Health Systems
- Designing for Impact and Institutionalization: Applying Systems Thinking to Sustainable Postpartum Family Planning Approaches for First-Time Mothers in Bangladesh
Public health practitioners often design interventions prioritizing potential impact over sustainability. To assess the potential for impact and institutionalization, we applied systems thinking to postpartum family planning approaches for first-time mothers in Bangladesh.
- Improving the Quality of Health Care in Special Neonatal Care Units of India: A Before and After Intervention Study
In low- and middle-income countries, facility-based neonatal care practices can be improved using a collaborative cross-learning quality improvement approach incorporating remote mentoring, coaching, and supportive supervision.
- A Tale of 2 Countries: Implementation of the Cold Chain Equipment Optimization Platform in Guinea and Kenya
Case studies of Gavi Cold Chain Equipment Optimization Platform investments in Guinea and Kenya illustrate how countries prioritize and implement large funding and support mechanisms and offer lessons applicable to other countries embarking on similar interventions.
- Digital Health Technologies Applied by the Pharmaceutical Industry to Improve Access to Noncommunicable Disease Care in Low- and Middle-Income Countries
Digital health technologies applied by the pharmaceutical industry offer opportunities to improve access to care for patients with noncommunicable diseases in low- and middle-income countries.
- Early Reflections on Mphatlalatsane, a Maternal and Neonatal Quality Improvement Initiative Implemented During COVID-19 in South Africa
A quality improvement initiative for maternal and neonatal health care demonstrates that a responsive intervention design and implementation approach mitigates threats to clinical services during COVID-19.
- Financial Implications of Tariffs for Medical Oxygen on Rwandan Public Hospitals’ Finance Management During the Coronavirus Epidemic
This study shows how variations in patient consumption of medical oxygen can be used to determine tariffs more accurately and highlights the need for a transition from the time-based tariff structure to a case-based or volume-based tariff to incentivize sustainable production of medical oxygen services at hospitals in Rwanda.
- Learning Health Systems to Bridge the Evidence-Policy-Practice Gap in Primary Health Care: Lessons From the African Health Initiative
The compilation of lessons in this supplement on the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation’s African Health Initiative’s work in the application of implementation research in primary health care in sub-Saharan Africa reflects the evolution of the discipline that is now increasingly recognized as integral to health systems strengthening.
- Using Health Systems and Policy Research to Achieve Universal Health Coverage in Ghana
Health system implementation research, combined with knowledge management processes, directly contributed to Community-based Health Planning and Services geographic coverage expansion. Research was less deliberately employed for guiding financial access expansion through the National Health Insurance Scheme.
- The Use of Research for Health Systems Policy Development and Implementation in Mozambique: A Descriptive Study
There are still considerable gaps in the process of using research evidence for policy making in Mozambique. We recommend key actions to take to improve the research-to-policy pipeline.
- Health System Resilience: Withstanding Shocks and Maintaining Progress
Building a resilient system capable of responding to health threats while maintaining essential health service delivery requires health systems to embed implementation research capacity to create the knowledge needed, ensure the affordability and accessibility of health care services at all levels of delivery, and provide the range of services needed to meet the population’s needs.