Dr. Abolghasem Bahrami (1894­1950): Physician, Pasteurian, and a Pioneer of Microbiology and Public Health Planning in Iran

Dr. Abolghasem Bahrami was among the generation of Iranian scientists in the early twentieth century who gained most of their knowledge through resources available inside the country. Educated at Dar-ul-Funun Medical School, he was a physician with a great talent in learning, especially self-teaching natural sciences and European languages. He joined the Pasteur Institute of Iran (IPI) at the early days of its foundation and became an integral contributor to this institution during the first twenty-five years of its mission. One of his first assignments at IPI was to help initiating an anti-rabies department by bringing back the rabies vaccine and its manufacturing equipment from Institut Pasteur of Paris. During his IPI years, aside from managerial tasks, he actively participated in upgrading the medical treatments and protocols used for controlling many infectious diseases. He functioned twice as the provisional director of IPI (1925-1926 and 1937-1946) and is considered as the first Iranian director of the Institute. Meanwhile, Dr. Bahrami was a significant contributor to the public health system and assumed several responsibilities such as Chief Quarantine Medical Officer, Chief of Public Health, and the Head of Public Health Administration, in order to improve public health planning throughout the country.

A Century Later: Rural Public Health's Enduring Challenges and Opportunities.

The US public health community has demonstrated increasing awareness of rural health disparities in the past several years. Although current interest is high, the topic is not new, and some of the earliest public health literature includes reports on infectious disease and sanitation in rural places. Continuing through the first third of the 20th century, dozens of articles documented rural disparities in infant and maternal mortality, sanitation and water safety, health care access, and among Black, Indigenous, and People of Color communities. Current rural research reveals similar challenges, and strategies suggested for addressing rural-urban health disparities 100 years ago resonate today. This article examines rural public health literature from a century ago and its connections to contemporary rural health disparities. We describe parallels between current and historical rural public health challenges and discuss how strategies proposed in the early 20th century may inform current policy and practice. As we explore the new frontier of rural public health, it is critical to consider enduring rural challenges and how to ensure that proposed solutions translate into actual health improvements. (Am J Public Health. 2020;110:1678-1686. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2020.305868).

Civic programmatic participation in public health: the case of Argentina.

Since the Alma Ata World Health Organization Conference in 1978, countries around the world have adopted institutions that promote the participation of citizens in their public health systems. The main objectives of this article are two-fold. First, we describe the origins and implementation of a national-level civic participatory program that was in place in Argentina in the mid-2000s: the Local Participatory Projects (Proyectos Locales Participativos). Second, we analyze the 201 local participatory projects that were carried out in Argentina between 2007 and 2008. We study health and environmental problems that prompt people's participation in the program and the social dynamics through which such participation is executed.

Civic programmatic participation in public health: the case of Argentina / Participação programática cidadã na saúde pública: o caso da Argentina / Participación cívica en programas de salud pública: el caso de Argentina

Abstract: Since the Alma Ata World Health Organization Conference in 1978, countries around the world have adopted institutions that promote the participation of citizens in their public health systems. The main objectives of this article are two-fold. First, we describe the origins and implementation of a national-level civic participatory program that was in place in Argentina in the mid-2000s: the Local Participatory Projects (Proyectos Locales Participativos). Second, we analyze the 201 local participatory projects that were carried out in Argentina between 2007 and 2008. We study health and environmental problems that prompt people's participation in the program and the social dynamics through which such participation is executed.

Resumo: Desde a Conferência de Alma Ata da Organização Mundial da Saúde em 1978, países do mundo inteiro adotaram instituições que promovem a participação dos cidadãos nos sistemas de saúde pública. O artigo teve dois objetivos principais. Primeiro, descrevemos as origens e a implementação de um programa participativo em nível nacional que foi implementado na Argentina em meados da primeira década deste século: os chamados Projetos Locais Participativos (Proyectos Locales Participativos). Segundo, analisamos os 201 projetos de participação local que foram implementados na Argentina entre 2007 e 2008. Estudamos os problemas sanitários e ambientais que motivaram a participação popular no programa e a dinâmica social através da qual essa participação é efetivada.

Resumen: Desde la Conferencia de la Organización Mundial de la Salud de Alma Ata en 1978, varios países alrededor del mundo han creado instituciones que promueven la participación de la ciudadanía en sus sistemas públicos de salud. En este artículo, en primer lugar, describimos los orígenes e implementación de un programa cívico participativo en el territorio nacional, que se realizó en Argentina a mediados de la década de los años 2000, denominado Proyectos Locales Participativos; en segundo lugar, analizamos 201 proyectos locales participativos que se llevaron a cabo en el país entre 2007 y 2008. Estudiamos los problemas de salud y medioambientales que motivaron la participación de la gente en el programa, así como la dinámica social a través de la cual se canalizaba esta participación.

