National cancer control plans across the Eastern Mediterranean region: challenges and opportunities to scale-up.

National cancer control planning is crucial for countries in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean region. This region is challenged with an increase in cancer incidence leading to substantial disease burden, premature deaths, and increasing health-care costs in most countries. Huge inequity in cancer control planning and implementation exists between and within the countries. Over half of the countries (12 [55%] of 22) have standalone comprehensive National Cancer Control Plans and six (27%) have non-communicable disease plans that include cancer. The implementation of cancer plans has common challenges related to weak governance structure, few coordination mechanisms within countries, and inadequate human and financial resources. In most countries, the plan is not costed. Yet, the majority of countries (20 [91%]) reported having fully or partially funded plans. Additionally, political instability and conflicts affecting over half of the countries in the Eastern Mediterranean region have enormously affected cancer planning and implementation, both among the affected countries and those that host large numbers of refugees. In this Policy Review, we used the WHO regional framework for action on cancer to systematically analyse the status of cancer control planning and implementation across the six domains of cancer control, from prevention to palliation. We highlight the gaps, and the opportunities for bridging these gaps, to achieve scale-up on implementation of cancer control programmes in the Eastern Mediterranean region.

COVID-19 in Vietnam: A lesson of pre-preparation.

BACKGROUND: Vietnam was slowing the spread of COVID-19 to 200 cases by the end of March. From perspective of a relatively vulnerable healthcare systems, timely interventions were implemented to different stage of pandemic progress to limit the spread. METHOD: The authors compiled literature on different public health measures in Vietnam in compared to the progression of COVID-19 from January to March 2020. RESULTS: Three stages of pandemic progression of COVID-19 were recorded in Vietnam. At 213 confirmed cases under treatment and isolation, a range of interventions were enforced including intensive and expansive contact, mass testing, isolation, and sterilization. Many were in place before any case were reported. CONCLUSION: Preparation were key for Vietnam's healthcare system in the ever-changing landscape of COVID-19 pandemic.

Momento normativo dos Planos Nacionais de Saúde do Brasil e do Canadá à luz de Mario Testa / Normative moment of National Health Plans of Brazil and Canada in the light of Mario Testa

RESUMO O estudo objetivou comparar as principais diretrizes dos Planos Nacionais de Saúde do Brasil e do Canadá à luz de Mario Testa. Foram analisados o momento normativo de ambos os documentos, considerando as diretrizes dos planos citados, analisadas de acordo com as estratégias do pensamento estratégico abordadas por Mario Testa. Foi utilizado o programa Atlas.ti, explorando como categorias de análise as palavras-chave que identificam cada uma das diretrizes, assim como as três estratégias: institucionais, programáticas e sociais. Como principais resultados, encontrou-se que os planos nacionais de saúde do Brasil e do Canadá convergem quanto às palavras-chave referentes às ações de cuidado diretamente, apesar de o país norte-americano planejar um maior número de atividades de vigilância sanitária em relação ao Brasil. Ambos os países norteiam o momento normativo do planejamento por meio de estratégias programáticas, as quais têm caráter intersetorial no cenário brasileiro. As divergências apontam para a atuação intersetorial no Brasil e para a organização da assistência com níveis hierárquicos de atenção à saúde bem delimitados. No entanto, o predomínio de estratégias programáticas no Canadá permite inferir que esse cenário goza de consolidação dos processos decisórios, bem como assegura os direitos sociais da população, resultando em estratégias institucionais e sociais pontuais.

ABSTRACT The study aims to compare the main guidelines of the National Health Plans of Brazil and Canada in the light of Mario Testa. The normative moment of both documents were compared, considering the guidelines of the mentioned plans, analyzed according to the strategies of strategic thinking addressed by Mario Testa. The Atlas.ti program was used, exploring as analysis categories the keywords that identify each of the guidelines, as well as the three strategies: institutional, programmatic, and social. As main results, we find that the national health plans of Brazil and Canada converge on the keywords related to care actions directly, although the North American country plans a greater number of health surveillance activities compared to Brazil. Both countries guide the normative moment of planning through programmatic strategies, which are intersectoral in the Brazilian scenario. Differences point to intersectoral action in Brazil and the organization of care with well-defined hierarchical levels of health care. However, the predominance of programmatic strategies in Canada allows us to infer that this scenario enjoys the consolidation of decision-making processes, as well as ensuring the social rights of the population, resulting in specific institutional and social strategies.

