Health Policy Issues and Health Programmes in ... - Amazon S3

Public Health Issues, Priorities, and the Role of the Governmentllresponsibility by involving communities and increasing the allocations of human andfinancial resources.Strengthen public health by creating career structures at national, state, provincial anddistrict levels and by establishing policies to demand a data-competent background andrelevant expertise for persons responsible for the health of populations.Strengthen and reform public health education, training and research, as supported by thenetworking of institutions and information technology, for improving human resourcesdevelopment.How Do We Address the Problem?l Develop evidence-based policies and strategies. Equally important is effectiveimplementation of strategies at all levels, especially at the district level and below. Thiswould require a continuous and ongoing exchange between researchers and policy-makersfor sharing information and identifying priority areas for policy development.l Health is a development issue, hence promote and develop mechanisms for inter-sectoralcoordination. Develop public health as a holistic model for health care and humandevelopment. There is a greater need for community participation and involvement ofPanchayati Raj institutions (PRIs).l Shift focus to increase access and availability of health to the poor, disadvantaged andvulnerable segments of the population.l Support health sector reforms: policy, organization and management in the health systems,health workforce development and decentralized planning process.l Develop leadership and team-building skills among health managers and health careproviders.l Strengthen management systems and processes: management information systems,planning and implementation, monitoring and evaluation, logistics and supply and qualityassurance.l Evolve health financing mechanisms to support health care systems by increasing the shareof health expenditure in relation to the gross domestic product (GDP). It would also requiredeveloping alternative financing approaches through cost recovery, user charges and otherpayments for health care.l Involve and regulate the private sector and avoid competition. The public system shouldinvest more in primary health care and health promotion and foster partnership with theprivate sector, not only at the secondary and tertiary levels of health care, but also forprimary health care.l Enhance the skills of leaders, managers, and health care providers. Some of the critical areasthat need immediate attention are as follows.n Strengthen public health and make it skill-orientedn Clinical skillsn Epidemiological skillsn Leadership and team-building skillsn Organization and managerial skillsn Social and communication skills.18