Many tools and resources focused on developing health system governance and leadership structures have been created over the last decade, particularly from the World Health Organization and through projects funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID). Below is an interactive resource that provides the most useful documents within the context of our defined scope of PHC policies and leadership, quality management infrastructure, and social accountability.
This Social Development working paper highlights different social accountability initiatives that were led or supported by the World Bank in the first several years of their focus on this type of work. In addition to providing a detailed account of different tools that can be used by citizens and civil society to monitor and assess policies and budgets, expenditures, and service provider performance, the working paper identified several factors that the authors assess as key factors needed for social accountability to be successful.
Tags: Social accountability
This practitioner guide provides a detailed overview of how civil society organizations and their partners can design and implement one of the most heavily-utilized social accountability tools – the community scorecard (CSC). Based on CARE’s extensive use of the CSC in different contexts and sectors, the technical guidance is broken down into five key phases (planning and preparation, conducting the scorecard with the community, conducting the scorecard with the providers, interface meeting and action planning, and action implementation and monitoring). The guide also provides samples of different components of the CSC tools that practitioners can readily adapt to their own contexts.
Tags: Social accountability
This seminal report highlights how civil society-led accountability efforts can improve the effectiveness, equity, and impact of budget execution, procurement, impact measurement, and audit and legislative oversight. The paper is designed to provide information to civil society organizations about the process associated with each of these governance activities as well as numerous case studies that present successful efforts by practitioners to oversee and improve accountability for these processes in their countries.
Tags: Social accountability
Focusing on strategic social accountability rather than traditional tool-based approaches, this paper is divided into two distinct by complementary parts. The first part provides a conceptual framework for key elements to achieving vertical integration in social accountability, highlighting the need for accountability efforts to integrate participation and oversight at all levels of policy processes and implementation (local, subnational, national, and global). The second part provides a detailed case study of one such effort to employ vertical integration into an education-focused social accountability program in the Philippines.
Tags: Social accountability
This helpful annotated bibliography provides an extensive list of resources for different social accountability tools developed for or used in the health sector. The resources range from conceptual and theoretical frameworks for social accountability to address different problems in health to practical guidance for specific tools. Each resource is accompanied with a brief description to help the reader best identify what resources or tools may be most applicable to their needs.
Tags: Social accountability
This report documents experiences, challenges, tested solutions, and practical ideas for countries as they strengthen governance, improve quality health services, and pursue UHC. It elaborates on critical components of governance for quality health care, specifically looking at: policy strategies, regulation, non-state actors, political will, reliable data, continuous improvement, knowledge sharing, and financing links. The report provides examples of experiences, challenges, and lessons learned in establishing an institutional architecture for governing for quality service delivery.
Tags: PHC policies, Quality management infrastructure, Governing for quality
The guide is for planners and policymakers. It explores how payers can use health financing levers to drive health sector performance. It contains strategies for payers to leverage power to enhance the quality of care, describes possible institutional arrangements among payers and other actors, and proposes processes to establish or improve institutional arrangements in a country.
Tags: PHC policies, Quality management infrastructure, Financing quality
These country case studies explore how Ethiopia, Mexico, Uganda, Ghana, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Tanzania have progressed toward prioritizing and governing to improve quality health service delivery. There are key lessons on quality reforms – including successes and challenges in promoting quality of care – and descriptions of key inputs and processes to governing quality of care including regulation, law and policies, leadership and management, and planning.
Tags: PHC policies, Quality management infrastructure, Policy strategy
This handbook provides approaches for developing national health policies, strategies, and plans. It explores key elements of national health planning, drawing on country experience, existing work, and literature reviews. It can be looked at as a whole or as independent chapters, which include priority setting, strategic and operational planning, budgeting, monitoring and evaluation, and cross-cutting themes such as law and regulation and intersectoral planning.
Tags: PHC policies, Quality management infrastructure, Policy strategy
This framework discusses the policy and operational levers that represent key elements of health systems and that can be used to accelerate progress on primary health care. It provides resources for countries to use, actions that can be taken, and indicators to track progress. The goal of the framework is to assist countries in efforts towards improving PHC through governance at the national and subnational level, by individuals, and global partners.
Tags: PHC policies, Quality management infrastructure, Governing for quality
The WHO Global Learning Laboratory (GLL) for Quality UHC provides a platform for users to engage one another through webinars, learning pods, and other approaches to discuss critical areas in quality, including through national quality policies and strategies. The GLL includes a national quality policy and strategy area for “consideration of focused policies and strategies to facilitate quality integration across all levels of the health system.”