Core elements of national cancer control plans: a tool to support plan development and review.

When developed and implemented effectively, national cancer control plans (NCCPs) improve cancer outcomes at the population level. However, many countries do not have a high-quality, operational NCCP, contributing to disparate cancer outcomes globally. Until now, a standard reference of NCCP core elements has not been available to guide development and evaluation across diverse countries and contexts. In this Policy Review, we describe the methods, process, and outcome of an initiative to develop an itemised and evidence-based comprehensive checklist of core elements for NCCP formulation. The final list provides a ready-to-use guide to support NCCP development and to facilitate internal and external critical appraisal of existing NCCPs for countries of all income levels and settings. Governments, policy makers, and stakeholders can utilise this checklist, while considering their own unique contexts and priorities, from the drafting through to the implementation of NCCPs.

The evolution of New Zealand's health workforce policy and planning system: a study of workforce governance and health reform.

INTRODUCTION: While considerable attention has been given to improving health workforce planning practice, few articles focus on the relationship between health workforce governance and health reform. By outlining a sequence of health reforms, we reveal how New Zealand's health workforce governance and practices came under pressure, leading to a rethink and the introduction of innovative approaches and initiatives. CASE DESCRIPTION: New Zealand's health system was quite stable up to the late 1980s, after which 30 years of structural and system reform was undertaken. This had the effect of replacing the centralised medically led health workforce policy and planning system with a market-driven and short-run employer-led planning approach. The increasing pressures and inconsistencies this approach produced ultimately led to the re-centralisation of some governance functions and brought with it a new vision of how to better prepare for future health needs. While significant gain has been made implementing this new vision, issues remain for achieving more effective innovation diffusion and improved integrated care orientations. DISCUSSION AND EVALUATION: The case reveals that there was a failure to consider the health workforce in almost all of the reforms. Health and workforce policy became increasingly disconnected at the central and regional levels, leading to fragmentation, duplication and widening gaps. New Zealand's more recent workforce policy and planning approach has adopted new tools and techniques to overcome these weaknesses that have implications for the workforce and service delivery, workforce governance and planning methodologies. However, further strengthening of workforce governance is required to embed the changes in policy and planning and to improve organisational capabilities to diffuse innovation and respond to evolving roles and team-based models of care. CONCLUSION: The case reveals that disconnecting the workforce from reform policy leads to a range of debilitating effects. By addressing how it approaches workforce planning and policy, New Zealand is now better placed to plan for a future of integrated and team-based health care. The case provides cues for other countries considering reform agendas, the most important being to include and consider the health workforce in health reform processes.

Developing governance models and funding mechanisms of state-civil society partnerships for HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention based on lessons from Ghana.

The contribution of civil society organisations (CSOs) to national HIV/AIDS responses in sub-Saharan African countries, with Global Health Initiatives' (GHIs) funding channelled through National AIDS Commissions (NACs), is well researched. Less well understood are the governance models and funding mechanisms being used to successfully engage CSOs in the HIV/AIDS response. Using data from government, donor, CSO and documentary sources, this article characterises the organisational principles and practices and unique funding models adopted by the Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC) to effectively and efficiently engage CSOs in the HIV/AIDS response. It found four major governance principles and practices that target: 1) strategic planning for service delivery; 2) focussed expressions of interest; 3) competitive tendering and contracting for service delivery; and 4) adoption of results-based management. It also identified three predominant funding models that illustrate the application of these guiding principles to harness the inherent strengths of CSOs to more effectively respond to HIV/AIDS, namely: 1) direct funding of locally-based CSOs; 2) funding international and national NGOs to engage local CSOs in partnership; and 3) funding umbrella organisations. These findings are significant for Ghana but they may also have relevance for other low- or middle-income countries (LMICs) that have limited experience delivering HIV/AIDS services through state-civil society partnerships, as well as broader debates on the role of donors, governments and CSOs working in partnership to fight HIV/AIDS.

