A Dialectical Tension in Health Services

Decentralisation of Health Services in Fiji: A Decision Space Analysis

Background Decentralisation aims to bring services closer to the community and has been advocated in the health sector to improve quality, access and equity, and to empower local agencies, increase innovation and efficiency and bring healthcare and decision-making as close as possible to where people live and work. Fiji has attempted two approaches to decentralisation. The current approach refl...

Arabic Dialectical Speech Recognition in Mobile Communication Services

We present in this chapter a practical approach in building Arabic automatic speech recognition (ASR) system for mobile telecommunication service applications. We also present a procedure in conducting acoustic modelling adaptation to better take into account the pronunciation variation across the Arabic speaking countries. Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) is the common spoken and written language ...

Key Factors Influencing Lean Thinking Implementation in Health Services (A Study of Isfahan Health Centers)

Introduction: Health centers around the world are facing significant pressures to increase productivity. Therefore, in order to improve the quality of services and to create competitive advantages in these centers, we need to implement lean principles. The purpose of this study was to identify and prioritize the key factors affecting the implementation of lean thinking in the field of health se...

Ethics in family planning/reproductive health services

Decision Space and Capacities in the Decentralization of Health Services in Fiji; Comment on “Decentralisation of Health Services in Fiji: A Decision Space Analysis”

The study of decentralization in Fiji shows that increasing capacities is not necessarily related to increasing decision space of local officials, which is in contrast with earlier studies in Pakistan. Future studies should address the relationship among decision space, capacities, and health system performance.