Demands for Intersectoral Actions to Meet Health Challenges in East and Southern Africa and Methods for Their Evaluation.

Objectives: Focusing on the East, Central, and Southern African region, this study examines both regional and country-level initiatives aimed at promoting multisectoral collaboration to improve population health and the methods for their economic evaluation.

Methods: We explored the interventions that necessitate cooperation among policymakers from diverse sectors and the mechanisms that facilitate effective collaboration and coordination across these sectors. To gain insights into the demand for multisectoral collaboration in the East, Central, and Southern African region, we presented 3 country briefs, highlighting policy areas and initiatives that have successfully incorporated health-promoting actions from outside the health sector in Zimbabwe, Uganda, and Malawi.

Adapting Economic Evaluation Methods to Shifting Global Health Priorities: Assessing the Value of Health System Inputs.

Objectives: We highlight the importance of undertaking value assessments for health system inputs if allocative efficiency is to be achieve with health sector resources, with a focus on low- and middle-income countries. However, methodological challenges complicated the application of current economic evaluation techniques to health system input investments.

Methods: We undertake a review of the literature to examine how assessments of investments in health system inputs have been considered to date, highlighting several studies that have suggested ways to address the methodological issues.

Research-to-Policy Partnerships for Evidence-Informed Resource Allocation in Health Systems in Africa: An Example Using the Thanzi Programme.

Objectives: Empirical data on the impact of research-to-policy interventions are scant, with the few attempts mainly focusing on ensuring policymakers' timely access to evidence and evidence-informed dialogs.

Methods: This article reflects on how the Thanzi Programme cultivates an approach of research-to-policy engagement in health economics. The program is structured around 3 interrelated pillars comprising research evidence generation, capacity and capability building, and research-and-policy engagement.

Economic Costs of Providing District- and Regional-Level Surgeries in Tanzania.

Background: Access to surgical care is poor in Tanzania. The country is at the implementation stage of its first National Surgical, Obstetric, and Anesthesia Plan (NSOAP; 2018-2025) aiming to scale up surgery. This study aimed to calculate the costs of providing surgical care at the district and regional hospitals.

Using Group Model Building to Capture the Complex Dynamics of Scaling Up District-Level Surgery in Arusha Region, Tanzania.

Background: Scaling up surgery at district hospitals (DHs) is the critical challenge if the Tanzanian national Surgical, Obstetric, and Anesthesia Plan (NSOAP) objectives are to be achieved. Our study aims to address this challenge by taking a dynamic view of surgical scale-up at the district level using a participatory research approach.

Methods: A group model building (GMB) workshop was held with 18 professionals from three hospitals in the Arusha region.

Methods to promote equity in health resource allocation in low- and middle-income countries: an overview.

Unfair differences in healthcare access, utilisation, quality or health outcomes exist between and within countries around the world. Improving health equity is a stated objective for many governments and international organizations. We provide an overview of the major tools that have been developed to measure, evaluate and promote health equity, along with the data required to operationalise them.

Health financing in Malawi: Evidence from National Health Accounts.

Background: National health accounts provide useful information to understand the functioning of a health financing system. This article attempts to present a profile of the health system financing in Malawi using data from NHA. It specifically attempts to document the health financing situation in the country and proposes recommendations relevant for developing a comprehensive health financing policy and strategic plan.

Human resources requirements for highly active antiretroviral therapy scale-up in Malawi.

Background: Twelve percent of the adult population in Malawi is estimated to be HIV infected. About 15% to 20% of these are in need of life saving antiretroviral therapy. The country has a public sector-led antiretroviral treatment program both in the private and public health sectors.

Equity in health and healthcare in Malawi: analysis of trends.

Background: Growing scientific evidence points to the pervasiveness of inequities in health and health care and the persistence of the inverse care law, that is the availability of good quality healthcare seems to be inversely related to the need for it in developing countries. Achievement of the Millennium Development Goals is likely to be compromised if inequities in health/healthcare are not properly addressed.

Objective: This study attempts to assess trends in inequities in selected indicators of health status and health service utilization in Malawi using data from the Demographic and Health Surveys of 1992, 2000 and 2004.