Moonshot to Cancer Cure: Recruiting Policy to Break Down Silos.

Funded by the 21st Century Cures Act, The Beau Biden Cancer Moonshot Initiative is broad, deep, integrative, and intended to expediently address cancer's most vexing problems. Launched in 2015, it is an effort to accelerate the pace of cancer research with a focus on breaking down silos through cross-pollination of research, recruitment of multidisciplinary clinical and basic science research teams, sharing of complex scientific databases, and the creation of public-private research partnerships. This audacious approach to cancer treatment is intended to alleviate the current burden of cancer within countries and across borders. At its core is the rapid development of safe drug therapies across different disciplines through the employment of genomics, targeted proteomics with predictive analytics, and other emerging drug therapies. It will use expansive patient registries and increase early access to clinical trials. The initiative is cocooned in forward-thinking drug policies that consider the specific needs of all oncology stakeholder groups both nationally and internationally.

National cancer control plans: a global analysis.

There is increasing global recognition that national cancer plans are crucial to effectively address the cancer burden and to prioritise and coordinate programmes. We did a global analysis of available national cancer-related health plans using a standardised assessment questionnaire to assess their inclusion of elements that characterise an effective cancer plan and, thereby, improve understanding of the strengths and limitations of existing plans. The results show progress in the development of cancer plans, as well as in the inclusion of stakeholders in plan development, but little evidence of their implementation. Areas of continued unmet need include setting of realistic priorities, specification of programmes for cancer management, allocation of appropriate budgets, monitoring and evaluation of plan implementation, promotion of research, and strengthening of information systems. We found that countries with a non-communicable disease (NCD) plan but no national cancer control plan (NCCP) were less likely than countries with an NCCP and NCP plan or an NCCP only to have comprehensive, coherent, or consistent plans. As countries move towards universal health coverage, greater emphasis is needed on developing NCCPs that are evidence based, financed, and implemented to ensure translation into action.

Planning for large epidemics and pandemics: challenges from a policy perspective.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Less than two decades into the 21st century, the world has already witnessed numerous large epidemics or pandemics. These events have highlighted inadequacies in both national and international capacity for outbreak prevention, detection, and response. Here, we review some of the major challenges from a policy perspective. RECENT FINDINGS: The most important challenges facing policymakers include financing outbreak preparedness and response in a complex political environment with limited resources, coordinating response efforts among a growing and diverse range of national and international actors, accurately assessing national outbreak preparedness, addressing the shortfall in the global biomedical workforce, building surge capacity of both human and material resources, balancing investments in public health and curative services, building capacity for outbreak-related research and development, and reinforcing measures for infection prevention and control. SUMMARY: In recent years, numerous epidemics and pandemics have caused not only considerable loss of life but also billions of dollars of economic loss. Although the events have served as a wake-up call and led to the implementation of relevant policies and counter-measures, such as the Global Health Security Agenda, many questions remain and much work to be done. Wise policies and approaches for outbreak control exist, but will require the political will to implement them.

Expanding state laws and a growing role for pharmacists in vaccination services.

