Background Vertically oriented global health initiatives (GHIs) addressing the HIV/AIDS epidemic, including the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), have successfully contributed to reducing HIV/AIDS related morbidity and mortality. However, there is still debate about whether these disease-specific programs have improved or harmed health systems overall, especially with respect...

health reform is the outcome of dispersed policy initiatives in different sectors, at different levels and across time. policy work which can drive coherent health reform needs to operate across the governance structures as well as the institutions that comprise healthcare systems. building policy capacity to support health reform calls for clarity regarding the nature of such policy work and t...

background informal payments for health care, which are common in many countries, can have negative effects on health care access, equity and health status as they lead people to forgo or delay seeking care, or to sell assets to pay for care. many countries are putting reforms in place with the aim of reducing informal payments. in order to be successful, such policies should be informed by the...

background & aim: prenatal care is a key strategy for achieving public health goals, primary healthcare objectives, and the millennium development goals. the aim of this study was to investigate the factors influencing the use of prenatal care services in order to design suitable interventions and promote the use of these services. methods:in this systematic quantitative literature review, stud...

Arevolution in health care has taken place during the past decade in the United States. The revolution was ignited by skyrocketing health care costs1 and fueled by the widespread public sentiment that the high cost of health care was the most important problem in the health care industry.2 The health insurance industry and providers responded to the public’s outcry by creating lower-cost health...

background in many parts of the world, ongoing deficiencies in health systems compromise the delivery of health interventions. the world health organization (who) identified four functions that health systems need to perform to achieve their goals: efforts to strengthen health systems focus on the way these functions are carried out. while a number of studies on health systems functions have be...

cooperation of all health sectors and early diagnosis of the disease are the key factors for controlling tuberculosis. this study assesses the patterns of reported tuberculosis cases in iran.this was a cross sectional study. tuberculosis cases were defined according to world health organization and iran's national tb guidelines. final data were prepared for analysis using spss16 software.public...

Good physical fitness generally makes the body less prone to common diseases. A personalized exercise plan that promotes a balanced approach to fitness helps promotes fitness, while inappropriate forms of exercise can have adverse consequences for health. This paper aims to develop an ontology-driven knowledge-based system for generating custom-designed exercise plans based on a user's profile ...

Recent concerns about an influenza pandemic have highlighted the need to plan for offsite Alternate Care Centers (ACCs). The likelihood of a successful response to patient surges will depend on the local health systems' ability to prepare well in advance of an influenza pandemic. Our health system has worked closely with our state's medical biodefense network to plan the establishment of an ACC...