Results and Lessons Learned from CapacityPlus 2009-2015
This paper summarizes the evidence about the health effects of air pollution from particulate matter and their implications for policy-makers, with the aim of stimulating the development of more effective strategies to reduce
air pollution and its health effects in the countries of eastern Europe,... the Caucasus and central Asia.
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Round 3: Key informant findings from 129 countries, territories and areas - Quarter 4 2021
Countries reported disruptions in all health-care settings. In more than half of countries surveyed, many people are still unable to access care at the primary care and community care levels. Significant dis...ruptions have also been reported in emergency care, particularly concerning given the impact on people with urgent health needs. Thirty-six per cent of countries reported disruptions to ambulance services; 32% to 24-hour emergency room services; and 23% to emergency surgeries.
Elective surgeries have also been disrupted in 59% of countries, which can have accumulating consequences on health and well-being as the pandemic continues. Disruptions to rehabilitative care and palliative care were also reported in around half of the countries surveyed.
Major barriers to health service recovery include pre-existing health systems issues which have been exacerbated by the pandemic as well as decreased demand for care.
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The relative priority received by issues
in global health agendas is subjected to impressionistic
claims in the absence of objective methods of assessment
of priority. To build an approach for conducting structured
assessments of comparative priority health issues receive,
we expand the public ...arenas model (2021) and offer a
framework for future assessments of health issue priority
in global and national health agendas.
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Africa’s health sector is facing an unprecedented financing crisis, driven by a sharp decline of 70% in Official Development Assistance (ODA) from 2021 to 2025 and deep-rooted structural vulnerabilities. This collapse is placing immense pressure on Africa’s already fragile health systems as ODA ...is seen as the backbone of critical health programs: pandemic preparedness, maternal and child health services, disease control programs are all at
risk, threatening Sustainable Development Goal 3 and Universal Health Coverage. Compounding this is Africa’s spiraling debt, with countries expected to service USD 81 billion by 2025—surpassing anticipated external financing inflows—further eroding fiscal space for health investments. Level of domestic resources is low. TThe Abuja Declaration of 2001, a pivotal commitment made by African Union (AU) member states, aimed to reverse this trend by pledging to allocate at least 15% of national budgets to the health sector. However, more than two decades later, only three countries—Rwanda, Botswana, and Cabo Verde—have
consistently met or exceeded this target (WHO, 2023). In contrast, over 30 AU member states remain well below the 10% benchmark, with some allocating as little as 5–7% of their national budgets to health.
In addition, only 16 (29%) of African countries currently have updated versions of National Health Development Plan (NHDP) supported by a National Health Financing Plan (NHFP). These two documents play a critical role in driving internal resource mobilisation. At the same time, public health emergencies are surging, rising 41%—from 152 in 2022 to
213 in 2024—exposing severe under-resourcing of health infrastructure and workforce. Recurring outbreaks (Mpox, Ebola, cholera, measles, Marburg…) alongside effects of climate change and humanitarian crises in Eastern DRC, the Sahel, and Sudan, are overwhelming systems stretched by chronic underfunding. The situation is worsened by Africa’s heavy dependency with over 90% of vaccines, medicines, and diagnostics being externally sourced—leaving countries vulnerable to global supply chain shocks. Health worker shortages persist, with only 2.3 professionals
per 1,000 people (below the WHO’s recommended 4.45), and fewer than 30% of systems are digitized, undermining disease surveillance and early warning. Without decisive action, Africa CDC projects the continent could reverse two decades of health progress, face 2 to 4 million additional preventable deaths annually, and a heightened risk of a pandemic emerging from within. Furthermore, 39 million more
Africans could be pushed into poverty by 2030 due to intertwined health and economic shocks. This is not just a sectoral crisis—it is an existential threat to Africa’s political, social, and economic resilience, and global stability. In response, African leaders, under Africa CDC’s stewardship, are advancing a comprehensive three-pillar strategy centered on domestic resource mobilization, innovative financing, and blended finance.
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Development assistance for health (DAH)
plays a vital role in supporting health programmes in lowand middle-income countries. While DAH has historically
focused on infectious diseases and maternal and child
health, there is a lack of comprehensive analysis of DAH
trends, strategic shifts and the...ir impact on health systems
and outcomes. This study aims to provide a comprehensive
review of DAH from 1990 to 2022, examining its evolution
and funding allocation shifts.
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Tackling antimicrobial resistance- a story of a community playing its part.
This first volume of comic strips is titled "tackling antimicrobial resistance: a story of a community playing its part". It basically contains messages tailored for individuals at the grassroot.
Like the first volume, this one contains messages for the community but they are presented in a different version.
This volume is specifically meant for health professionals. It is titled "tackling microbial resistance: a story of health professionals playing their part".
The TB section of the toolkit presents selected (a) programmatic output and (b) outcome and impact indicators for TB. In addition to recommended monitoring programs and measuring the outcomes and impact of TB programs, indicators for the strengthening of health systems, strengthening of community sy...stems and some indicators that measure quality of services are also included.
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Evidence for improving community health supply chains from Ethiopia, Malawi and Rwanda. Journal of Global Health vol. 4 No.2 (2014)
Despite the considerable improvement in global health, millions of people still lack access to quality health services, including access to effective antimicrobial medicines, or are impoverished as a result of health spending. At the same time, antimicrobial resistance – a consequence of overuse a...nd misuse of antimicrobials – is increasingly a barrier to accessing effective care. The declining effectiveness of antibiotics is driven by multiple factors, many of which can be addressed through well functioning primary health care. However, primary health care has not always had much attention in national health sector responses to
antimicrobial resistance, which often focus on tertiary care, laboratory detection and surveillance. The three pillars of primary health care (community engagement, front-line health services including primary care and essential public health, and multisectoral action on wider health determinants) are central not just to Universal Health Coverage and the Sustainable Development Goals, but also to an effective response to antimicrobial resistance.
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Kulkarni et al. The Journal of Headache and Pain (2015) 16:67 DOI 10.1186/s10194-015-0549-x