June 2010

June 14, 2010

MSH is at the 37th Annual Global Health Council Conference [2]

Management Sciences for Health [3]

Today, the 37^th annual Global Health Council Conference “Goals and Metrics” begins in Washington, DC. MSH is pleased to be a Silver Sponsor of the conference.

MSH is sponsoring two auxiliary events:

“Can Country Ownership Work? Field Perspectives on Health Systems Strengthening”
Today, June 14, 2-4pm, Governors Room, Omni Shoreham Hotel, Washington, DC
A panel discussion co-hosted by MSH and Oxfam on how “country ownership”—the management of donor funds by a national government—works in practice. The panel will feature first-hand perspectives from government and civil society health providers from Cambodia, Mozambique, and Nigeria.
The event is open and free to the public.
A live webcast will also be available: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/can-country-ownership-work [5]

Investing in Partnerships for Health Impact [7]

Jonathan D. Quick, MD, MPH [8]

Fragile States [9]

Health Systems Strengthening [4]

[10]

In fragile states, constraints on governments often prevent them from simultaneously building their stewardship role and immediately expanding service delivery. National and local governments must ultimately lead the process and work together with NGOs and the private sector to successfully strengthen their own health systems.

In Haiti, a two-pronged approach was successfully developed and implemented prior to the earthquake by a four-way partnership between the Government of Haiti, the United States Government, a network of Haitian and international NGOs (Santé pour le Développement et la Stabilité d’Haíïti) (SDSH [11]), and Management Sciences for Health [12].

The two-pronged approach included:

MSH Featured on Global Health TV [14]

Management Sciences for Health [3]

Health Systems Strengthening [4]

HIV & AIDS [15]

Women & Gender [16]

Global Health TV visits Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, to see how MSH’s systems approach at the community level results in better lives for people living with HIV & AIDS. Management Sciences for Health, an international nonprofit organization, uses proven approaches developed over four decades to help leaders, health managers, and communities in over 60 countries build stronger health systems for greater health impact.

Watch the video. [17]

Leadership and Management, a Key Ingredient for Improving Maternal Health [19]

Morsi Morad Mansour [20]

Women & Gender [16]

[21]

Last week at the Women Deliver Conference [22] in Washington, DC, Melinda Gates announced that the Gates Foundation [23] is committing $1.5 Billion in new grant money for maternal health. “Women and children have moved up on the global agenda, and I’m here to tell you that’s where they are going to stay,” said Gates.

In most developing countries, women and girls are the poorest and most vulnerable parts of the population because of entrenched inequalities. MSH [12] believes that health is a human right; equal access is essential to all aspects of health care.

UNAIDS Launches ‘Red Card’ Campaign Against HIV [25]

HIV & AIDS [15]

Women & Gender [16]

[26]

UNAIDS’s new campaign aims to eliminate mother to child transmission (MTCT [27]) of HIV by the 2012 World Cup in Brazil. It is fantastic to see that UNAIDS is using the enthusiasm and media coverage of World Cup to draw attention to one of Africa’s most pressing health issues, perinatal transmission of HIV [28].

My colleague Jude Nwokikie, program manager of the Strengthening Pharmaceutical Systems [29] (SPS) project in South Africa and Namibia declared, “The world is no longer in the mood to tolerate MTCT.”

Rebuilding in Haiti: Leadership in the Post-Disaster Context [31]

Health Systems Strengthening [4]

HIV & AIDS [15]

[32]

Just over five months ago, Haiti suffered a devastating earthquake that displaced more than 700,000 people. Addressing the health needs of such a large population in a post-disaster situation is a complex challenge, one Management Sciences for Health (MSH) is supporting through its many programs including our Leadership, Management and Sustainability Program (LMS) [33].

Can Country Ownership Work? [35]

Laura Sider Jost [36]

Health Systems Strengthening [4]

“Songs brought by foreigners do not last long at the dance.” So goes a Kenyan proverb that supports the concept that countries should own their development. The development community knows this, but we aren’t yet making it happen on a broad scale. On the opening day of the Global Health Council conference last week, Management Sciences for Health [12] (MSH) teamed up with Oxfam America [37]to host a panel on country ownership and how to successfully achieve it.

To a standing room only audience the panelists from civil society, NGOs, local government, and US government discussed country ownership models from a varied perspectives. Highlights from the interesting conversation are below:

Making the Final Push for Political Will [39]

Kate Wright [40]

Women & Gender [16]

One of the most striking admissions I heard during the Women Deliver [22] 2010 conference in Washington DC [41] (June 7-9) was that the major challenge facing maternal health improvement is a lack of political will. Kathleen Sebelius [42], the US Secretary for Health and Human Services, suggested that the problem with improving maternal mortality lay not with the lack of knowledge or interventions, but the political will to put that knowledge to action, the will to make maternal mortality a priority of governments, the will to stand up and say that the lives of women matter, and we MUST do something about it.

Involving Community is Key to Integrating HIV & AIDS Programs with Other Health Services [44]

Jonathan D. Quick, MD, MPH [8]

Health Systems Strengthening [4]

HIV & AIDS [15]

[45]Next month in Vienna, Austria, thousands of activists, community workers, donors, health leaders, and government officials will gather for the VVIII International AIDS Conference [46]. This year’s theme is Rights here, right now: a mandate on the importance of health as a human right for all. While it is easy to talk about health as a human right, it is much more difficult to deliver to diverse communities in some of the poorest countries around the world.

