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MSH at the Seventh Global Symposium on Health Systems Research 2022

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Health Care Financing, Product and Health Technology Optimization
Oct 31, 20229:00 am – Nov 04, 20226:00 pm

MSH at the Seventh Global Symposium on Health Systems Research 2022

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MSH experts attended the Seventh Global Symposium on Health Systems Research (HSR 2022) in Bogota, Colombia, October 31st – November 4th, 2022, along with approximately 2,000 other health systems researchers, policy makers, and practitioners from around the world focused on this year’s theme, “Health Systems Performance in the Political Agenda: Sharing Lessons for Current and Future Global Challenges.”  

MSH technical experts addressed the stress that the health systems, in the countries where we work, have faced these past two years. Sessions included financing of both COVID-19 vaccinations and recovery of routine immunization, improving patient access and affordability policies in non-communicable diseases in Latin America, and country costing results from our work in Madagascar and Malawi.  

Satellite Session

The Financing and Delivery of Immunization: Transition from Funding the COVID-19 Pandemic Response to Recovery of Routine Immunization

The COVID-19 pandemic placed significant strain on health systems globally, especially immunization services. Health care financing has also been severely impacted due to the dual burden of funding the pandemic response during fiscal crises in many countries. Strained health systems have had to distribute COVID-19 vaccines rapidly, while simultaneously struggling to maintain routine immunization services. The latest estimates from the WHO and UNICEF have shown that global vaccination coverage continues to decline, with 25 million infants missing out on lifesaving vaccines.   

Organized by UNICEF, this full-day hybrid satellite session, including speakers from UNICEF, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, JSI,  ThinkWell, and MSH, presented new research and evidence on the financing of both COVID-19 vaccination and recovery of routine immunization. Participants examined the financing and delivery of COVID-19 vaccination, including the costs and impacts of redeploying human resource for health and addressed the recovery of routine immunization. The day wrapped up with a participatory session aimed at developing a future research agenda in this area. MSH’s Dr. Christian Suharlim and Ishani Mathur were panelists at the session and presented on behalf of the Medicines, Technologies, and Pharmaceutical Services (MTaPS) program, funded by USAID and implemented by a consortium led by MSH, and MTaPS’ work on COVID-19 vaccine delivery.

Global Response on Costing and Financing 

Dr. Suharlim addressed the use of global surveys to provide rapid insights on COVID-19 vaccine delivery – drawing insights from MSH’s work in delivering and supporting COVID-19 vaccination in over 17 countries.  

Country Cost Evidence

Mathur discussed methodological and practical challenges in collecting primary cost data during a pandemic using insights gathered from MSH’s Malawi and Madagascar costing studies and the MSH-led Accessible Continuum of Care and Essential Services Sustained (ACCESS) program’s vaccinodrome work.

The satellite session will also include the following poster presentation with insights from the following MSH work: 

As network manager of the Joint Learning Network (JLN) for Universal Health Coverage, MSH’s work will be discussed in the following sessions by its technical partners:

Satellite Session

How to Institutionalize Explicit National Health Priority Setting and Improve Ministries of Health Budget Execution: Countries Share Promising Practices from Peer Learning Exchanges

Ministries of health in Lao PDR, Peru, and the Philippines shared promising practices identified through multi-country joint learning exchanges and technical assistance to strengthen the link between explicit national health priority setting processes, budget formulation, and sound health budget execution.

Virtual Session

Strengthening Primary Health Care through Primary Care Networks

This session showcased the experiences and learnings of implementation case team representatives, peer learners, and our facilitators as they share more about their experiences in using a peer learning approach to implementing a primary care network (PCN). Participants learned about the effectiveness of using peer learning to support and advance PCNs at the national level and gain key understandings of the successes and barriers in this approach.

Blog Series Aligned with HSR 2022

How the JLN Kept Its Promise on Strengthening Primary Care Systems Despite COVID-19 Uncertainty

For the JLN, MSH also authored a blog as part of the series, “Prioritizing Universal Health Coverage in the Political Agenda: Needs, Barriers & Opportunities,” aligned with the UHC2030 Health Systems Related Initiatives. It focused on the HSR 2022 sub-theme: The role of comprehensive primary health care in promoting sustainability and the contribution of new technologies.

Poster Presentations: November 2 – 4

International Benchmarking of Affordability Policies for Innovation in Non-communicable Diseases: Lessons from Latin America

In effectively reaching universal health coverage and providing coverage to the entire population and access to all services while ensuring financial protection of their systems, Latin American countries face challenges that are particular to the region. Dr. Ana Amaris Caruso presented on 10 affordability policies around pricing for medical products studied in 11 Latin American countries. Affordability policies for innovative medicines vary widely across the region, and although all countries have adopted at least one of them, ensuring that these policies work properly is key to increase efficiency and access to innovation among these health systems. While there is no perfect formula for all, each country must coordinate the implementation of different policies to ensure that they work in synergistic and effective ways to increase their impact on the health system.    

Streamlining Political Economy Analysis Approaches in Health Systems Research

Addressing crises in national health systems requires understanding the political context and identifying political entry points for initiating change. Political economy analysis (PEA) aids in understanding the political dimensions of any context and informs policy and programs. Although traditional PEA methods are often viewed as resource intensive, the USAID Medicines, Technologies, and Pharmaceutical Services (MTaPS) Program—implemented by a consortium led by MSH—developed a methodology for streamlined PEA amidst COVID-19. The MTaPS team discussed their PEA approach, which can be completed in as little as four weeks and conducted remotely as needed.  

 

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