BACKGROUND A model health district was initiated through a program of health system strengthening (HSS) in Ifanadiana District of southeastern Madagascar in 2014. We report population health indicators prior to initiation of the program. METHODS A representative household survey based on the Demographic Health Survey was conducted using a two-stage cluster sampling design in two strata - the ...

BACKGROUND Recently, a number of Global Health Initiatives (GHI) have been created to address single disease issues in low-income countries, such as poliomyelitis, trachoma, neonatal tetanus, etc.. Empirical evidence on the effects of such GHIs on local health systems remains scarce. This paper explores positive and negative effects of the Integrated Neglected Tropical Disease (NTD) Control Ini...

Since 2003, the Government of Ghana has been implementing the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) as the main strategy to progressively bridge financial access barriers and provide a social risk protection system [1]. The scheme complements the Community-based Health Planning and Services program—the national strategy to progressively reduce geographical access barriers to health services [...

Abimbola S, et al. BMJ Glob Health 2017;2:e000481. doi:10.1136/bmjgh-2017-000481 The Ebola outbreak in West Africa (2013– 2016) triggered a renewed interest and sense of urgency about global health security. A surge of reports and publications ensued, examining various aspects of emerging infectious disease outbreaks. In 2016, Olivero and colleagues published a biogeographical approach mapping ...

Properly functioning health systems are vital for prevention and control of NCDs (7, 8, 17), and for improving health outcomes in general. In developed countries, launching NCDspecific responses within health systems have contributed considerably to declining NCD trends (17). Such a response is also urgently needed in LMIC to curb the steadily rising NCD epidemic. It is also part of the solutio...

The recent explosion in the number of global health initiatives has dramatically changed the landscape of public health and international aid. During an initial honeymoon period, these initiatives started implementing their disease-specific activities in low-income countries. But the honeymoon is over, and there is now an increasing realisation that such initiatives ignore a wider problem—exist...

Three circumstances make the present moment unique for global health. First, health has been increasingly recognized as a key element of sustainable economic development [1], global security, effective governance, and human rights promotion [2]. Second, due to the growing perceived importance of health, unprecedented— albeit still insufficient—sums of funds are flowing into this sector [3]. Thi...