PHA-Exch> Global Action for Health System Strengthening: Policy Recommendations to the G8

[Claudio Schuftan]

From: Ruggiero, Mrs. Ana Lucia (WDC) <ruglucia at paho.org>
crossposted from: EQUIDAD at listserv.paho.org


 *Global Action for Health System Strengthening: Policy Recommendations to
the G8 *



*Task Force on Global Action for Health System Strengthening, January 16,
2009
*Japan Center for International Exchange

* *

The final report of the Working Group on Challenges in Global Health and
Japan's Contributions was submitted to the Japanese and Italian governments
in January 2009 for consideration for the 2009 G8 Summit agenda.



English: PDF file Full report [131p] at:
http://www.jcie.org/researchpdfs/takemi/full.pdf

·         Download full
report<http://www.jcie.org/researchpdfs/takemi/full.pdf>(
* Japanese <http://www.jcie.org/japan/j/pdf/gt/cgh-jc/20090116teigen_j.pdf>|
Italian)
*[2.4 MB PDF]

·         Download by chapter:

·         Table of
Contents<http://www.jcie.org/researchpdfs/takemi/contents.pdf>[56 KB
PDF]

·         The G8 and Global Health: Emerging Architecture from the Toyako
Summit <http://www.jcie.org/researchpdfs/takemi/ch1.pdf> (overview), Keizo
Takemi and Michael R. Reich [376 KB PDF]

·         Opportunities for Overcoming the Health Workforce
Crisis<http://www.jcie.org/researchpdfs/takemi/ch2.pdf>,
Masamine Jimba 644 KB PDF]

·         Strengthening Health Financing in Partner Developing
Countries<http://www.jcie.org/researchpdfs/takemi/ch3.pdf>,
Ravindra P. Rannan-Eliya [996 KB PDF]

·         Toward Collective Action in Health
Information<http://www.jcie.org/researchpdfs/takemi/ch4.pdf>,
Kenji Shibuya [652 KB PDF]

·         Appendices<http://www.jcie.org/researchpdfs/takemi/appendices.pdf>(report
background, team members, & acknowledgements) [176
KB PDF]



*The Lancet** Features the Takemi Working Group Report (January 15, 2009*)
"G8 and strengthening of health systems: follow-up to the Toyako
summit,"<http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(08)61899-1/fulltext>by
Michael R. Reich and Keizo Takemi (free registration required)

·         Also online at the *The Lancet*—excerpts from keynote speeches at
November 3–4, 2008, International Conference on Global Action for Health
System Strengthening:

·         "*Primary Health Care as a route to health
security<http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(09)60003-9/fulltext>
,"* by Margaret Chan, *Director General*, *World Health Organization *

·         "*Strengthening health systems to promote
security<http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(09)60002-7/fulltext>
,"* by Julio Frenk,* Dean, Harvard School of Public Health *

On January 16, 2009, a high-level working group on global health convened by
the Japan Center for International Exchange (JCIE) released a report to the
Japanese government outlining measures that the G8 countries should take to
set them on a path toward fulfilling their existing commitments to
contributing to an overall improvement in the health of individuals and
communities around the world.

The Working Group on Challenges in Global Health and Japan's Contributions
(the "Takemi Working Group") is chaired by Japan's former Senior Vice
Minister for Health, Labour and Welfare Keizo Takemi and directed by JCIE
President Tadashi Yamamoto. The Japanese government will pass the report to
the Italian government, encouraging them to put these recommendations on the
agenda of the 2009 G8 Summit in Italy.

The report includes chapters by an international team of researchers and
advisors on three specific building blocks of health systems—health
financing, health information, and the health workforce—that are generally
acknowledged to be critical components of any strong health system. While
each paper offers specific recommendations for improvements that can be made
in each individual building block, they also come to several common
conclusions:

1.     While there is still a dire need for more resources—financial, human,
and knowledge resources—in the global health field, there is also a critical
need to use existing resources more efficiently and more effectively.
Recognizing that the current global financial environment will make it even
more difficult to secure the resources needed to make health systems work
better for everyone, the paper writers recommend complementing the quest for
more resources with creative thinking on ways to achieve better health
outcomes with the resources we already have.

2.     The human security concept, which has become a pillar of Japan's
foreign policy, is identified as a promising approach that can be adopted
globally for strengthening health systems. Human security's emphasis on the
wellbeing of individuals and communities is very much in line with the
ultimate goal of health system strengthening: improving people's health and
making health services available to all so that they can be healthy,
productive members of society. Human security also responds to the
complexity of health system strengthening with its focus on integrating
community empowerment with protection strategies and its recognition of the
dynamic way in which health is interconnected with many other human security
challenges.

3.     In all areas of health system strengthening, donor countries tend to
tell their partners in developing countries how they should behave and make
decisions. This can lead to confusion, with contradicting instructions often
coming from multiple donors and even from single donors, and loss of
motivation for stakeholders in partner countries to take ownership of
processes to improve their own health sectors. Contributing to this
challenge, capacity for making informed decisions on health is often weak,
further discouraging domestic decision making in planning and management of
health systems. The paper writers all recommend that donor countries invest
in capacity building for health sector decision making at the national and
local levels and, at the same time, encourage stakeholders in partner
countries to drive their own planning and implementation processes.

4.     Finally, the paper writers all recommend that the G8 follow through
on its commitment to accountability by establishing an annual review of its
activities and accomplishments within each of these three building blocks.


The Takemi Working Group was launched in September 2007 as Japan was
preparing to host the 2008 G8 Summit and the Fourth Tokyo International
Conference on African Development. The working group is unique in Japan and
is the first major initiative to bring together global health experts from
the relevant government ministries (foreign affairs; health, labor, and
welfare; and finance) as well as those from Japan's aid agencies, NGOs,
research institutes, and academia to discuss strategies for keeping global
health high on the G8 agenda. Following the Toyako G8 Summit in July 2008,
the working group answered the Japanese government's call for clear
recommendations for following up on the G8 commitments to global health and
launched a task force to develop the current report. An earlier version of
the papers in the report appeared online in the *Lancet* :

*Reich MR, Takemi K. G8 and strengthening of health systems: follow-up to
the Toyako summit.
Lancet 2008; published online January 15. *DOI:10.1016/S0140-6736(08)61899-
http://www.jcie.org/japan/j/pdf/gt/cgh-jc/lancetarticle090115.pdf



*Hard Copies & Information*

To request a hard copy of the report or for more information on the working
group's activities, please contact the secretariat:

Website:  http://www.jcie.or.jp/thinknet/takemi_project/

*In Asia: *JCIE Attn: Tomoko Suzuki Program Officer

4-9-17 Minami Azabu Minato-ku, Tokyo 106-0047 Japan

Tel: +81-3-8403-7781 Fax: +81-3-3443-7580



*Outside of Asia: *JCIE/USA Attn: Susan Hubbard Senior Associate

274 Madison Avenue, Suite 1102 New York, NY 10016 USA

Tel: +1-212-679-4130 Fax: +1-212-679-8410 shubbard at jcie.org
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