Join MSH at the 8th Global Symposium on Health Systems Research
Join MSH at the 8th Global Symposium on Health Systems Research
MSH experts attended the Eighth Global Symposium on Health Systems Research (HSR 2024) in Nagasaki, Japan, November 18-22, along with approximately 2,000 other health systems researchers, policy makers, and practitioners from around the world focused on this year’s theme, “Building Just and Sustainable Health Systems Centering People and Protecting the Planet.”
MSH technical experts presented and engaged in technical discussions relating to building climate-resilient health systems, improving access to quality maternal and newborn care, engaging in effective mechanisms for social participation in health, costing primary health care services, and sustainable financing.
SPHERE Panel
Social Participation for Health: Cases, Conundrums, and Campaigns
- Date: Wednesday, November 20
- Time: 16:10–17:40 Japan Standard Time (JST)
- Location: Room 102
This session, hosted by the Social Participation for Health: Engagement, Research, and Empowerment (SPHERE) consortium, engaged participants in breakout discussions, modeled as “escape rooms” to explore and address challenges faced by social participation for health (SPH) campaigners in Argentina, Kenya, and Vietnam.
Capacity Strengthening Session
Normative Costing of Primary Health Care: Lessons Learned and Practical Applications for Decision-Making and Resource Allocation
- Date: Thursday, November 21
- Time: 14:10–17:40 JST
- Location: Room 107
- MSH presenters: Rodrigo Muñoz (Consultant), Lindsay Murphy, Ishani Mathur, Colin Gilmartin, and Damian Walker
MSH and partners presented an innovative normative costing approach applied in India, Ethiopia, Chile, Kenya, Argentina, Nigeria, Honduras, and other countries to estimate resources required for quality health care services. Participants engaged in data analysis and can continue to participate in communities of practice through the Joint Learning Network (JLN) for Universal Coverage.
Satellite Session
Sustainable Financing Options for Essential Public Health Functions
- Date: Tuesday, November 19
- Time: 10:15–12:15 Japan Standard Time (JST)
- Location: Room 103
- MSH presenter: Saba Waseem
Infectious diseases, such as TB, are public health threats with unique characteristics that need to be considered in their financing. They require not only individual health actions, such as diagnosis and treatment, but also public health actions (PHAs) to contain their spread. In considering sustainable financing options, especially for heavily externally funded programs, PHA financing can be easily neglected. The session unpacked this challenge, discussing the use of a financing sustainability index to demonstrate how well health programs are mobilizing and utilizing resources and best practices in establishing mechanisms, such as contracting, to provide PHAs in mixed health systems.
Oral Presentations
The Medicines, Technologies, and Pharmaceutical Services (MTaPS) Program
Addressing Climate Risks in Health Care Facilities through Capacity Strengthening on HCWM and IPC in the Philippines
- Wednesday, November 20
- Time: 8:00–9:30 JST
- Location: Room 107
- MSH presenter: Gashaw Shiferaw
Underscoring the significance of focused capacity building for health personnel across various levels of the health system, this session included training in health care waste management (HCWM), infection prevention and control (IPC), and emergency supply chain preparedness and response. Such initiatives contribute to fortifying health facility resilience against emerging threats posed by climate change.
Healthy Women, Healthy Families (Shustha Ma, Shustha Poribar)
Improving Accessibility of Antenatal and Postnatal Care Services among Vulnerable Populations in Bangladesh through Human-Centered Design Approaches
- Thursday, November 21
- Time: 8:00–9:30 JST
- Location: Room 109
- MSH presenter: Farzana Islam
Partnering with BRAC, Scope, and Population Council, MSH is implementing the Healthy Women, Healthy Families (HWHF) (Shustha Ma, Shustha Poribar in Bangla) project in two facilities in the predominantly urban Gazipur district to introduce group antenatal and postnatal care (GANC-GPNC) for first-time parents. This presentation highlighted the importance of leveraging human-centered design (HCD) approaches to ensure that the needs of mothers and their families are addressed, which ultimately contributes to improvement in access to and use of key maternal health services.
Poster Presentations
Healthy Mothers and Babies in Guatemala (Utz’ Na’n)
Inclusive Antenatal Care Services for Indigenous Pregnant Women: A Qualitative Study from Rural Guatemala, 2023
- TBD
- Time: TBD
- Location: TBD
- MSH presenter: Aishling Thurow
The Utz’ Na’n project operates in the Guatemalan departments of San Marcos and Quetzaltenango to improve access to culturally responsive ANC by working with communities, including engaging comadronas (traditional birth companions) who promote self-care during pregnancy and enable referral to facility-based ANC, and by working with health centers to adopt more culturally sensitive practices. This poster presented the results of a qualitative community-based study, which examined factors influencing Indigenous women’s ANC decision-making and health care seeking behaviors.
Featured Resources
Three Things We Learned about the Cost of Pandemic Vaccine Delivery in Low-Income Countries: Insights from Malawi
![[A USAID MTaPS field consultant talks with a health worker at Marikina Valley Medical Center, Philippines. Photo credit: MSH staff]](https://msh.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/usaid_mtaps.webp)
Who Gets What and Why? Countries Need Informed Decision-making Through Health Technology Assessment to Allocate Resources During the Pandemic
Understanding the role of digital financial services for health: Lessons from case studies in Kenya and Rwanda
Time to Adapt: Accelerating Climate Adaptation for Health Equity—Catalyzing Solutions for Community Action
Innovating for Impact: Strengthening Health Systems and Building Connections at the Union Lung Conference
Digitization as a Key Tool for Ensuring Data Quality and Improvement of the TB Program in Ethiopia
Uganda SSCS Impact Story—July 2024: Improved Tracking, Tracing, and Visibility of Commodities in Hard-to-Reach Health Facilities Using an Integrated Solar-Powered System
Featured Projects
Healthy Women, Healthy Families (Shustha Ma, Shustha Poribar)
Primary Health Care Costing Tool Development and Implementation