Tags: PHC policies, Quality management infrastructure, Policy strategy
Covering key aspects of PHC systems, the PRIMASYS case studies explore policy development and implementation, financing, integration of PHC into comprehensive health systems, scope, quality and coverage of care, governance and organization, and monitoring and evaluation of system performance. The knowledge generated through these case studies can be translated into the development and implementation of national PHC policies, programs, and health systems reforms.
Tags: PHC policies, Quality management infrastructure, Roles and responsibilities
This handbook describes eight essential elements to be considered by teams developing national quality policy and strategy, including national health goals and priorities; local definition of quality; stakeholder mapping and engagement; situational analysis; governance and organizational structure, among others. The handbook explores arguments for developing national policy and strategy on quality of health care, the process required to do so, and tools to support the process.
Tags: PHC policies, Quality management infrastructure, Policy strategy
HiAP is a systematic approach to taking health implications into account for decisions across sectors, in an effort to improve population health and health equity. This framework is the founding statement and “starter’s kit” on health in all policies (HiAP), including guidance on six key components to its implementation and suggestions on the roles and responsibilities of government structures and health authorities. The framework provides examples of HiAP in practice in different country contexts as well as implementation recommendations.
Tags: PHC policies, Quality management infrastructure, Policy strategy
This online repository of WHO tools is designed to assist national and sub-national health authorities in elaborating health policies, strategies, and plans. It contains diagnostic tools for assessment, monitoring, and evaluation, as well as tools to support priority setting, identify effective strategies, costing scenarios, resource planning and budgeting, and programming and implementation. This is useful for a deeper look at tools developed by WHO and other sources for national health planning efforts.
Tags: PHC policies, Quality management infrastructure, Governing for quality
This report makes the case for quality improvement as a core function of PHC, providing perspectives of different levels of the health system on improving PHC quality, and citing a number of principles and interventions that can form part of efforts to achieve such change. This paper includes some interventions for improving quality, and encourages a learning agenda that focuses on questions around what is working, how it is working, and how it can be scaled up.
Tags: PHC policies, Governing for quality
This handbook focuses on the six core components, or building blocks, of health systems identified by the WHO: service delivery, health workforce, health information systems, access to essential medicines, financing, and leadership/governance. The leadership and governance section includes a policy index and introduces the components and related indicators. It describes possible sources of information and available measurement strategies, and proposes core and supplemental indicators that may be used depending on the country health system attributes and needs.
Tags: PHC policies, Roles and responsibilities
This document is a detailed guide to Bangladesh’s health sector strategic development plan, but is applicable on a broader scale as an example of a national country strategy. It details strategies and plans that emphasize quality, effective service provision, and equity. It is a useful reference for PHC policy reform efforts, recognizing many of the key steps and pathways described for establishing strong PHC policies.
Tags: PHC policies, Policy strategy
This document is an example of a national country plan. It includes an assessment of the performance of each building block of the health system, describes the major tasks and solutions moving forward, in addition to financing needs, monitoring and evaluation plan, and the country’s approach for organization implementation of the major tasks. Primary health care is fundamental to this plan; it is a useful reference for a successful plan for strengthening PHC policies.
Tags: PHC policies, Policy strategy
This is an example of a comprehensive national plan focusing on quality management through a national policy and strategy. It includes a situational assessment reviewing community ownership, health status, and equity. It describes a policy framework accompanied by a strategic assessment, and strategic objectives, and performance measures. This is an ambitious and detailed strategic transformation plan that could be of use for other country stakeholders looking for examples, or benchmarking opportunities for planning.
Tags: Quality management infrastructure, National quality strategy
While this document was developed with a focus on improving quality assurance in Ghana, it is a useful reference as a detailed guide to developing quality management programs. With guidance to the steps for and reasoning behind developing organizational infrastructure and leadership, performance measurement, and involving the community in meaningful ways, it can be used as a toolkit for quality management efforts.
Tags: Quality management infrastructure, National quality strategy
This review describes structures and activities promoting quality in health care used at national and international levels, catalogues examples of quality concepts and tools in use in health care, and analyzes the operation of national health service accreditation programs. It consolidates recommendations from WHO and International Society for Quality in Health Care quality assurance consultations between 1988 and 2000, and includes key questions for consideration for national quality strategy in low- and middle-income countries focusing on policy, organization, methods, and resources.
Tags: Quality management infrastructure, Governing for quality
