Principles of Global Health Strategy and Management - Essay Example

Principles of global health strategy and management al Affiliation) The Global Health Strategy. The Ebola virus is a serious disease that came from West Africa, The outbreak was first reported in Guinea in March 2014, and has since been declared as a Public Health Emergency of global Concern It has resulted in thousands of deaths across the affected states as well as immense disruption of routine health care services.It however continues to be a very low threat for people living in other continents. This virus has mainly affected three countries in West Africa: Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. This remains the largest known outbreak of Ebola. An infected person typically develops a fever, joint and muscle pain, headache, intense muscle weakness and a sore throat. These symptoms are exhibited between two days and 3 weeks after infection. Given this eventuality, I thought it wise to evaluate the global health strategies some of the most advanced countries and institutions in health matters, have adapted to prevent the adverse effects a deadly disease such as Ebola, both locally and internationally. I have identified two institutions with the capacity to handle such emergencies in their respective countries. These two institutions are Human Health Service of the United States and Public Health England of the United Kingdom. The two institutions are instrumental in preparing Global Health Strategies of their respective countries, and they are the basis of this case study. The Global Health Strategy borrows from Human Health Service’s mission statement. It aims at safeguarding and promoting the well-being of the American citizens and stems from the HHS most recent Strategic Plan. It stresses on making investments where they are bound reach the most beneficiaries, focusing mostly on the efforts made by our partners, and resulting to the biggest developments in health and a chance for the American people to access quality health. It focuses on Human Health Services’ mandate as a key party in global health. This is through broad national interests and Administration preferences, such as the National Security Strategy, the Global Health Initiative, which tackles issues such as savings the lives of mothers, children and families and improving health systems and the National Strategy for Countering Biological Threats (Rowitz,2009). The GHS embodies three essential goals and ten key objectives, which contribute to achieving HHS’s global health perception of a healthier, invulnerable world. The three goals set by Global Health Strategy are fundamentally inter-related, and none of them can be reached in seclusion from the others. Each of the objectives also contributes in varying quantities to the realisation of all three goals. HHS does its international health activities through several basic operating principles, which ultimately characterize the priorities and logic of the agency and the Administration (Novick, Morrow, & Mays, 2008). Public Health England is responsible for the protection and improvement of health and wellbeing of citizens of the United Kingdom . It focused on the reduction of health inequalities and it does so through advocacy, fostering partnerships, having world class science, being knowledgeable and intelligent in all matters health, and nurturing many specialist in public health services. PHE operates autonomously under the executive agency of the Department of Health in the U.K. Below, we compare the principles of strategy management for HHS and PHE. 1. Using evidence-based knowledge to inform decisions We seek to make sure the use of research-based knowledge aids in our decision-making, and that this intelligence is actively garnered, exchanged and released. We will use strengthened global surveillance to identify, keep track of, identify, limit and avoid diseases while also addressing health concerns that are bound to have an effect on the U.S. population either directly or indirectly (Seaward, 2012). For instance, the UK has a state of the art public health system with professionals and facilities necessary to suppress cases of Ebola. On the hand, The U.S have multiple research agencies to ensure health research on not only the Ebola virus, but also any other viral disease. Recommendations: •Supporting countries, states and multilateral corporations to enhance surveillance systems, addressing existing gaps (for instance, diversifying surveillance on human and animal diseases, and with respect to communicable and non-communicable illnesses) and making sure of the interoperability of systems, within and across the states or countries. •Assist with improving the workforce and laboratory adequacy in supporting diagnosis for disease surveillance. •Provide leadership and technical knowhow, often coupled within Ministries of Health, to enhance surveillance efforts. This will ensure that they are timely, genuine, data-driven, internationally approved and practical to inform public health regulations and decision- making. •Establish and evaluate state of the art surveillance, data management, and communication programs. 2. Leveraging strengths through partnership and coordination This is basically pushing Health Diplomacy within the wider context of U.S. foreign policy, engaging on health matters with diplomatic partners, whether with individual states, countries or international organizations and further strengthening peer-to-peer technical, general public health, and scientific interdependencies. For example, The United States was quick to open the first of 17 Ebola treatment centers in Liberia. The U.S. then went ahead to authorize the deployment of service members to West Africa to assist in the establishment of 100-bed units and delivering supplies into the country. The U.S. also trained medical practitioners and burial teams. UK has also strengthened its partnerships for global health activity through working in collaboration with other players in the health sector worldwide, influencing, facilitating and leading around global health issues. Recommendations; •Assigning