As COVID-19 strains our health systems, primary health care is a key part of pandemic preparedness and response and is the foundation of recovery.
Local priority setting is the process of identifying health priorities specific to the local community and developing action plans informed by community needs as well as national or regional priorities. Local priority setting is most effective when informed by robust local data and conducted by an array of stakeholders. 4
Local priority setting involves two central considerations: the choice of indicators/data for identifying needs and selecting priorities as well as the process of determining, monitoring, and implementing priorities including the necessary stakeholders to conduct these activities.
Local priority setting often begins by reviewing the burden and cause of mortality and morbidity in a population. These data should be complemented by data on social determinants unique to the population. Experience from Uganda found ten criteria that were deemed highly relevant for local priority setting by community stakeholders: 5
These findings demonstrate the importance of melding social and lifestyle considerations – such as norms about childbirth/child rearing or preferences for provider gender - with more traditional epidemiological data when setting priorities. Successful data collection and use will depend on the effective use of information systems with broad fundamental capacities to track and stratify data from a given population, including emerging data from panels and existing health information management systems. At first, indicators may have to be chosen based on available data. Quantitative indicators should also be supplemented with qualitative feedback solicited through active community engagement. 1 Conclusions from these data can then be used to contextualize and adapt health services and interventions to meet local needs and preferences. Stakeholders should ensure alignment with existing national or sub-national policies such as the Basic Package of Essential Health Services. Eventually, data management and priority setting should operate in tandem and be informed by larger performance management systems. These systems are discussed in greater detail in performance measurement and management.
The process for determining priorities and setting local agendas presents an opportunity to leverage local knowledge and expertise from communities. The Accountability for Reasonableness (AFR) approach is a framework that focuses on legitimacy and fairness in local priority setting. 6 This approach, applied from Kamuzora et al (2013) comprises a four-step framework:
Taken together and effectively implemented, these elements can ensure strong, transparent, and well-monitored priority setting activities.
While not widely tested, a second framework developed in Australia identifies factors that influence effective priority setting:
A common theme across frameworks is the importance of using comparable data between the national and local levels as it can align progress and priorities across districts and increase efficiency through shared and standardized indicators. 8 However, comparability should be balanced with quality and relevance to ensure that indicators are actionable. A second theme is the value of transparency and alignment with communities and consumers. Local priority setting presents an opportunity for community engagement where community members and health care users can help determine which services are most needed and valued. When services are tailored to the community that they serve in regard to both clinical need and cultural awareness, health systems can achieve: greater efficiency, improved health status, stronger patient-provider respect and trust and people centeredness, greater equity, more responsive, and better utilization by the community. 7
PHCPI is a partnership dedicated to transforming the global state of primary health care, beginning with better measurement. While the content on this website represents the position of the partnership a whole, it does not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any partner organization.
Regardless of the process for priority setting, robust local data are crucial for informing these exercises, and thus capacity for data collection, analysis, and use are necessary. In Costa Rica, community health workers regularly collect local data during routine community visits. 11 After data are transferred from community health workers to clerks (Registros de Salud or REDES), they are sent to and analyzed by the Costa Rican social security agency (Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social) and eventually returned to the Health Area Teams (akin to district health management teams) where they are used to set priorities for the coming year. 9 For a brief time, these data were also used to negotiate bonus compensation for the health area. However, this was system was antithetical to many values held by providers in Costa Rica and was eventually abolished. 9 Regardless, this system of data collection and feedback has established a systematic approach to priority setting and re-revaluation of priorities that is grounded by local data collection and supported by functioning analytic systems and clear communication.
The Response to Accountable Priority Setting for Trust in health systems (REACT) initiative in Tanzania brought together community members and medical professionals to determine priorities and establish a system for implementing the Accountability for Reasonableness (AFR) framework in Tanzania with mixed results. 7 The decentralized nature of the health system in Tanzania was a significant enabler of implementation during this project. Pre-existing Council Health Management Teams (CHMTs) were responsible for planning and budgeting and formed the foundation of the AFR intervention. The CHMTs collaborated with research teams to conduct participatory research evaluating the existing priority-setting practices, training for CHMT to restructure priority setting, and development of strategies to address AFR. The CHMT was ultimately responsible for spreading AFR values throughout the district. 7 There was initial resistance to the inclusion of special interest groups and community members in the CHMT despite community engagement and transparency being a central component of AFR. Critics felt that community members often did not have adequate knowledge or skills to contribute to these exercises. After a few years, the CHMTs acclimated to the inclusion of special groups and recruited community members into their planning and budgeting process. Thus, the evaluation found that successful integration of community perspectives in priority setting required external support to sensitize health professionals towards the utility of community input, an important consideration for health systems seeking to integrate community members into priority setting exercises. 7
The program experienced some logistical challenges that should be considered by others attempting to replicate this process, including lack of financial support to effectively carry out roles and insufficient time for pre-planning, discussion of priorities, and meeting preparation. Thus, countries working towards incorporating community voices and values in priority setting should ensure that they devote adequate time and financial resources to community engagement during planning. Despite these shortcomings, this approach was successful at improving health outcomes, including marginalized groups, and appropriately orienting priorities to local needs. The process resulted in better identification of needs and priorities, increased community knowledge about priority setting, greater transparency, improved trust, and improved perceived accessibility of services. 7
Mothers groups are a common structure for integrating local priority setting and community engagement. Inspired by a design that had been used successfully in Bolivia, the MIRA Makwanpur trial was established in Nepal to test the impact of a women’s group on neonatal mortality. 10 Trained and remunerated local women led each meeting and worked with community volunteer to organize the logistics of the meetings. Facilitators used meeting manuals to guide the group through planning activities. Women’s groups identified problems in the communities as well as ideas for addressing them using local resources. Afterwards, the whole community was invited to discuss and plan strategies. A randomized controlled trial of this program found a 30% reduction in neonatal mortality over the first 30 months of the program. 10 Women’s groups may be an effective strategy for building community and trust for the purpose of receiving feedback and identifying opportunities for growth and interventions within the health system.
