Health Assessment Flashcards
Learning Objectives
- Why do we need to assess?
- What contexts?
- What information?
- What tools exist?
- What considerations?
- What philosophy?
What is meant by “Health Assessment”?
Health needs assessment is the systematic approach to ensuring that the health service uses its resources to improve the health of the population in the most efficient way
Why do we need to assess health?
- Response
- M&E
- Research
- Planning
What does the framework of assessing health consist of?
- Planning: Allocation, Production, Distribution, Financing
- Intervention selection: Impact, Effectiveness
In what contexts are health assessments used?
- Refugees/IDP
- Disaster relief
- Complex emergencies
- Infectious disease
What information is used when carrying out a health assessment?
- 3 indicators - Smart
What does the standard information consist of?
And what do these categories indicate?
- Mortality: Crude mortality rate, Under 5 mortality rate
- Morbidity: Specific disease mortality rate, incidence
- Vaccination: Vaccination rates
- Nutrition: Global acute malnutrition, Severe acute malnutrition
- Water: Litres per person per day
- Sanitation: Number of toilets
What tools exist to investigate this information?
- IOM - DTM
- UNHCR - Twine
- Danish Refugee Council - JIPS
- IASC suggested indicators
- Norwegian Refugee Council
- IFRC’s RAMP
What factors do we need to consider when carrying out a health assessment?
- Timescale
- Purpose
- Ability to respond
- Stove-pipes and sectors
- Politics
- Cost
- Quant vs Qual
What role does the health sector play?
- Health provision
- ‘Stabilisation’
- Development
What are the 3 main groups that each collide when a health assessment takes place?
- Need to protect
- Need to rebuild
- Political need
Describe the building blocks of a health system (WHO, 2007)
- Service delivery, Health workforce, Information, Medical products, Financing, Leadership/Governance
- These system building blocks all come together and are assessed based on coverage and quality safety which leads to these outcomes
- Improved health, Responsiveness, Social and financial risk protection, Improved efficiency
View slides for opinions part
Not as important
Describe how policy outcomes are achieved in different areas
- External pressures/Resource’s -> Implementation process (1)
- Policy choices: Reform, Measures -> (1)
- Health context (system and population health) -> (1)
- Sodio-Economic and Political context -> Government capacity -> (1)
- Implementation Process -> Policy outcomes: Reform Outcomes
What is the significance of health systems in todays society?
- Health can have a significant independent effect in nation-building efforts
- Successful health system reconstruction includes effective planning, coordination, and leadership
- Health reform is linked to other sectors, such as power, transportation, and governance
- Health-sector reform needs to be sustainable, with responsibility passed to the country’s health care providers and leaders
- Security is essential for all reconstruction, including health
