BACKGROUND There is some evidence that home safety assessment and modification (HSAM) is effective in reducing falls in older people. But there are various knowledge gaps, including around cost-effectiveness and also the impacts at a health district-level. METHODS AND FINDINGS A previously established Markov macro-simulation model built for the whole New Zealand (NZ) population (Pega et al 20...

1 Center for Life Course Health Research, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland 2 Medical Research Center Oulu, Oulu University Hospital and University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland 3 Institute of Clinical Medicine (Psychiatry), University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland 4 Departments of Psychiatry, Kuopio University Hospital, Kuopio 5 Departments of Psychiatry, South-Savonia Hospital District, Mikkel...

District services in developing countries are afflicted with frequent system breakdowns, caused by a combination of resource constraints, limitations of the health workforce, and poorly developed management systems. Narrowly focused, outcome-oriented quality improvement initiatives and sporadic accreditation visits fail to address the most pressing need of district health services- to improve m...

BACKGROUND To address the huge human resources for health gap in Zambia, the Ministry of Health launched the National Community Health Assistant Strategy in 2010. The strategy aims to integrate community-based health workers into the health system by creating a new group of workers, called community health assistants (CHAs). However, literature suggests that the integration process of national ...

There is growing renewed trust in primary health care as the best approach for ensuring equity in the delivery of essential health services. However, Pakistan with one of the most widely spread district health system networks in the region, has not delivered at the expected capacity. A series of health system reform agendas are now stipulated which include the promulgation of an essential healt...

A lack of proper monitoring and supervision of clinics in the King William's Town Health District (Eastern Cape) was highlighted by members of the public in the local newspaper, The Daily Dispatch, during 1999. A clinic audit conducted by the Health Information Unit of the King William's Town Health District further revealed the inadequacies of clinic supervision in this district. This article ...

About the month of April 1936 the district health officer, Nellore, Dr. Lakshminarayana, had his attention drawn by the health inspectors of Podili and Darsi ranges of the Nellore district to a disease characterized by a definite train of symptoms and which was very prevalent in the district. The most obvious symptoms of this disease were stiffness and pain in the spinal region and in various j...

The Bonham-Carter Report on the Functions of the District General Hospital favoured the idea of locating a department or office of the local health authority at the district general hospital, in order to help in achieving functional integration of the hospital and community health services. This paper describes the establishment and development of such a department in a district general hospita...

Background Indonesia comprises 17,000 islands and 495 districts. Decentralization mandates district health services, but ensuring proper supply chain management (SCM) capacity at the district level is a challenge. The ministry of health developed and implemented SCM training modules and guidelines; however, weaknesses in the system remain, particularly related to human resources. The ministry i...

OBJECTIVES To determine the accuracy of area based Townsend Deprivation Scores (TDSs) as proxies for individual level deprivation and to compare the ability of TDSs and individual level measures of deprivation to predict selfreported health. METHODS Using data from a self completed health and behaviour survey sent to a random sample of households in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, the ability of TDS...