Editorial: nothing to add (at this time)
Dear reader,
Some days before the end of 2013, I guess that most of the things that have to be said this year are said, and the same counts for the things to be written. There is nothing to be added by the MMI secretariat at this time, so let me immediately hand over the stage to the members of the MMI Network and their news and updates below. However, as a result of a consultation with the Board, I can already confirm the dates and venues of most of the formal Network meetings in 2014:
- Thursday, 6 February in Basel: Board (only) meeting
Milestone for review of MMI Network policy - Saturday, 24 May (in the week of World Health Assembly)
MMI Assembly in Geneva - Thursday, 21 August in The Hague: Board (only) meeting
Milestone for development for MMI Strategy 2015+ - October/November: Network meeting with symposium
If you are interested to host this meeting and to link it with a planned event of your organization, please let us know until the end of this year.
For now I thank you all for your support and collaboration and wish you a quiet Christmas break (if you have any)!
Thomas Schwarz, Executive Secretary
Medicus Mundi International Network
MMI Network: News and resources
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Network news: Cordaid
2013 Cordaid Healthcare Award: the winner
The Dutch Lion Heart Foundation won the Cordaid Healthcare Award 2013. Cordaid awarded a prize of € 10.000 to the organization that showed outstanding implementation of innovative approaches to promote the health of young people. The Lion Heart Foundation received the award for a project in Sierra Leone during the Global Health Conference this December 3rd in The Hague.
> www.cordaid.org/en/topics/healthcare/healthcare-award/#announcement
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Network article: Wemos
Good governance for global health
“Public health is strongly influenced by the effects of globalization, which range from free trade to climate change to population growth. Many of the health challenges facing us today are not simply domestic issues, but transcend national boundaries, meaning we should no longer be focusing on purely domestic solutions. Tackling those challenges will require effective cooperation, policy and governance at the worldwide level. Many health problems still lack any such supra-national policy. At the same time, the World Health Organization’s leading role has taken an increasing back seat in recent years.” (read more)
> www.wemos.nl/Eng/wemos_projects_financing_for_health.htm
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Network article: medico international
Global health in crisis: The creeping disaster
“The news reaching us from Greece is shattering: ‘Growing numbers of suicides due to the greatest economic crisis since 1929’, ‘Chronically ill lacking access to medicine’, ‘Doubling in the number of HIV infections’. They remind us of the link between socioeconomic factors and people’s health. Austerity policies in times of crisis have been proven to cost human lives. Disasters such as wars, famine or floods are going to have a far more tragic impact among a world population shaken by financial crisis – if the right to good public healthcare for all is not given priority.” (read more)
> www.medico.de/en/themes/health/documents/global-health-in-crisis/1265/
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Network publication: EPN
Implementing standard operating procedures, guidelines and standards
The 2013 edition of EPN’s Pharmalink is now available online. Read about how implementing standard operating procedures, guidelines and standards can improve the quality of your services. Whether you work in a hospital, a drug supply organization or production unit, you have tools, materials, and last but not least colleagues, customers, people to interact with. To get things right is always a challenge. How do we design our processes, how do we organise ourselves? Who is responsible for what? The tasks to implement quality management systems appear huge and sometimes overwhelming. The examples in this edition of Pharmalink give proof that the efforts are worth to be taken.”
> www.epnetwork.org/Publications/Pharmalink-EN
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Network report: Cordaid/Memisa
Health care approach successful in Congo Brazaville
In Congo Brazzaville, Cordaid and Memisa Belgium introduced performance-based financing (PBF) in health care in 2012. They did so at the request of the Congolese government. PBF changed a lot of things, not only for the medical staff and patients in dozens of health centers, but also for the Congolese Ministry of Health. But it worked out well. So much so that the Congolese government has decided to sign performance based contracts with health care providers and administrators throughout the country for a total sum of 100 million dollars. “We have learned a lot from Cordaid,” said Dr. Bernice Nsitou Mesmer, medical doctor and coordinator at the Congolese Ministry of Health.
