Some Lessons From Participatory Evaluation of the COVID-19 Response in the African Region.

This summary report describes partners' experiences and reflections on responding to the COVID-19 pandemic in selected countries in the African Region. Using a common protocol for participatory evaluation and sensemaking, it communicates country partners' experiences with the COVID-19 response in Gabon, Kenya, and Senegal as well as a regional perspective from partners in the World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa (WHO AFRO). This report describes factors identified as associated with decreases (bending the curve) of new cases of COVID-19 over time, as well those associated with increases (worsening) of new cases, seen during the study period (2020-2021).

Strengthening and utilizing response groups for emergencies flagship: a narrative review of the roll out process and lessons from the first year of implementation.

The World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa (WHO/AFRO) faces members who encounter annual disease epidemics and natural disasters that necessitate immediate deployment and a trained health workforce to respond. The gaps in this regard, further exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, led to conceptualizing the Strengthening and Utilizing Response Group for Emergencies (SURGE) flagship in 2021. This study aimed to present the experience of the WHO/AFRO in the stepwise roll-out process and the outcome, as well as to elucidate the lessons learned across the pilot countries throughout the first year of implementation.

Process of developing the National Health in All Policies Framework to address social determinants of health in Tanzania Mainland: lessons learned, 2018 - 2022.

Introduction: social determinants of health (SDH) are the non-medical factors that contribute to various infectious and non-infectious diseases in Tanzania. Studies suggest that SDH account for 30-55% of health outcomes globally. Most SDH are outside the mandate of the health sector; hence, multi-sectoral collaboration through Health in All Policies (HiAP) is critical.

Proceedings of the first African Health Forum: effective partnerships and intersectoral collaborations are critical for attainment of Universal Health Coverage in Africa.

Background: Universal Health Coverage (UHC)is central to the health Sustainable Development Goals(SDG). Working towards UHC is a powerful mechanism for achieving the right to health and promoting human development which is a priority area of focus for the World Health Organization WHO. As a result, the WHO Regional Office for Africa convened the first-ever Africa Health Forum, co- hosted by the government of Rwanda in Kigali in June 2017 with the theme The Forum aimed to strengthen and forge new partnerships, align priorities and galvanize commitment to advance the health agenda in Africa in order to attain UHC and the SDGs.

Does expanding fiscal space lead to improved funding of the health sector in developing countries?: lessons from Kenya, Lagos State (Nigeria) and South Africa.

Background: The global focus on promoting Universal Health Coverage has drawn attention to the need to increase public domestic funding for health care in low- and middle-income countries.

Objectives: This article examines whether increased tax revenue in the three territories of Kenya, Lagos State (Nigeria) and South Africa was accompanied by improved resource allocation to their public health sectors, and explores the reasons underlying the observed trends.

Methods: Three case studies were conducted by different research teams using a common mixed methods approach.

Assessing the feasibility of eHealth and mHealth: a systematic review and analysis of initiatives implemented in Kenya.

Background: The growth of Information and Communication Technology in Kenya has facilitated implementation of a large number of eHealth projects in a bid to cost-effectively address health and health system challenges. This systematic review aims to provide a situational analysis of eHealth initiatives being implemented in Kenya, including an assessment of the areas of focus and geographic distribution of the health projects. The search strategy involved peer and non-peer reviewed sources of relevant information relating to projects under implementation in Kenya.

I've got 99 problems but a phone ain't one: Electronic and mobile health in low and middle income countries.

Mobile technology is very prevalent in Kenya-mobile phone penetration is at 88% and mobile data subscriptions form 99% of all internet subscriptions. While there is great potential for such ubiquitous technology to revolutionise access and quality of healthcare in low-resource settings, there have been few successes at scale. Implementations of electronic health (e-Health) and mobile health (m-Health) technologies in countries like Kenya are yet to tackle human resource constraints or the political, ethical and financial considerations of such technologies.

Counting the cost of child mortality in the World Health Organization African region.

Background: Worldwide, a total of 6.282 million deaths occurred among children aged less than 5 years in 2013. About 47.

Indirect costs associated with deaths from the Ebola virus disease in West Africa.

Background: By 28 June 2015, there were a total of 11,234 deaths from the Ebola virus disease (EVD) in five West African countries (Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria and Sierra Leone). The objective of this study was to estimate the future productivity losses associated with EVD deaths in these West African countries, in order to encourage increased investments in national health systems.

Methods: A cost-of-illness method was employed to calculate future non-health (NH) gross domestic product (GDP) (NHGDP) losses associated with EVD deaths.

Community perceptions of health insurance and their preferred design features: implications for the design of universal health coverage reforms in Kenya.

Background: Health insurance is currently being considered as a mechanism for promoting progress to universal health coverage (UHC) in many African countries. The concept of health insurance is relatively new in Africa, it is hardly well understood and remains unclear how it will function in countries where the majority of the population work outside the formal sector. Kenya has been considering introducing a national health insurance scheme (NHIS) since 2004.

The essence of governance in health development.

Background: Governance and leadership in health development are critically important for the achievement of the health Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and other national health goals. Those two factors might explain why many countries in Africa are not on track to attain the health MDGs by 2015. This paper debates the meaning of 'governance in health development', reviews briefly existing governance frameworks, proposes a modified framework on health development governance (HDG), and develops a HDG index.

Economic burden of cholera in the WHO African region.

Background: In 2007, various countries around the world notified 178677 cases of cholera and 4033 cholera deaths to the World Health Organization (WHO). About 62% of those cases and 56.7% of deaths were reported from the WHO African Region alone.

Technical efficiency of peripheral health units in Pujehun district of Sierra Leone: a DEA application.

Background: The Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method has been fruitfully used in many countries in Asia, Europe and North America to shed light on the efficiency of health facilities and programmes. There is, however, a dearth of such studies in countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Since hospitals and health centres are important instruments in the efforts to scale up pro-poor cost-effective interventions aimed at achieving the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, decision-makers need to ensure that these health facilities provide efficient services.