Strengthening primary health care in low- and middle-income countries: furthering structural changes in the post-pandemic era.

Strengthening primary health care (PHC) is the most cost-effective approach in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) to achieve sustainable universal health coverage (UHC), protect against health shocks, and promote health and wellbeing for all people. It has been 45 years since PHC was put on the global agenda followed by multiple efforts to advocate for more funding and improved performance of PHC. Yet, investment in PHC is still insufficient and overall performance of PHC systems is weak in LMICs, resulting in increased vulnerability and poor health outcomes especially among marginalized populations.

The impact and cost-effectiveness of user fee exemption by contracting out essential health package services in Malawi.

Objectives: To examine the impact and cost-effectiveness of user fee exemption by contracting out essential health package services to Christian Health Association of Malawi (CHAM) facilities through service-level agreements (SLAs) to inform policy-making in Malawi.

Methods: The analysis was conducted from the government perspective. Financial and service utilisation data were collected for January 2015 through December 2016.

Government stewardship of the for-profit private health sector in Afghanistan.

Background: Since 2003, Afghanistan's largely unregulated for-profit private health sector has grown at a rapid pace. In 2008, the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) launched a long-term stewardship initiative to oversee and regulate private providers and align the sector with national health goals.

Aim: We examine the progress the MoPH has made towards more effective stewardship, consider the challenges and assess the early impacts on for-profit performance.

Partnerships for Policy Development: A Case Study From Uganda's Costed Implementation Plan for Family Planning.

In global health, partnerships between practitioners and policy makers facilitate stakeholders in jointly addressing those issues that require multiple perspectives for developing, implementing, and evaluating plans, strategies, and programs. For family planning, costed implementation plans (CIPs) are developed through a strategic government-led consultative process that results in a detailed plan for program activities and an estimate of the funding required to achieve an established set of goals. Since 2009, many countries have developed CIPs.

Did Equity of Reproductive and Maternal Health Service Coverage Increase during the MDG Era? An Analysis of Trends and Determinants across 74 Low- and Middle-Income Countries.

Introduction: Despite widespread gains toward the 5th Millennium Development Goal (MDG), pro-rich inequalities in reproductive health (RH) and maternal health (MH) are pervasive throughout the world. As countries enter the post-MDG era and strive toward UHC, it will be important to monitor the extent to which countries are achieving equity of RH and MH service coverage. This study explores how equity of service coverage differs across countries, and explores what policy factors are associated with a country's progress, or lack thereof, toward more equitable RH and MH service coverage.

Choriocarcinoma presenting as an isolated bone marrow metastasis-a case report.

Gestational trophoblastic diseases (GTD) are a heterogenous group of disorders that arise from trophoblastic epithelium. They can follow molar pregnancy (50%), abortions (25%), normal pregnancy (22.5%), and ectopic pregnancy (2.

Ergonomic implementation and work station design for quilt manufacturing unit.

Background: Awkward, extreme and repetitive postures have been associated with work related musculoskeletal disorders and injury to the lowerback of workers engaged in quilting manufacturing unit. Basically quilt are made manually by hand stitch and embroidery on the quilts which was done in squatting posture on the floor. Mending, stain removal, washing and packaging were some other associated work performed on wooden table.

Creating options in family planning for the private sector in Latin America.

The countries of Latin America and the Caribbean are facing the gradual phase-out of international-donor support of contraceptive commodities and technical and management assistance, as well as an increased reliance on limited public sector resources and a limited private sector role in providing contraceptives to the public. Therefore, those nations must develop multisectoral strategies to achieve contraceptive security. The countries need to consider information about the market for family planning commodities and services in order to define and promote complementary roles for the public sector, the commercial sector, and the nongovernmental-organization sector, as well as to better identify which segments of the population each of those sectors should serve.

Creating conditions for greater private sector participation in achieving contraceptive security.

The growing gap between donor/government funding and the expected need for contraceptives is an issue of great concern for most developing countries. Addressing this resource shortfall, and meeting the goals of contraceptive security requires that countries mobilize the full and active participation of the private sector in the contraceptive market. Private sector involvement will not only increase the resource base available for contraceptives, it can also free up scarce donor and government resources to serve those who have the greatest need for public subsidies.