> www.cordaid.org/en/news/government-takes-over-cordaid-approach/
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Network publication: Health Poverty Action
Report on the Health Worker Shortage
Health Poverty Action launched a new report on the ‘brain drain’ of health workers from poor to wealthy countries. This brain drain threatens to undo recent improvements in global health and is about to get a lot worse. Key report covers: The impact of the global crisis in human resources for health; the impact of health worker migration on global health inequality; the reasons health workers migrate and what can be done about it; the responsibilities of wealthy countries in recruiting international health workers; specific examples of the impact on Mozambique, Somaliland, Uganda and Ethiopia.
> www.healthpovertyaction.org/news/new-report-health-worker-shortage/
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Network conference report: action medeor
International conference on local pharmaceutical production
Bonn, 21 February 2013. Insufficient access to essential medicines is a common health burden in developing countries and was topic of an international pharmaceutical conference in Bonn, Germany, organized by MMI Network member action medeor together with the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ). Main topics were the chances of local production and its impact on access to health with different stakeholders, particularly from Africa. The conference documentation is available now.
> medeor.de/en/action-medeor-en/events/840-international-conference-on-local-production.html
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Network resource: DWA Cuamm
TuBerculosis News
TuBerculosis News (TBN) is a project born in October 2012 with the idea to raise the public awareness about the leading cause of death among curable infectious diseases, tuberculosis. The initiative, thanks to the multidisciplinary approach and social networks, aims to have an important role in gathering and dissemination of news on the subject, trying to offer a comprehensive overview of all aspects related to the one of the major public health challenge. Information and awareness, therefore, will represent the basis for an innovative monthly newsletter that will propose a selection of the most important news, providing an easy access educational resource. (MMI Network member involved: DWA Cuamm)
> www.educationglobalhealth.eu/en/focus/tuberculosis-news
International Health Policy: MMI Updates
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Inspirations in 140 characters:
Tweets of the Month
- “Money alone does not buy better health. Good policies that promote equity have a better chance” – Margaret Chan
@HealthNetTPO - If there’s one thing the world is NOT doing at the moment, it’s converging!
@andrew_harmer - David Evans of WHO nails it at #gh2035: Compulsory Public Financing is the key to #UHC and global convergence
@yates_rob - More than 35 million people are HIV+ globally. Governments must tackle poverty and discrimination which perpetuates vulnerability @HealthPoverty
- Global Health 2.0 needs to incorporate lessons of HIV/AIDS and “exceptionalize” all health challenges & move beyond biomedical health sector
@MartenRobert
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Universal health coverage
Health systems strengthening
Health services, health financing
- Monitoring progress towards UHC: Framework proposed by WHO and World Bank. Deadline for comments: 15 February 2014
http://www.who.int/healthinfo/country_monitoring_evaluation/universal_health_coverage/en/ - Synthesis report: Global conference on universal health coverage for inclusive and sustainable growth
http://goo.gl/f8i6jV - WHO Director-General addresses ministerial forum on universal health coverage. Tokyo, 6 December 2013
http://www.who.int/dg/speeches/2013/sustainable-equitable-growth/en/index.html - WorldBank Group President Jim Yong Kim speaking at the Japan-World Bank Conference on Universal Health Coverage
http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/speech/2013/12/06/speech-world-bank-group-president-jim-yong-kim-government-japan-conference-universal-health-coverage - PAHO Director Dr. Carissa Etienne outlines principles of UHC, in the first of a series of seminars
http://ow.ly/rqcn4 - WHO EMRO ministerial meeting on accelerating progress towards UHC: global experiences and lessons for the region
http://www.emro.who.int/about-who/universal-health-access/accelerating-progress-towards-uhc-meeting.html?format=html#background-documents - Universal Health Coverage needs to be truly equitable and universal. Oxfam on World Bank UHC commitments
http://ow.ly/rHhDi - Universal Health Coverage – beyond rhetoric. Amit Sengupta
http://www.municipalservicesproject.org/sites/municipalservicesproject.org/files/publications/OccasionalPaper20_Sengupta_Universal_Health_Coverage_Beyond_Rhetoric_Nov2013_0.pdf - Universal health: From private coverage to public care. Video by MSPA and PHM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzNS5jd-LTY - Monitoring service delivery for universal health coverage. Kathryn O’Neill et al. in: WHO Bulletin
http://www.who.int/entity/bulletin/volumes/91/12/12-116798/en/index.html - Erosion of universal health coverage in Spain. Helena Legido-Quigley et al.
