Tag: health systems strengthening
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Aug 3, 2010
Preventing AIDS Deaths Need Not Be a Fight: A Health Systems Approach
This post was originally published on the CapacityPlus blog (August 2, 2010). In the Washington Post article “Rage, panic in AIDS fight” , David Brown alleges that the goal of health systems strengthening is “hard-to-define.” In fact, it is not. Whatever the disease or health sector of priority—be it HIV/AIDS, malaria, family planning, labor and delivery, or pneumonia—six components of the health system must be functioning and integrated in order for health impacts to be maximized. These components are: Service delivery Medical products, vaccines, and technology Financing Health information systems Leadership and governance The health workforce—arguably most important of all. The challenge has not been that health systems are hard to define, but rather that advocates for funding for specific diseases are generating parallel health systems that are not integrated, not sustainable, and not cost-effective. While HIV/AIDS activists lobby for funding in the face of 2.5 million people who die each year from HIV/AIDS, Ezekiel J. Emanuel , President Obama’s special adviser for health policy,... Read More »