health attachés to all U.S. embassies and UK high commissions for international cooperation, to ascertain that political interests, security concerns, development issues and health objectives are maximized •Developing a Global Health Career Track in the PHE organisation to make career opportunities formal and form a basis for training people working in worldwide health arena. •Develop a partnership with the Department of State to acquire knowledge on global health issues among the diplomatic corporations much faster and easily. •Strengthening diplomatic knowledge and developing negotiation skills. This also means ensuring HHS field staff and technical and health experts acquire understanding of various development principles. This approach also highlights the need to actively collaborate and coordinate with all the players in global health – hence benefiting from the range of expertise, resources and talent available. This principle calls for the strengthening of International Standards via Multilateral Engagement This means providing leadership to develop, enhance and implement science-oriented global health and safety standards and advance multilateral efforts to improve international health policies and practices. Among the principles of PHE is to develop their focus on, build capacity for and engage on international aspects of health and wellbeing, on both communicable and non-communicable diseases Recommendations: •Ensuring an elaborate leadership part for the U.S. and U.K. in the advancement of science-oriented norms and standards, and in particular, within multilateral bodies addressing health matters including the World Health Organization and other •Enhance the existing multilateral relationships that seek to develop new strategic relationships to hasten the achievement of our international health goals and objectives 3. Responding to local needs This principle calls for the preparation for and response to Public Health Emergencies, or in other words, mobilization and supporting an immediate health-sector response to international outbreaks and public health emergencies. Similarly, among the principles of the PHE global health strategy is to respond to emergency outbreaks and incidents of global concern, and support in the public health response to disaster. Recommendations • Ability to support the generation of sustainable emergency response capacities and coordinating mechanisms to address public health emergencies that are in consistency with the International Health Regulations of 2005. •Provide technical knowhow and share mechanisms for establishing the cause of a disease outbreak while also identifying its source. •Partner with international players in health issues to develop best practices, and standard indicators /guidelines to enhance response to natural and artificial disasters, which includes focusing on enhanced coordination and response means. •Establish policy frameworks and operational plans to assist in HHS decision-making in accordance to requests (both single and multiple international) for emergency assistance, which includes the deployment of HHS personnel and medical counter measures. 4. Building local capacities This means maximizing the use channels available to initiate building of local capacities. It property also calls for an increase in the Safety and Integrity of Global Manufacturing and Supply Chains Enhancement of regulatory systems and international manufacturing and supply chains, thus ensuring the safety of medical products, edibles, and consumables that enter the United States. Recommendations •Establish key risks in the international manufacturing and supply chain. It can go further to implement strategies to mitigate these risks in collaboration with other governments and global agencies •Boost strategic regulatory relationships hence promoting a safer and better global supply of medical products and consumables. . 5. Emphasizing prevention The Human Health Services approach gives more priority to prevention whenever possible, and seeks to eradicate disparities while also improving health equity. – This can be done by jointly working to prevent infectious illnesses and other health related threats with global partners to develop health security and avoid the introduction and spread of infectious illnesses and other health problems, all over the world. Both the HHW and PHE have put measures to prevent the entry and spread of Ebola into their countries. Both United Kingdom and United States airports are now screening travelers from West Africa for fever. It has also advised medical practitioners to be on high alert those returning from Ebola affected areas.  My recommendations to both countries are; •Support the establishment of sustainable programs among partner governments and global agencies to address both daily public health issues and public health emergencies, in consistency with the International Health Regulations of 2005. •Facilitate establishment, evaluation and use of vaccines and other prevention measures, for instance vector control and safe water, while focusing on attaining global disease suppression goals too. •Advocate for the use of database and information technology infrastructure that has global access and common portals for the ease of monitoring, including systems for early warning and monitoring survival of dangerous pathogens. •Ascertain effective risk and crisis communication through coordinated alliance with global partners to release public information and provide emergency notification, especially to vulnerable populations and stakeholders. Reference Rowitz, L. (2009). Public health leadership: Putting principles into practice. Sudbury, Mass: Jones and Bartlett Publishers1. Novick, L. F., Morrow, C. B., & Mays, G. P. (2008). Public health administration: Principles for population-based management. Sudbury, Mass: Jones and Bartlett Pub2. Principles & practice of public health surveillance3. (2010). New York: Oxford university press. Seaward, B. L. (2012). Managing stress: Principles and strategies for health and well-being. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning4. Read More