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2813%2962649-5/fulltext - The challenge of financing. The fundamentals of an equitable health financing system. Sudeep Chand
http://www.isglobal.org/es/web/guest/publication/-/asset_publisher/ljGAMKTwu9m4/content/the-challenge-of-financing - Responding to health challenges: the role of domestic resource mobilization. Alan Whiteside and Gavin Surgey
http://www.heard.org.za/downloads/responding-to-health-challenges-the-role-of-domestic-resource-mobilisation-2013.pdf - World Bank and Global Fund “partner to expand results-based financing for maternal & child health”
http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2013/12/11/world-bank-global-fund-results-based-financing-maternal-child-health - …and Victoria Fan and Amanda Glassman are happy with this. And you?
http://www.cgdev.org/blog/results-based-financing-duo-world-bank-and-global-fund - Brazil and Thailand got it right – can South Africa really make its National Health Insurance work? M. Kardas-Nelson
http://mg.co.za/article/2013-12-13-brazil-and-thailand-got-it-right-can-sa-really-make-nhi-work
See also below: Health beyond 2015
Twitter: #UHC
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Health policy and systems research
- Organising health research systems as a key to improving health: How to make further progress. Hanney/González-Block
http://www.health-policy-systems.com/content/11/1/47/abstract - Learning from research: Systematic reviews for informing policy decisions. David Gough et al.
http://www.alliance4usefulevidence.org/publication/learning-from-research/#sthash.D6T2rQ7i.dpuf - Third Global Symposium on HSR – Lucy Gilson talks about the science and practice of people-centred health systems
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWMyPEZxAv0 - Marie-Paule Kieny (WHO Assistant Director-General) talks about the Third Global Symposium
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhDNev8TR_I - The dangers of a new epidemic: pessimism. Richard Horton on how to strengthen the use of evidence to shape policy
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2813%2962563-5/fulltext - How Africa’s researchers are solving Africa’s health problems. Frederika Whitehead
http://e.itg.be/ihp/archives/ihp-news-249-global-fund-replenishment-lancet-global-health-2035/#sthash.4SuaPbWj.dpuf
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Human resources for health
Migration of health professionals
- 3rd Global Forum on HRH: 57 commitment statements by WHO member states, but only two European
http://www.who.int/workforcealliance/forum/2013/hrh_commitments/en/index.html - A cycle of brain gain, waste and drain – non-EU migrant doctors in Ireland. Humphries et al.
http://www.human-resources-health.com/content/11/1/63/abstract
Twitter: #HRH, #healthworkers #healthworkerscount, #3GFHRH
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Access to medicines and vaccination
Medical research and development
- Human guinea-pigs: Clinical trials on the cheap. La Declaration magazine
http://www.evb.ch/cm_data/DB-Solidaire-229-ang_-_septembre_2013.pdf - Follow-up of the CEWG report on Research and Development: Financing and Coordination. WHO secretariat for EB134
http://apps.who.int/gb/ebwha/pdf_files/EB134/B134_26-en.pdf - CEWG process: Conclusions of a technical consultative meeting on identification of health R&D demonstration projects
http://www.who.int/phi/implementation/phi_cewg_meeting/en/ - CEWG process: Status quo wins again: selected R&D demonstration projects disappoint, states HAI
http://bit.ly/18B5oLZ - CEWG process: “Put delinkage & transformative models of innovation back into heart of the process”, says MSF
http://www.msfaccess.org/content/msf-responds-outcome-global-technical-consultative-meeting-identification-health-rd - Research and development for neglected diseases: more is still needed, and faster. J Utzinger and J Keiser
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X%2813%2970148-7/fulltext
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Diseases and diseases control
Health conditions
Health through the life-course
- Mental health information at your fingertips – WHO launches the MiNDbank. Note for media
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/notes/2013/mindbank-20131210/en/index.html - WHO MiNDbank: Resources on mental health, substance abuse, disability, general health, human rights and development
http://www.mindbank.info/ - Wemos calls for a balanced approach to malnutrition that also tackles the causes of unequal access to healthy nutrition
http://www.wemos.nl/Eng/wemos_projects_financing_for_health.htm - WHO Secretariat report on AMR for WHO EB134
