, thanks to our wide reach (>20,000 members in 180 countries) and the diversity of our members (health professionals, civil society, policymakers, library and information professionals, publishers...).
Join THET for #COVIDpartnerships: Transformative Pathways for a Healthy Recovery
Confronted by ever-changing crises, global partnerships have had to adapt and respond faster than ever. On 22nd April, THET’s third and final COVID Partnerships conference will explore the conditions driving the pandemic and shape our collective response. Equity, quality and workforce will form central themes on the day and through interactive panels, roundtables and keynotes, delegates will discuss, debate and develop our next steps.
This year, our free, CPD-accredited COVID Partnerships conference will be held on the Airmeet platform, allowing hundreds of delegates from around the world to join live.
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