The ability of African countries to mount effective and equitable responses to COVID-19 reflects in part the access that countries have to reliable, sustained, distributed supplies of diagnostics, medicines, vaccines and other health technologies. By 2021 significant inequality in access to vaccines has become clearly evident, a situation that the World Health Organisation director-general called a “catastrophic moral failure” in January 2021. While noting that vaccine roll out in East and Southern Africa (ESA) is a dynamic situation, this brief discusses the different vaccines and the distribution of vaccines in the region and issues involved in the development and production of vaccines and other health technologies in the region. It raises areas where regional co-operation is taking place and suggests where it could be strengthened.
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Stakeholders working with Health Centre Committees (HCCs) in East and Southern Africa (ESA) raised proposals in EQUINET policy brief 37 to improve the functioning and impact of HCCs as potential contributors to equitable, people centred health services. These proposals advocated for legal, institutional and social measures to support and clarify HCC roles, composition, powers and duties, to ensure the capacities and resources for them to function. They also proposed that HCCs strengthen their communication with the communities they represent backed up by wider measures for health literate and informed communities. Since then, institutions in EQUINET have followed up to act on the recommendations, building on existing work. This brief shares information on these developments. It reports some progress in legal recognition and setting of clearer constitutions for HCCs, clearer guidelines for the functioning, use of community based processes like photovoice to connect them with communities and their conditions in their dialogue with health services and efforts to share resources for capacity building of HCCs. It highlights that HCCs continue to play a role in improved frontline health systems. However the potential of HCCs still needs to be realised and the work continues.
EQUINET co-operated with Department of Health South Africa and University of Pretoria to co-host a workshop at the September 2013 PHASA conference on African Perspectives in Global Health diplomacy. The workshop explored, through an interactive panel discussion, how African countries could and are positioning themselves to advance African health interests in global health discourse. It involved speakers from Ministry of Health, Kenya, from EQUINET, from Department of International Relations and Cooperation, South Africa and ambassadors and programmes from countries that have health co-operation with Africa. The panellists and delegates explored African experiences of foreign policy and global diplomacy for health and the opportunities, risks, key issues and lessons for African countries in raising health as a foreign policy issue.
Convened by EQUINET, in association with the ECSA Health Community and IDRC Canada, a session was held at Forum 2012 in Cape Town on April 25th to present evidence and experience from work carried out in 2010-2012 in five countries - Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Kenya - and at regional level in East and Southern Africa to assess progress in key areas of equity in health outcomes, in social determinants of health and in redistributive health systems. The session reviewed the learning from the work, particularly in relation to monitoring policy commitments to equity in health, and discuss the opportunities and the challenges for institutionalising and using equity analysis within health policy and planning. The session explored why equity analysis is important for strategic planning and what has been learned from the Equity Watch; what challenges countries face in implementing equity analysis and what opportunities exist for linking equity analysis to processes within the health system; and recommendations from the work for institutionalizing equity analysis across different sectors of government and with other actors. A concluding PechaKucha (20 images in 20 seconds each) flagged the key messages and continuing debates in taking equity monitoring and analysis from research to institutional practice in health and health systems. A regional meeting to have deeper dialogue on the national and regional Equity Watch work was held after the forum and the report will be made available through the June newsletter and EQUINET website.
Health literacy is one process that empowers people to understand and act on health information to advance their health and improve their health systems. Based on participatory reflection and action approaches, it goes beyond just knowing about health and health care, to acting individually and collectively to advance health. It includes processes that support people driven action and engagement in health systems. Lusaka District Health Team in Zambia has implemented participatory reflection and action work since 2005 to strengthen detection of and action on health problems and their causes, and improve communication between health services and communities, working with TARSC in the pra4equity network in EQUINET. In 2012 the Ministry of Health adopted a proposal to scale up the work in Lusaka to national level. This video describes the origins and development of the work from the lens of the many different actors from communities, health workers and policy level that played a role in it.
The Health Systems Knowledge Network of the WHO Commission on the Social Determinants of Health in co-operation with the Regional Network for Equity in Health in east and southern Africa (EQUINET) commissioned a desk review of the role of parliaments and parliamentary portfolio committees on health in building equitable and people centered national health systems. This review presents evidence from published literature, and other secondary evidence in the east and southern African regions.
There has been increased interest in whether “South-South” co-operation by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) advances more equitable initiatives for global health. This article examines the extent to which resolutions, commitments, agreements and strategies from BRICS and Brazil, India and China (BIC) address regionally articulated policy concerns for health systems in East and Southern Africa (ESA) within areas of resource mobilisation, research and development and local production of medicines, and training and retention of health workers. The study reviewed published literature and implemented a content analysis on these areas in official BRICS and ESA regional policy documents between 2007 and 2014. The study found encouraging signals of shared policy values and mutuality of interest, especially on medicines access, although with less evidence of operational commitments and potential divergence of interest on how to achieve shared goals. The findings indicate that African interests on health systems are being integrated into south-south BRICS and BIC platforms. It also signals, however, that ESA countries need to proactively ensure that these partnerships are true to normative aims of mutual benefit, operationalise investments and programs to translate policy commitments into practice and strengthen accountability around their implementation.
Call Closes On December 7, 2007!
This call invites applicants to participate and share experiences in a Regional Training Workshop for east and southern African countries on Participatory Methods for research and training for a people centred health system being held on February 27 to March 1st 2008.
The training aims to support work at national, district and local level with health systems and communities in health, with a major focus on the interactions at primary health care level. The 2008 training will focus on overcoming community and health systems barriers in accessing comprehensive prevention and treatment for HIV and AIDS and strengthening equitable primary health care responses to HIV and AIDS.
This call is for applicants for grants for policy research into global health diplomacy , and particularly in relation to the manner in which African interests around equitable health systems are being advanced through health diplomacy. Applicants are invited to indicate their capacities and proposals for implementing the work in ONE of the three areas below
1. On the reflection of African interests and issues around equitable health systems in the stages of motivating, negotiating, implementing, monitoring and reporting of the WHO Code on international Recruitment of health personnel;
2. On collaborations on access to essential drugs through south- south relationships with China, Brazil and India, particularly in relation to medicines production, distribution and regulation across countries within the ESA region, the alignment with and outcomes for national health systems, regional and global health diplomacy processes and the lessons learned for health diplomacy.
3. On the involvement of African actors in global health governance, particularly in relation to the participation, issues raised, outcomes and thus influence of African state and non-state actors on the decision making processes in the WHO and Global Fund, particularly on universal access to prevention, treatment and care for HIV and AIDS, and the lessons for health diplomacy.
EQUINET is seeking a consultant with experience in writing media and promotional materials and knowledge of health and health systems for work in early 2016 to produce a document, drawing on existing materials and inputs provided by institutions in EQUINET, on EQUINETs nature, composition, work, and the impact it has had, that can be used to better explain and promote EQUINETs nature and role with partners and funders in and beyond the region. We ask consultants to submit a CV and a sample of similar work they have produced by November 24th 2015 to admin@equinetafrica.org