http://apps.who.int/gb/ebwha/pdf_files/EB134/B134_37-en.pdf - Global strategy and targets for tuberculosis prevention, care and control after 2015. WHO secretariat for EB134
http://apps.who.int/gb/ebwha/pdf_files/EB134/B134_17-en.pdf - Addressing the Social Determinants of Noncommunicable Diseases. UNDP UNDP Discussion paper
http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/librarypage/hiv-aids/discussion-paper–addressing-the-social-determinants-of-noncommu/ - WHO Europe Ministerial Conference on the prevention and control of NCDs in the context of Health2020
http://www.euro.who.int/en/media-centre/events/events/2013/12/ashgabat-conference-on-noncommunicable-diseases - Accelerate national action on NCDs: Ashgabat Declaration
http://bit.ly/1dPppGv - World AIDS Day message 2013. Michel Sidibé, UNAIDS
http://www.unaids.org/en/resources/presscentre/pressreleaseandstatementarchive/2013/november/20131126wad2013/ - Defeating AIDS – advancing global health. Three working papers by the UNAIDS and Lancet commission
http://www.thelancet.com/comments/defeating-aids-advancing-global-health - WHO Global Malaria Report 2013
http://goo.gl/e7MNwI - Multisectoral action for a life course approach to healthy ageing. WHO secretariat for EB134
http://apps.who.int/gb/ebwha/pdf_files/EB134/B134_19-en.pdf - Implementing policies for healthy ageing in Europe. WHO Europe
http://www.euro.who.int/en/media-centre/events/events/2013/12/technical-meeting-on-implementing-policies-for-healthy-ageing-in-europe
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Women’s and children’s health
Sexual and reproductive rights and health
- Global Investment Framework for Women’s and Children’s health
http://www.ow.ly/rp3Ux - Integrating health care to meet the needs of the mother–infant pair. PLOS Medicine / MHTF call for papers
http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001559
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Equity and human right to health
Social determinants of health
Poverty and social protection
- Proposed new agenda item for WHO EB134: “Sustainable action across sectors to improve health & health equity”
http://apps.who.int/gb/ebwha/pdf_files/EB134/B134_1Add1-en.pdf - The right to health, the forgotten right? Martin Drewry on Human Rights Day
http://www.healthpovertyaction.org/news/right-health-forgotten-right/ - Tackling inequality to achieve inclusive growth. Insights and conclusions from a debate in The Broker
http://www.thebrokeronline.eu/en/Articles/Tackling-inequality-to-achieve-inclusive-growth - Addressing the Social Determinants of Noncommunicable Diseases. UNDP Discussion paper
http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/librarypage/hiv-aids/discussion-paper–addressing-the-social-determinants-of-noncommu/
Twitter: #SDH, #HIAP
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Global health governance and policy
- Global health: The elephant in the G20′s living room. Amber Cashwell
http://endtheneglect.org/2013/12/global-health-the-elephant-in-the-g20s-living-room/ - Ever wonder what Europe really invests in health aid? The new AFGH report can tell you!
http://www.actionforglobalhealth.eu/index.php?id=307 - MDGs and NTDs: Reshaping the global health agenda. James Smith and Emma Michelle Taylor
http://www.plosntds.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pntd.0002529 - Why Japan has made worldwide access to healthcare coverage a critical element of its foreign policy. Laurie Garrett
https://lgarrett.squarespace.com/blog/2013/12/17/why-japan-has-made-worldwide-access-to-healthcare-coverage-a-key-element-of-its-foreign-policy - Health diplomacy meets science diplomacy – videos etc. from the 6th high level global health diplomacy symposium
http://graduateinstitute.ch/home/research/centresandprogrammes/globalhealth/symposium-on-ghd/symposium-2013/videos.html - Making PEPFAR. Harold Varmus gives insights into US health diplomacy & political determinants of global health
http://www.sciencediplomacy.org/article/2013/making-pepfar - Governance for health equity in the WHO European Region.
http://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/235712/e96954.pdf - The role of the minimum core concept in advancing essential global health needs. Forman et al.
http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-698X/13/48/Abstract - Supporting “nanny” health policies: A human rights perspective. Francisco Oviedo-Gomez
http://e.itg.be/ihp/archives/supporting-nanny-health-policies-human-rights-perspective/ - WHO Global Health Observatory is world’s largest, most comprehensive collection of up-to-date health data
http://goo.gl/qNXwMv - The joy of facts and figures. WHO Bulletin interview with Hans Rosling: “Easy to make health statistics interesting but difficult to persuade people to accept a fact-based view of the world.”