Health Planning in 1960s Africa: International Health Organisations and the Post-Colonial State.

This article explores the programme of national health planning carried out in the 1960s in West and Central Africa by the World Health Organization (WHO), in collaboration with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Health plans were intended as integral aspects of economic development planning in five newly independent countries: Gabon, Liberia, Mali, Niger and Sierra Leone. We begin by showing that this episode is treated only superficially in the existing WHO historiography, then introduce some relevant critical literature on the history of development planning. Next we outline the context for health planning, noting: the opportunities which independence from colonial control offered to international development agencies; the WHO's limited capacity in Africa; and its preliminary efforts to avoid imposing Western values or partisan views of health system organisation. Our analysis of the plans themselves suggests they lacked the necessary administrative and statistical capacity properly to gauge local needs, while the absence of significant financial resources meant that they proposed little more than augmentation of existing structures. By the late 1960s optimism gave way to disappointment as it became apparent that implementation had been minimal. We describe the ensuing conflict within WHO over programme evaluation and ongoing expenditure, which exposed differences of opinion between African and American officials over approaches to international health aid. We conclude with a discussion of how the plans set in train longer processes of development planning, and, perhaps less desirably, gave bureaucratic shape to the post-colonial state.

Measles and Rubella Global Strategic Plan 2012-2020 midterm review.

KEY HIGHLIGHTS: 1. Measles eradication is the ultimate goal but it is premature to set a date for its accomplishment. Existing regional elimination goals should be vigorously pursued to enable setting a global target by 2020. 2. The basic strategic approaches articulated in the Global Measles and Rubella Strategic Plan 2012-2020 are valid to achieve the goals but have not been fully implemented (or not appropriately adapted to local situations). 3. The report recommends a shift from primary reliance on supplementary immunization activities (SIAs) to assure two doses of measles-containing vaccine (MCV) are delivered to the target population to primary reliance on ongoing services to assure administration of two doses of MCV. Regular high quality SIAs will still be necessary while ongoing services are being strengthened. 4. The report recommends a shift from primary reliance on coverage to measure progress to incorporating disease incidence as a major indicator. 5. The report recommends that the measles/rubella vaccination program be considered an indicator for the quality of the overall immunization program and that measles/rubella incidence and measles and rubella vaccination coverage be considered as primary indicators of immunization program performance. 6. Polio transition presents both risks and opportunities: risks should be minimized and opportunities maximized. 7. A school entry immunization check could contribute significantly to strengthening overall immunization services with assurance that recommended doses of measles and rubella vaccines as well as other vaccines have been delivered and providing those vaccines at that time if the child is un- or under-vaccinated. 8. Program decisions should increasingly be based on good quality data and appropriate analysis. 9. The incorporation of rubella vaccination into the immunization program needs to be accelerated - it should be accorded equivalent emphasis as measles. 10. Outbreak investigation and response are critical but the most important thing is to prevent outbreaks.

Measles and Rubella Global Strategic Plan 2012-2020 midterm review report: Background and summary.

Measles, a vaccine-preventable illness, is one of the most infectious diseases known to man. In 2015, an estimated 134,200 measles deaths occurred globally. Rubella, also vaccine-preventable, is a concern because infection during pregnancy can result in congenital defects in the baby. More than 100,000 babies with congenital rubella syndrome were estimated to have been born globally in 2010. Eradication of both measles and rubella is considered to be feasible, beneficial, and more cost-effective than high-level control. All six World Health Organization (WHO) regions have measles elimination goals by 2020 and two have rubella elimination goals by that year. However, the World Health Assembly has not endorsed a global eradication goal for either disease. In 2012, the Measles and Rubella Initiative published a Global Measles and Rubella Strategic Plan, 2012-2020, referred to hereafter as the Plan, which aimed to achieve measles and rubella elimination in at least five WHO regions by end-2020 through the implementation of five core strategies, with progress evaluated against 2015 milestones. When, by end-2015, none of these milestones had been met, WHO's Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE) recommended a mid-term review of the Plan to evaluate progress toward goals, assess the quality of strategy implementation, and formulate lessons learned. A five-member team reviewed documents and conducted interviews with stakeholders as the basis for the review's conclusions and recommendations. This team concluded that, although significant progress in measles elimination had been made, progress had slowed. It recommended that countries continue to work toward elimination goals with a focus on strengthening ongoing immunization systems. In addition, it concluded that the strategies articulated in the Plan were sound, however full implementation had been impeded by inadequate country ownership and global political will, reflected in inadequate resources. Detailed recommendations for each of the Plan's five strategies as well as the areas of polio transition, governance and resource mobilization are outlined.