Last year when President Obama announced his Global Health Initiative (GHI) [47], he spoke about meeting the health needs of the world by leveraging current resources and integrating programs for greater health impact. Integrating HIV & AIDS services with other health services such as reproductive health (including family planning), TB, malaria, or maternal and child health increases effectiveness and ultimately sustainability.

MSH Welcomes the G-8 Muskoka Initiative and Calls on G-20 to Step Up Commitments to Global Health [49]

Management Sciences for Health [3]

Health Systems Strengthening [4]

Women & Gender [16]

The Group of Eight (G-8), holding their annual summit last weekend in Muskoka,Canada, announced a Canadian-led Muskoka Initiative on Maternal, Newborn and Under-Five Child Health (Muskoka Initiative). [50]The Group of 20 (G-20) summit held immediately after in Toronto, resulted in no additional commitments to maternal and child health. MSH believes the G-20 missed an opportunity to support global health when the group did not endorse the G-8’s maternal and child health initiative announced the day before. The G-20 is a group of key finance ministers and central bank governors that meets semi-annually on matters relating to the international financial system.

Read more [49]

Links
[1] https://msh.org/blog/2010/06/14/msh-is-at-the-37th-annual-global-health-council-conference#comments
[2] https://msh.org/blog/2010/06/14/msh-is-at-the-37th-annual-global-health-council-conference
[3] https://msh.org/users/management-sciences-for-health
[4] https://msh.org/blog-categories/health-systems-strengthening
[5] http://www.ustream.tv/channel/can-country-ownership-work
[6] https://msh.org/blog/2010/06/14/investing-in-partnerships-for-health-impact#comments
[7] https://msh.org/blog/2010/06/14/investing-in-partnerships-for-health-impact
[8] https://msh.org/users/jonathan-d-quick-md-mph
[9] https://msh.org/blog-categories/fragile-states
[10] https://msh.org/sites/msh.org/files/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/MSH-Haiti.jpg
[11] http://www.msh.org/global-presence/haiti-sdsh.cfm
[12] http://www.msh.org/
[13] https://msh.org/blog/2010/06/15/msh-featured-on-global-health-tv#comments
[14] https://msh.org/blog/2010/06/15/msh-featured-on-global-health-tv
[15] https://msh.org/blog-categories/hiv-aids
[16] https://msh.org/blog-categories/women-gender
[17] http://www.globalhealthtv.com/conference_tv/v/strengthening_health_systems/#/v/strengthening_health_systems/
[18] https://msh.org/blog/2010/06/16/leadership-and-management-a-key-ingredient-for-improving-maternal-health#comments
[19] https://msh.org/blog/2010/06/16/leadership-and-management-a-key-ingredient-for-improving-maternal-health
[20] https://msh.org/users/morsi-morad-mansour
[21] https://msh.org/sites/msh.org/files/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Mother-Child-waiting-in-line-for-immunization.-Pignon-Haiti.jpg
[22] http://www.womendeliver.org/
[23] http://www.gatesfoundation.org/Pages/home.aspx
[24] https://msh.org/blog/2010/06/17/unaids-launches-%E2%80%98red-card%E2%80%99-campaign-against-hiv#comments
[25] https://msh.org/blog/2010/06/17/unaids-launches-%E2%80%98red-card%E2%80%99-campaign-against-hiv
[26] https://msh.org/sites/msh.org/files/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/UNAIDS_redcard2_200.jpg
[27] http://www.unaids.org/en/KnowledgeCentre/Resources/PressCentre/PressReleases/2010/20100601redcard.asp
[28] http://www.unaids.org/en/KnowledgeCentre/Resources/FeatureStories/archive/2010/20100607_WorldCap.asp
[29] http://projects.msh.org/projects/sps/index2.cfm
[30] https://msh.org/blog/2010/06/21/rebuilding-in-haiti-leadership-in-the-post-disaster-context#comments
[31] https://msh.org/blog/2010/06/21/rebuilding-in-haiti-leadership-in-the-post-disaster-context
[32] https://msh.org/sites/msh.org/files/blog.msh.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/contraceptives-in-trunk.jpg
[33] http://www.msh.org/our-work/projects/leadership-management-sustainability-project-in-haiti
[34] https://msh.org/blog/2010/06/22/can-country-ownership-work#comments
[35] https://msh.org/blog/2010/06/22/can-country-ownership-work
[36] https://msh.org/users/laura-sider-jost
[37] http://www.oxfamamerica.org/
[38] https://msh.org/blog/2010/06/23/making-the-final-push-for-political-will#comments
[39] https://msh.org/blog/2010/06/23/making-the-final-push-for-political-will
[40] https://msh.org/users/kate-wright
[41] http://www.womendeliver.org/conferences/-2010-conference/
[42] http://www.hhs.gov/secretarysebelius.html
[43] https://msh.org/blog/2010/06/28/involving-community-is-key-to-integrating-hiv-aids-programs-with-other-health#comments
[44] https://msh.org/blog/2010/06/28/involving-community-is-key-to-integrating-hiv-aids-programs-with-other-health
[45] https://msh.org/sites/msh.org/files/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/2007.CheveneeReavis.Malawi.mother.child_.jpg
[46] http://www.aids2010.org/
[47] http://www.pepfar.gov/ghi/index.htm
[48] https://msh.org/blog/2010/06/28/msh-welcomes-the-g-8-muskoka-initiative-and-calls-on-g-20-to-step-up-commitments-to#comments
[49] https://msh.org/blog/2010/06/28/msh-welcomes-the-g-8-muskoka-initiative-and-calls-on-g-20-to-step-up-commitments-to
[50] http://www.g8.utoronto.ca/summit/2010muskoka/communique.html