Publications

Through the WHO European Region’s Health 2020 policy framework, countries agreed to work together on policy priorities for public health such as strengthening people-centred public health systems and public health capacity. Alongside the Health 2020 strategy, the seventh of the 10 essential public health operations devised by the WHO Regional Office for Europe focuses on assuring a sufficient and competent public health workforce.

Responsiveness is a key objective of national health systems. Responsive health systems anticipate and adapt to existing and future health needs, thus contributing to better health outcomes. Of all the health systems objectives, responsiveness is the least studied, which perhaps reflects lack of comprehensive frameworks that go beyond the normative characteristics of responsive services. This paper contributes to a growing, yet limited, knowledge on this topic. Herewith, we review the current frameworks for understanding health systems responsiveness and drawing on these, as well as key frameworks from the wider public services literature, propose a comprehensive conceptual framework for health systems responsiveness. This paper should be of interest to different stakeholders who are engaged in analysing and improving health systems responsiveness. Our review shows that existing knowledge on health systems responsiveness can be extended along the three areas. First, responsiveness entails an actual experience of people’s interaction with their health system, which
confirms or disconfirms their initial expectations of the system. Second, the experience of interaction is shaped by both the people and the health systems sides of this interaction. Third, different influences shape people’s
interaction with their health system, ultimately affecting their resultant experiences. Therefore, recognition of both people and health systems sides of interaction and their key determinants would enhance the conceptualisations of responsiveness. Our proposed framework builds on,
and advances, the core frameworks in the health systems literature. It positions the experience of interaction between people and health system as the centrepiece and recognises the determinants of responsiveness experience both from the health systems (eg, actors, processes) and
the people (eg, initial expectations) sides. While we hope to trigger further thinking on the conceptualisation of health system responsiveness, the proposed framework can guide assessments of, and interventions to strengthen, health systems responsiveness.

Tuberculosis (TB) is a leading cause of death among infectious diseases and is responsible for 1.8million deaths each year. Over 4 million incident cases of TB worldwide fail to be diagnosed or linked into TB services every year and people with undetected TB have a high mortality and perpetuate disease transmission. Identifying and treating these individuals is crucial.

Theories of change (ToCs) are increasingly used to articulate pathways for interventions and to support learning. This responds to the recognition of the complexity of agricultural development. Through two examples, this paper examines how ToCs have enabled practitioners to navigate towards impact in settings characterized by a multiplicity of views from different actors on issues of joint concern.

Health systems are social institutions, in which health worker performance is shaped by transactional processes between different actors. This analytical assessment unravels the complex web of factors that influence the performance of community health workers (CHWs) in low- and middle-income countries. It examines their unique intermediary position between the communities they serve and actors in the health sector, and the complexity of the health systems in which they operate. The assessment combines evidence from the international literature on CHW programmes with research outcomes from the 5-year REACHOUT consortium, undertaking implementation research to improve CHW performance in six contexts (two in Asia and four in Africa)

This is a Keynote speech transcript given by our expert Maryse Kok at the Community Health Workers Symposium in Kampala.

This manual is an initiative of the Stop TB partnership, funded by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, and written by the Centre for Applied Spatial Epidemiology (CASE) of KIT Royal Tropical Institute.

SHARP formally ended by 31 December 2016. This final evaluation has the double purpose of looking back and assess achievements as well as learning lessons that might be useful for future undertakings in promoting SRHR in fragile settings.

The South Sudan Health Action and Research Project (SHARP), implemented by the Ministry of Health (MoH) of South Sudan, the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT), HealthNet TPO, the International Medical Corps (IMC) and Cordaid, aims to improve maternal health in South Sudan

The outbreak of Ebola in West Africa gave a global alarm: viruses are oblivious to national borders; victims can be infected worldwide. The world population was alarmed, “emerging infectious diseases” should be controlled.

Para fomentar el reconocimiento y la valoración de la innovación de los agricultores en los procesos de investigación y desarrollo agrícola (IDA) por parte de profesionales y responsables de políticas, socios de la red de Prolinnova han estado desarrollando y utilizando varios métodos y herramientas para reivindicación y cabildeo. Uno de ellos es la organización de Ferias de Agricultores Innovadores. Los presentes lineamientos reflejan la experiencia de la red en la organización y patrocinio de dichas ferias, concentrándose en las experiencias adquiridas en la Feria de Agricultores Innovadores de África Occidental celebrada en Ouagadougou en mayo de 2015, patrocinada por Inades Formation Burkina y la plataforma de múltiples actores PROFEIS (Promoviendo la Experimentación y la Innovación Agrícola en el Sahel) en Burkina Faso.

The purpose of this project was to participate in the 2017 annual review (workshop, field visits, and reporting) of the Child Protection Fund for the National Action Plan for Vulnerable Children. The KIT staff was specifically tasked with – as not having been involved in the process so far – reviewing data and engaging in interviews and meetings with fresh eyes and an open and critical constructive mind and with a strong focus on child protection issues.

The purpose of this project was to conduct a mapping of regional actors in the SADC and EAC who work on SRHR and migrant populations, provide information about these actors (name, size, budget, partners etc) and an assessment of their relevant work and potential to work as a future partner for Sida.

Review of a narrative report from the breastfeeding consortium on content & structure. Sida is funding this consortium and the narrative report was to inform Sida about the work that had been conducted.

Providing comments and feedback on a joint vision paper on UHC.

Review of UNFPA Strategic plan 2018 – 2021 Integrated results and resource framework

The purpose of this project was to give comments on the medical device miLOOP for cataract surgery and inform about the most used techniques for cataract surgery in LMICs

The purpose of this project was to conduct a literature review to assess the evidence to support dolutegravir (DTG) usage on people co-infected with TB or Hepatitis, in state of malnourishment and pregnant woman.

The purpose of this project was to provide an overview of the situation of the health sector in Sudan, in terms of morbidity/mortality numbers and causes, structure and key actor of health sector/SRHR, and added value of Sweden to engage in Health sector Sudan.