OBJECTIVES: Gaps in vaccination coverage leave populations vulnerable to illnesses. Since the 1990s, there has been a growing movement to improve vaccination access by giving pharmacists the authority to administer vaccines according to state laws. Understanding the variation of pharmacist vaccination laws over time is critical to understanding the effect of improving access to vaccination services. METHODS: We identified relevant statutes and regulations with the use of Westlaw legal databases. A 4-stage coding process identified 220 legal variables of pharmacist vaccination authority. Each jurisdiction's laws were coded against these 220 legal variables. The resulting legal dataset was then evaluated to determine whether jurisdictions expanded or restricted pharmacist vaccination authorities over time. RESULTS: From 1971 to 2016, jurisdictions made 627 changes to statutes and regulations relating to pharmacist vaccination authority. There were 85 expansions, 3 restrictions, and 22 regulatory clarifications. Eight changes were deemed to be unclear, and 479 changes did not substantively alter the scope of pharmacist vaccination authority. CONCLUSION: Collectively, the laws in 50 states and DC paint a clear picture: the scope of pharmacists' vaccination authority is expanding. Jurisdictions are allowing pharmacists to administer more vaccines to younger patients with less direct prescriber oversight. This clear expansion of pharmacist vaccination authority stands in contrast to the reservations expressed by some physician groups for pharmacists as vaccination providers. However, laws in some states still do not permit pharmacists to vaccinate according to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommendations.

The Development of Public Policies to Address Non-communicable Diseases in the Caribbean Country of Barbados: The Importance of Problem Framing and Policy Entrepreneurs.

BACKGROUND: Government policy measures have a key role to play in the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases (NCDs). The Caribbean, a middle-income region, has the highest per capita burden of NCDs in the Americas. Our aim was to examine policy development and implementation between the years 2000 and 2013 on NCD prevention and control in Barbados, and to investigate factors promoting, and hindering, success. METHODS: A qualitative case study design was used involving a structured policy document review and semi-structured interviews with key informants, identified through stakeholder analysis and 'cascading.' Documents were abstracted into a standard form. Interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim and underwent framework analysis, guided by the multiple streams framework (MSF). There were 25 key informants, from the Ministry of Health (MoH), other government Ministries, civil society organisations, and the private sector. RESULTS: A significant policy window opened between 2005 and 2007 in which new posts to address NCDs were created in the MoH, and a government supported multi-sectoral national NCD commission was established. Factors contributing to this government commitment and funding included a high level of awareness, throughout society, of the NCD burden, including media coverage of local research findings; the availability of policy recommendations by international bodies that could be adopted locally, notably the framework convention on tobacco control (FCTC); and the activities of local highly respected policy entrepreneurs with access to senior politicians, who were able to bring together political concern for the problem with potential policy solutions. However, factors were also identified that hindered multi-sectoral policy development in several areas, including around nutrition, physical activity, and alcohol. These included a lack of consensus (valence) on the nature of the problem, often framed as being predominantly one of individuals needing to take responsibility for their health rather than requiring government-led environmental changes; lack of appropriate detailed policy guidance for local adaptation; conflicts with other political priorities, such as production and export of alcohol, and political reluctance to use legislative and fiscal measures. CONCLUSION: The study's findings indicate mechanisms to promote and support NCD policy development in the Caribbean and similar settings.

Population Engagement and Consultation at the Local Level: Thailand Experience.

The World Health Organization handbook on Strategizing National Health in the 21st Century has emphasized the importance of the process of population consultation on needs and expectations. According to Thailand National Health Act 2007, three innovative social tools for participatory healthy public policy process were proposed, i.e., health assembly, health impact assessment and health system statute (charter). In practice, population consultation process is required in the process of the tools implementation. Therefore, this paper aims to illustrate how local health statute implementation supports population participation and consultation at the local level. The first local health statute owned by Cha-lae sub-district in Songkla Province had been introduced in 2009. So far, there are above 500 sub-districts or "Tambon" having their own health system statutes. Tambon Administrative Organization (TAO), health and non-health sectors, community leaders and civil society seemed to be key actors or a mechanism for the local health statute. This demonstrated three crucial elements or sectors for policy development, i.e., policy maker, evidence support and society. Contents of the local health statute are wide ranged, including social determinants, risks and diseases, life style, health services, health fund, to mental and social health in regard to the local problem and context. Therefore, it needs the process of discussion and consultation to seek their common interest and expectation. Local health statute in Thailand is an example of engagement and consultation of the population for health policy. This confirmed the process of population consultation on their needs and expectation that can be implemented both at national and local levels. This is also the strategy to improve the accountability of policy makers for health impacts at all levels of policy making. The challenges of local health statute include the mechanism to maintain and ensure the engagement and ownership for sustainable implementation. Lastly, the local government's continued commitment toward providing funding support through the implementation process and the self-assessment framework of implementation is needed.