http://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/91/12/13-031213/en/index.html
Twitter: #globalhealth #healthgovernance
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World Health Organization
WHO reform and financing
- WHO Executive Board, 134th Session, 20-25 January 2014: Annotated agenda and first documents
http://apps.who.int/gb/e/e_eb134.html - WHO AFRO: looking for a leader. Udani Samarasekera
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2813%2962646-X/fulltext - Documentation of 25-26 November WHO financing dialogue meeting
http://www.who.int/about/resources_planning/financing_dialogue/meeting_november/en/index.html - Decentralisation and @WHO reform: The broader perspective. IlonaKickbusch
http://graduateinstitute.ch/files/live/sites/iheid/files/sites/globalhealth/shared/1894/Publications/working%20papers/Working%20papers_008.pdf
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Development, aid, NGOs and international institutions
- International development NGOs must give away power and focus on solidarity. Ben Phillips
http://newint.org/blog/internationalists/2013/10/25/ngos-give-up-power-internationalism/ - Paul Farmer calls on NGOs, donors etc. to work directly with governments
http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/140495/paul-farmer/rethinking-foreign-aid - How “global” is global health? Examining the geographic diversity of global health thinkers. T. van der Rijt, T. Pang
http://blogs.shu.edu/ghg/2013/12/06/how-global-is-global-health-examining-the-geographic-diversity-of-global-health-thinkers/ - Global development policymakers live in a tiny bubble. Mark Chataway
http://www.hyderus.com/global-development-policymakers-live-tiny-bubble/ - Ending poverty is about the politics of power: Duncan Green’s guest piece for the OECD
http://www.oxfamblogs.org/fp2p/?p=16768 - Changing world: Why developing vs. developed is now meaningless. Hans Rosling
http://edition.cnn.com/2013/12/10/opinion/gapminder-hans-rosling/index.html - Democracy & Philanthropy: The American Experiment. Michael Myers
http://www.rockefellerfoundation.org/blog/democracy-philanthropy-american - Plutocrats at Work: How Big Philanthropy Undermines Democracy. Joanne Barkan
http://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/plutocrats-at-work-how-big-philanthropy-undermines-democracy
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Health and Economic Development
Global Health 2015: Lancet Commission Report
- Global health 2035: a world converging within a generation. The Lancet Commission report
http://www.thelancet.com/commissions/global-health-2035 - Global health 2035: a world converging within a generation. Related policy briefs
http://investinginhealth2035.org/policy-briefs - Investing in health: why, what, and three reflections. R.Horton and S. Lo
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2813%2962330-2/fulltext - Investing in health: progress but hard choices remain. Margaret Chan
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2813%2962336-3/fulltext - Time for even greater ambition in global health. Jim Yong Kim
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(13)62374-0/fulltext - Global health 2035 focuses on health sector – an incomplete picture. Action on Social Determinants is also necessary, states Helen Clark
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2813%2962335-1/fulltext - Can the Grand Convergence replace the MDGs? Richard Smith on the GH2035 report
http://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2013/12/05/richard-smith-can-the-grand-convergence-replace-the-mdgs/ - If there’s one thing the world is NOT doing at the moment, it’s converging! Andrew Harmer refers to:
http://tinyurl.com/ae6pp6l
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Health beyond 2015
MDGs and SDGs
- Monitoring the achievement of the health-related Millennium Development Goals. WHO secretariat for EB134
http://apps.who.int/gb/ebwha/pdf_files/EB134/B134_17-en.pdf - Post2015 goals and health – and specific steps Canada can take to encourage a healthy, progressive transition. Ronald Labonté
http://www.healthypolicies.com/2013/12/canada-and-the-post-2015-world-part-ii - What could a strengthened right to health bring to the post-2015 health development agenda? Lisa Forman et al.
http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-698X/13/48/abstract - How should global health and AIDS architecture be modernized for post-2015 development agenda? UNAIDS/Lancet
http://goo.gl/2tdkfyitem
Twitter: #health2015 #post2015 #globalhealth
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