Planejamento e gestão em saúde: conceitos, historia e propósitos

Como utilizar recursos finitos e, muitas vezes, escassos? De que modo redistribuir os bens e aumentar o acesso a eles? Essas escolhas e decisões fazem parte do dia a dia dos gestores e profissionais da saúde. E é a eles – assim como aos pesquisadores, estudantes e todos aqueles que se preocupam com os rumos da saúde do país – que se dirige este livro. Os autores contam a evolução histórica do planejamento em saúde na América Latina e no Brasil. Colocam lado a lado os temas clássicos e os dilemas contemporâneos, que exigem releituras e respostas atualizadas. Discutem um novo paradigma, baseado em Habermas, que tem sido denominado comunicativo ou intersubjetivo. Também apresentam duas propostas teórico-metodológicas para o Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS) e oferecem roteiros para que elas possam ser utilizadas em oficinas de trabalho. Assim, ao abordarem e dialogarem com diferentes enfoques sobre o planejamento em saúde, os autores revelam que não existe somente um caminho correto. Convidam o leitor “ao exercício de escuta e de avaliação dos problemas de saúde de forma ampla, compreendendo sua permeabilidade à técnica e aos valores, às ideologias, à história, à política e à cultura”

Planejamento e gestão em saúde: conceitos, história e propostas / Planning and management in health care: concepts, history and proposals

Como utilizar recursos finitos e, muitas vezes, escassos? De que modo redistribuir os bens e aumentar o acesso a eles? Essas escolhas e decisões fazem parte do dia a dia dos gestores e profissionais da saúde. E é a eles – assim como aos pesquisadores, estudantes e todos aqueles que se preocupam com os rumos da saúde do país – que se dirige o livro Planejamento e Gestão em Saúde: conceitos, história e propostas, novo título da coleção Temas em Saúde da Editora Fiocruz. “É preciso pensar a gestão do micro, do cotidiano, mas é preciso também atuar no nível macro, na formulação de políticas que contribuam para garantir a vida, a saúde, ofertar serviços dignos e garantir o acesso, a humanização da atenção”, destacam os autores, Francisco Javier Uribe Rivera e Elizabeth Artmann, ambos pesquisadores da Escola Nacional de Saúde Pública (Ensp/Fiocruz). Inicialmente, o livro conta a evolução histórica do planejamento em saúde na América Latina e no Brasil. Mas os autores colocam lado a lado os temas clássicos e os dilemas contemporâneos, que exigem releituras e respostas atualizadas. Dessa forma, eles discutem um novo paradigma, baseado em Habermas, que tem sido denominado comunicativo ou intersubjetivo. “Hoje sustentamos que o planejamento em saúde evolui do normativo para o estratégico e deste para o comunicativo”, resumem. De acordo com o novo paradigma, o planejamento pressupõe a criação de vínculos e a gestão de redes, por meio de um caráter participativo e de um diálogo crítico; envolve negociações para o estabelecimento de parcerias e cooperações. Não somente questões objetivas, mas também questões relacionadas aos valores e à ética são alvo de fundamentação argumentativa. Em um dos capítulos, os autores apresentam duas propostas teórico-metodológicas para o Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS). Uma delas é uma adaptação do planejamento estratégico-situacional, instrumento especialmente adequado, por exemplo, para a atenção básica e a estratégia de saúde da família.

A outra é uma adaptação da chamada démarche estratégica, aplicada em hospitais e útil para instituições que articulam assistência, ensino e pesquisa. Além de apresentarem as propostas, os autores oferecem roteiros para que elas possam ser utilizadas em oficinas de trabalho. Ao abordarem e dialogarem com diferentes enfoques sobre o planejamento em saúde, os autores revelam que não existe somente um caminho correto. Assim, convidam o leitor “ao exercício de escuta e de avaliação dos problemas de saúde de forma ampla, compreendendo sua permeabilidade à técnica e aos valores, às ideologias, à história, à política e à cultura”. O convite vem acompanhado, ainda, de uma lista com sugestões de livros e filmes que podem ser usados como materiais de apoio em cursos ou aulas sobre planejamento em saúde.