Unravelling the whariki of Crown Maori health infrastructure.

New Zealand's central government, and more specifically the Ministry of Health, consistently acknowledges their special relationship with Maori and the strategic importance of Maori health, and certainly, strengthening Maori health is critical to addressing systemic health inequities. This paper, framed in terms of the Crown principles attributed to the Treaty of Waitangi, ie, participation, protection and partnership, examines three structural decisions that threaten to unravel the whariki (foundational mat) of Crown Maori health policy infrastructure. These include the disestablishment of the Ministry of Health's policy team, Te Kete Hauora, revoking mandatory district health boards' (DHB) Maori health plans and reporting, and downscaling the requirements of DHBs to consult. These actions appear to breach the Articles of te Tiriti o Waitangi and may be cited as such in the forthcoming WAI 2575 kaupapa health hearing before the Waitangi Tribunal. The authors call for the Ministry of Health to embrace its Treaty obligations, and to protect and reinstate the whariki of Maori health infrastructure.

Zimbabwe's Human Resources for health Information System (ZHRIS)-an assessment in the context of establishing a global standard.

INTRODUCTION: There have been numerous global calls to action to utilize human resources information systems (HRIS) to improve the availability and quality of data for strengthening the regulation and deployment of health workers. However, with no normative guidance in existence, the development of HRIS has been inconsistent and lacking in standardization, hindering the availability and use of data for health workforce planning and decision making (Riley et al., 2012). CDC and WHO partnered with the Ministry of Health in several countries to conduct HRIS functional requirements analyses and establish a Minimum Data Set (MDS) of elements essential for a global standard HRIS. As a next step, CDC advanced a study to examine the alignment of one of the HRIS it supports (in Zimbabwe) against this MDS. METHOD: For this study, we created a new data collection and analysis tool to assess the extent to which Zimbabwe's CDC-supported HRIS was aligned with the WHO MDS. We performed systematic "gap analyses" in order to make prioritized recommendations for addressing the gaps, with the aim of improving the availability and quality of data on Zimbabwe's health workforce. RESULTS: The majority of the data elements outlined in the WHO MDS were present in the ZHRIS databases, though they were found to be missing various applicable elements. The lack of certain elements could impede functions such as health worker credential verification or equitable in-service training allocation. While the HRIS MDS treats all elements equally, our assessment revealed that not all the elements have equal significance when it comes to data utilization. Further, some of the HRIS MDS elements exceeded the current needs of regulatory bodies and the Ministry of Health and Child Care (MOHCC) in Zimbabwe. The preliminary findings of this study helped inspire the development of a more recent HRH Registry MDS subset, which is a shorter list of priority data elements recommended as a global standard for HRIS. CONCLUSION: The field-tested assessment methodology presented here, with suggested improvements to the tool, can be used to identify absent or unaligned elements in either an HRH Registry or a full HRIS. Addressing the prioritized gaps will increase the availability of critical data in the ZHRIS and can empower the MOHCC and councils to conduct more strategic analyses, improving health workforce planning and ultimately public health outcomes in the country.

[Prospective planning of activity of the Medical service of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation for 2016-2020].

The article reflects the characteristics of the Plan of activities of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation for 2016-2020--an important long-term planning document of the Armed Forces. It stressed the need for synchronization of activities for chain of command and deadline. Presented structure of the Medical Service Plan Military District operations (fleet) military medical organization. The attention is focused on the content of its sections. For example, a military hospital layouts presented an action plan and a schedule of events. Reflecting the requirements of the Minister of Defense for the development and adjustment plans, indicators of their performance.