PHCPI is a partnership dedicated to transforming the global state of primary health care, beginning with better measurement. While the content on this website represents the position of the partnership a whole, it does not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any partner organization.
The questions below may be a useful starting place for determining whether Local Priority Setting is an appropriate area of focus for a given context and how one might begin to plan and enact reforms:
Priorities set at the national level often determine how resources are allocated to improve population health across all levels of the system and the required monitoring and reporting indicators and mechanisms. Effective local priority setting should translate national priorities and their implementation strategies to the local context to ensure that population needs are met.
Understanding existing systems for national priorities will influence the indicators or systems used to set local priorities and can reduce redundancy and increase efficiency in data collection and reporting. Note that national priorities, while an important consideration for local priority setting, are only one element to be considered. Local priority setting also relies heavily upon community engagement and local data.
Before implementing new systems for local priority settings, first explore what formal or informal system are already in place. For instance, there may be community feedback forms or conversations that occur with existing regional or district health teams that contribute to decisions about local priorities and these could be evaluated for effectiveness and formalized or integrated into new systems.
Because local priority setting should be informed by data, it is crucial to identify the relevant data sources and data collection systems within the community. If these do not exist or are not reliable, stakeholder may choose to focus on strengthening them while also engaging with community members on their needs and priorities. Stakeholders within the health system must also have the capacity to store, analyze, and share data.
Community members should be actively engaged in local priority setting, particularly in determining how services are delivered. There are a number of different ways to solicit input from communities including community committees, conversations with community members during outreach, and engagement with specific special interest groups. More information on community engagement can be found in the Community Engagement module.
Given the numerous ways to engage communities, it is important to ensure that all segments of the population are given a voice in local priority setting, particularly those who may be historically under-represented or marginalized.
PHCPI is a partnership dedicated to transforming the global state of primary health care, beginning with better measurement. While the content on this website represents the position of the partnership a whole, it does not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any partner organization.
In order for interventions aimed at improving Local Priority Setting to be most successful, the following elements of the PHCPI Conceptual Framework should be in place or pursued simultaneously:
While many aspects of population health management depend on local or clinic-level decisions and resources, national policies that are supportive of a population health management approach will aid decision making and service delivery. For instance, national priority setting exercises that allow flexibility and encourage adaptation at a local level will better serve the needs of heterogeneous populations within a given country.
Learn more in the Adjustment to Population Health Needs Improvement Strategies module.
Successful local priority setting depends on the existence of information systems that can effectively collect, track, and report data that is relevant to the local level. For this data to be meaningful for local priority setting, local stakeholders must have the knowledge, skill, and opportunity to access, analyze, interpret, and use relevant data. For instance, during monthly household visits, community health agents in Brazil collect individual and household-level data to keep updated vital registers and data on burden of disease and health needs. 11 Similarly, in Costa Rica, data feedback loops and efficient communication of information enable the development of targeted action plans and management contracts, targeting the specific health needs of the population. 9
Learn more in the Information Systems Improvement Strategies module.
PHCPI is a partnership dedicated to transforming the global state of primary health care, beginning with better measurement. While the content on this website represents the position of the partnership a whole, it does not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any partner organization.
Brief Overview
Each section includes core principles and relevant background on the topic to help stakeholders understand how this topic relates to other parts of the health system and how to begin improvements.
In-depth exploration
Each section links to various external resources including research papers, toolkits, and implementation guides for readers who would like to learn more.
Diagnostic
Countries that have a Vital Signs Profile can use it to identify gaps in their performance and find improvement strategies that are specifically relevant to their context.
Sharing experience and learning from others
Throughout the model, there are case studies that provide examples of how other countries have implemented reforms and the factors that supported implementation. Additionally, if you think others can learn from improvements in your country, you can submit your experience using the "share your experience" tab.
