ReBUILD at HSR 2024 – Wednesday 20th November

 

 

Health justice in fragile and shock-prone settings: from theory to practice towards building resilient health systems

Read the slides from this session here.

 

This oral abstract from Wesam Mansour (ReBUILD and LSTM) featured in the session From Emergency Care to Inclusion: Advancing Health System Quality and Justice in Fragile Settings. 

 

Health injustice is at the root of fragility, as well as being exacerbated by it, and thinking about and acting upon health justice is key in fragile settings. There is a lack of empirical evidence on what health justice means and its application in fragile settings. This session aimed to clarify the concept of health justice and how it has been applied using evidence from four fragile contexts where close collaborations with different stakeholders including the local communities have been established, and different participatory research methods have been used to co-create interventions to address inequities and build resilient health systems.

 

Watch a ReBUILD webinar on health justice in conflict settings here.

 

 

Principles and practices of health systems strengthening in fragile settings: conceptual reflections and operational perspectives through PhotoVoice

Read slides from this session here.

 

This presentation was part of the session Strengthening health systems in fragile and conflict-affected settings session. It features Maria Bertone and Sophie Witter (both of ReBUILD and Queen Margaret University, UK) and Jieun Lee (World Vision UK).

 

Despite its importance, health system strengthening (HSS) remains an elusive concept – even more so in fragile and conflict-affected settings (FCAS), where HSS efforts are complicated by weak governance and fragmented response. This presentation reflected on the principles and practices of HSS in FCAS, combining conceptual thinking, photos and stories. Through conceptual reflections, as well as images and stories from a PhotoVoice exercise, two questions were addressed:

  • Principles: What does HSS mean specifically in FCAS? What are the principles of HSS in FCAS?
  • Practices: What are the practices and experiences of HSS programming in FCAS for a range of stakeholders? What are the achievements and challenges for those ‘doing’ HSS in FCAS? How can HSS programmes be designed, implemented and evaluated, and HSS supported in FCAS?

Learning focused on how HSS thinking can be applied to HSS programming in FCAS.

 

 

Reimagining the future of global health initiatives

The slides from this presentation can be found here.

 

This ReBUILD-affiliated panel session shared findings on the complex political economy factors that shape the current aid ecosystem, drawing from a study which examined the role of global health initiatives at global and country levels. This research fed into the 2023 Lusaka Agenda. The findings were debated with the panellists (representing national, global and research funder perspectives) and the audience. The aim was to develop stronger collective understanding of where leverage for change may lie, and how to proactively manage political economy factors that prevent reforms to improve aid alignment in support of country-led, sustainable and equitable universal health coverage.

 

The panel shared and co-created insights into how to improve aid alignment and support for country-led UHC through greater acknowledgment of the incentives behind current arrangements and how they might be shifted, leading to more just and inclusive governance and health institutions for a range of middle income, low income and fragile country settings.

Learning objectives were to:

  • Understand the positionality and incentives of different key actor groups within the global health eco-system
  • Reflect on contextual commonalities across middle, low income and fragile country settings, as well as differences with respect to opportunities and challenges within the aid eco-system
  • Synthesise insights presented by the political economy of the current system and develop new approaches for better alignment with country health systems

The session featured Sophie WitterMaria Bertone (both of ReBUILD and Queen Margaret University) plus Shehla Zaidi (AKU/UCL), Valery Ridde (Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, France), Susan Sparkes (WHO), Parfait Uwaliraye (Financing Alliance for Health) and Clare Battle (Wellcome Trust).

 

A case study on ReBUILD’s contribution to the Future of Global Health Initiatives can be found here.

 

 

Road to climate resilient health systems: Policy context and climate actions at subnational level in Nepal

Watch a video of this presentation here.

 

Bharat Bhatta of HERD International will give his oral presentation as part of the session From Policy to Practice: Governing for Climate Adaptation and Mitigation in 21st Century Health Systems.

 

Nepal is highly vulnerable to climate change, yet limited evidence exists on the understanding and capacity of local health system stakeholders regarding its impact on health and health systems, hindering the ability to devise locally tailored strategies for climate actions. Based on policy reviews, qualitative interviews and focus group discussions, this study highlights gaps in policy communication and resource allocation resulting in poor understanding and implementation of climate actions, reflected through low prioritization of climate change in annual plans. Effective policy communication, strengthening stakeholder capacity, and prioritizing climate actions into national and subnational plans and budgets are essential for building climate-resilient health systems.

 

Poster presentations

  • Provision of mental health and psychosocial support services to health workers and community members in conflict-affected Northwest Syria: a mixed-methods study – Ibrahim Bou Orm – Read it here
  • Liminal health systems: Mapping the health system for migrants and internally displaced people along the Thailand-Myanmar border – Lydia DiStefano, Community Partners International – Read it here

 

 

ReBUILD for Resilience sessions

Find sessions linked to ReBUILD members and our areas of study here.

 

"ReBUILD for Resilience brings together partners to share experiences, to discuss our contexts, and to create an appropriate model that helps build resilience in health systems across the country and beyond"

Sushil Baral, HERD International