Planejamento e gestão em saúde: conceitos, historia e propósitos / Planning and management in health: concepts, history and purposes

Como utilizar recursos finitos e, muitas vezes, escassos? De que modo redistribuir os bens e aumentar o acesso a eles? Essas escolhas e decisões fazem parte do dia a dia dos gestores e profissionais da saúde. E é a eles – assim como aos pesquisadores, estudantes e todos aqueles que se preocupam com os rumos da saúde do país – que se dirige este livro. Os autores contam a evolução histórica do planejamento em saúde na América Latina e no Brasil. Colocam lado a lado os temas clássicos e os dilemas contemporâneos, que exigem releituras e respostas atualizadas. Discutem um novo paradigma, baseado em Habermas, que tem sido denominado comunicativo ou intersubjetivo. Também apresentam duas propostas teórico-metodológicas para o Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS) e oferecem roteiros para que elas possam ser utilizadas em oficinas de trabalho. Assim, ao abordarem e dialogarem com diferentes enfoques sobre o planejamento em saúde, os autores revelam que não existe somente um caminho correto. Convidam o leitor “ao exercício de escuta e de avaliação dos problemas de saúde de forma ampla, compreendendo sua permeabilidade à técnica e aos valores, às ideologias, à história, à política e à cultura.

Decentralization, democratization, and health: the Philippine experiment.

In 1991, the Philippines joined a growing list of countries that reformed health planning through decentralization. Reformers viewed decentralization as a tool that would solve multiple problems, leading to more meaningful democracy and more effective health planning. Today, nearly two decades after the passage of decentralization legislation, questions about the effectiveness of the reforms persist. Inadequate financing, inequity, and a lack of meaningful participation remain challenges, in many ways mirroring broader weaknesses of Philippine democracy. These concerns pose questions regarding the nature of contemporary decentralization, democratization, and health planning and whether these three strategies are indeed mutually enforcing.

Embedding economic relationships through social learning? The limits of patient and public involvement in healthcare governance in England.

The strategy for NHS modernization in England is privileging individual choice over collective voice in the governance of healthcare. This paper explores the tension between economic and democratic strands in the current reform agenda, drawing on sociological conceptions of embeddedness and on theories of reflexive governance. Building on a Polanyian account of the disembedding effects of the increasing commercialization of health services, we consider the prospects for re-embedding economic relationships in this field. An analysis is provided of the limits of the present legal and regulatory framework of Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) in establishing the democratic and pragmatist conditions of social learning necessary for effective embedding. We show how the attainment of reflexive governance in the public interest is dependent on such conditions, and on the capacities of patients and the public to contribute to debate and deliberation in decision making, including on fundamental policy questions such as how services are provided and by whom.

Physician resource planning in Canada: the need for a stronger behavioural foundation.

An effective solution to the problem of access to physician services in Canada must extend beyond an over-exclusive focus on the number of providers to consider the behaviour of physicians in greater depth. The amount of labour and associated services supplied by physicians depends importantly on their attitudes regarding work, on practice and non-practice income opportunities, and on the policy environment in which they practise. Hence, the amount of labour supplied by a given stock of physicians can change over time. Only by considering the full range of factors that affect the labour supply of physicians can we effectively plan for physician resources.

Designing HIGH-COST medicine: hospital surveys, health planning, and the paradox of progressive reform.

Inspired by social medicine, some progressive US health reforms have paradoxically reinforced a business model of high-cost medical delivery that does not match social needs. In analyzing the financial status of their areas' hospitals, for example, city-wide hospital surveys of the 1910s through 1930s sought to direct capital investments and, in so doing, control competition and markets. The 2 national health planning programs that ran from the mid-1960s to the mid-1980s continued similar strategies of economic organization and management, as did the so-called market reforms that followed. Consequently, these reforms promoted large, extremely specialized, capital-intensive institutions and systems at the expense of less complex (and less costly) primary and chronic care. The current capital crisis may expose the lack of sustainability of such a model and open up new ideas and new ways to build health care designed to meet people's health needs.

Healthcare reform in Denmark.

The article discusses and describes how healthcare reform from 2007 in Denmark has influenced the health sector. This reform has been labelled the most radical reform of the political administrative system since the first democratic constitution in 1849. Local government reform is the latest step in a process of reforming the welfare state and the health sector. In more concrete terms this article analyzes two key issues that have had top priority in the first period of reform implementation - the new planning of hospital structure and the first generation of health agreements.