Session Programme

Parallel session

Monday, 19 April 2010

Session PS11/room 4

Strengthening Health Systems: Do's and Don'ts

Chairs: Josefien van Olmen, Research Officer and Coordinator, Network Health Systems, Department of Public Health, Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp, Belgium
Bart Criel, Department of Public Health, Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp, Belgium
Discussant: Bruno Marchal, Department of Public Health, Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp, Belgium

The train 'Health System Strengthening' (HSS) is in motion and HSS is on the lips of all players in the health system. International actors are joining forces to develop strategies, design activities, and propose tools to measure whether systems are strengthened or not. People are eager to take up the challenges and to see results. However, there is no common understanding on how to proceed and what to do (or not to do). Resources are necessary, but by no means sufficient. What else is then needed to make systems work? Empirical studies of HSS indicate that contextual elements and leadership often play a crucial role, such as the presence of a well-working bureaucracy, relational aspects and the application of values. Other studies point to the detrimental consequences, today or in the future, of some of the developments taking place in health systems. This session presents cases that illustrate important conditions or worrisome developments for the development of strong health systems. From there, we will draw some lessons about the do's and don'ts in the complex domain of health system strengthening.

Implementing GHIs in a Rural Tanzanian Hospital: A Potential Mismatch of Values

Oystein Evjen Olsen, Managing Medical Director of Haydom Lutheran Hospital, Tanzania & Senior Research and Capacity Building Advisor, DBL Centre for Health Reserach and Development, University of Copenhagen, and Primary Health Care Institute, Tanzania

Experience with People-Centred Care in Thailand: From Demonstration Diffusion to Policy Transformation

Yongyuth Pongsupap, National Health Security Office, Nonthaburi, Thailand

Training of Medical Doctors in DR Congo: Uncontrolled Explosion of Medical Schools

Faustin Chenge, Researcher and Lecturer, Schoold of Public Health, University of Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of Congo

The Private-not-for-Profit Healthcare Sector in Uganda

Sam Orochi Orach, Executive Secretary, Uganda Catholic Medical Bureau, Uganda Catholic Secretariat, Uganda