From Wikipedia,
the free encyclopedia.
(This article is about
movements to improve health. For
more information about political
movements affecting the delivery
of healthcare and healthcare
systems, see
Healthcare reform.)
Health Reform was a
movement in the 18th century where
hospitals were continuing to be
upgraded and improved. The term
"health reform," today also
referred to as "health system
strengthening," is a rising global
issue. Behind the term, on an
international or global level, is
the notion that root causes of
health problems are perhaps better
addressed not be countless
"vertical" program interventions,
but by strengthening a country's
ability to manage its own health
programs. For a long time, many
multilateral donor organizations (USAID,
GTZ, DFID, others) and a string of
private and non-governmental
organizations or NGOs (such as
CARE, Catholic Relief Services,
and others) have provided
intervention programs -- to
prevent AIDS, malaria, childhood
illnesses (e.g., diarrhea, measels).
For decades, organizations
advocated for assistance to
counter specific diseases or to
help specific regions. Many of
these programs were very
successful -- however, by land
large, their impact faded when
donors withdrew resources. More
vertical programs were launched,
but now with the intent of
ensuring they were "sustainable"
-- a term that suggests that each
country must take charge of its
health programs. Today, it is at
last clear that, in order to
achieve truly sustainable health
programs, a country must have a
range of broad skills to manage
its health system -- this includes
financial and human resources as
well as logistics, information,
and medical and public health
expertise.
Hampering these efforts is the
need by donor organizations to
account for the "impact" they are
having. It is relatively easy to
show that an oral rehydration
therapy (ORT) program has
significantly reduced child deaths
in an area where diarrhea is a big
killer, but not at all easy to
demonstrate the impact of monies
spent on training, information
systems, national health accounts
(NHA) or other "capacity
development" exercises.
