Climate change is a social justice as well as an environmental issue. The magnitude and pattern of changes in weather and climate variables are creating differential exposures, vulnerabilities, and health risks that increase stress on health systems while exacerbating existing and creating new health inequities. Examples from national and local health adaptation projects highlight that developi...

High rate of maternal death is one of the major public health concerns in Tanzania. Most of maternal deaths are caused by factors attributed to pregnancy, childbirth and poor quality of health services. More than 80% of maternal deaths can be prevented if pregnant women access essential maternity care and assured of skilled attendance at childbirth as well as emergency obstetric care. The objec...

BACKGROUND The impact of unmet eye care needs in sub-Saharan Africa is compounded by barriers to accessing eye care, limited engagement with communities, a shortage of appropriately skilled health personnel, and inadequate support from health systems. The renewed focus on primary health care has led to support for greater integration of eye health into national health systems. The aim of this p...

background: non-communicable diseases (ncds) and psychological hazards are increasingly observed in industries, necessitating the need to strengthen industrial health systems to control the same. district level data on level of functioning of industrial health systems and services with special focus on systems available for mental health care is lacking in india. this information is vital to pl...

Medical toxicology is somehow a neglected field of medicine. Support for this discipline is necessary as there are many competing interests within a nation's public health priorities (1). In the previous issue of the Asia Pacific Journal of Medical Toxicology, the essentials of the empowerment of medical toxicology in the Asia Pacific region have been discussed (2). Perhaps, there is now an urg...

Background The rising burden of disease and weak health systems are being compounded by the persistent economic downturn, re-emerging diseases, and violent conflicts. There is a growing recognition that the global health agenda needs to shift from an emphasis on disease-specific approaches to strengthening of health systems, including dealing with social, environmental, and economic determinant...

INTRODUCTION A growing body of evidence demonstrates the health benefits of muscular strength training. Physical activity recommendations encourage all adults to participate regularly in muscle strengthening activities. The purpose of this study was to examine the prevalence of meeting the US Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) muscular strengthening recommendations by middle-aged an...

The Global Malaria Action Plan places scaled-up effective malaria control as a necessary prerequisite for malaria elimination. Effective and sustained malaria control depends on vastly strengthened health systems in malaria endemic countries. However definitions of health system strengthening, and the means to achieve it are still lacking. Emerging approaches of system-wide thinking that applie...

BACKGROUND Acknowledging the health system strengthening agenda, the World Health Organization (WHO) has formulated a health systems framework that describes health systems in terms of six building blocks. This study aimed to determine the current status of the six WHO health system building blocks in public healthcare facilities in Ethiopia. METHODS A quantitative, cross-sectional study was ...