IPCHS

Contents tagged: low-income countries

June 1, 2015 Publication

Scale up of services for mental health in low-income and middle-income countries.

Mental disorders constitute a huge global burden of disease, and there is a large treatment gap, particularly in low-income and middle-income countries. One response to this issue has been the call to scale up mental health services. We assess progress in scaling up such services worldwide using a systematic review of literature and a survey of key national stakeholders in mental health. The large number of programmes identified suggested that successful strategies can be adopted to overcome barriers to scaling up, such as the low priority accorded to mental health, scarcity of human and financial resources, and difficulties in changing poorly organised services. However, there was a lack of well documented examples of services that had been taken to scale that could guide how to replicate successful scaling up in other settings. Recommendations are made on the basis of available evidence for how to take forward the process of scaling ...

low-income countries, mental health, middle-income countries

June 1, 2015 Publication

Improving the prevention and management of chronic disease in low-income and middle-income countries: a priority for primary health care.

The burden of chronic diseases, such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and mental disorders is high in low-income and middle-income countries and is predicted to increase with the ageing of populations, urbanisation, and globalisation of risk factors. Furthermore, HIV/AIDS is increasingly becoming a chronic disorder. An integrated approach to the management of chronic diseases, irrespective of cause, is needed in primary health care. Management of chronic diseases is fundamentally different from acute care, relying on several features: opportunistic case finding for assessment of risk factors, detection of early disease, and identification of high risk status; a combination of pharmacological and psychosocial interventions, often in a stepped-care fashion; and long-term follow-up with regular monitoring and promotion of adherence to treatment. To meet the challenge of chronic diseases, primary health care will have to be strengthened substantially. In the many countries with shortages of primary-care doctors, non-physician clinicians will have a ...

chronic diseases, low-income countries, middle-income countries, primary health care

Feb. 11, 2016 South-East Asia Publication

Engaging and empowering people and communities, Reorienting the model of care, Creating an enabling environment

People-centered tuberculosis care versus standard directly observed therapy: study protocol for a cluster randomized controlled trial

Background: Tuberculosis is a major public health concern resulting in high rates of morbidity and mortality worldwide, particularly in low-and middle-income countries. Tuberculosis requires a long and intensive course of treatment. Thus, various approaches, including patient empowerment, education and counselling sessions, and involvement of family members and community workers, have been suggested for improving treatment adherence and outcome. The current randomized controlled trial aims to evaluate the effectiveness over usual care of an innovative multicomponent people-centered tuberculosis-care strategy in Armenia.

Methods/design: Innovative Approach to Tuberculosis care in Armenia is an open-label, stratified cluster randomized controlled trial with two parallel arms. Tuberculosis outpatient centers are the clusters assigned to intervention and control arms. Drug-sensitive tuberculosis patients in the continuation phase of treatment in the intervention arm and their family members participate in a short educational and counselling session to raise their knowledge, decrease tuberculosis-related stigma, and enhance treatment adherence ...

empowerment, low-income countries, middle-income countries, tuberculosis

May 24, 2016 Global Publication

Engaging and empowering people and communities, Strengthening governance and accountability, Reorienting the model of care, Coordinating services within and across sectors, Creating an enabling environment

10 Best resources on… intersectionality with an emphasis on low- and middle-income countries

Intersectionality has emerged as an important framework for understanding and responding to health inequities by making visible the fluid and interconnected structures of power that create them. It promotes an understanding of the dynamic nature of the privileges and disadvantages that permeate health systems and affect health. It considers the interaction of different social stratifiers (e.g. 'race'/ ethnicity, indigeneity, gender, class, sexuality, geography, age, disability/ability, migration status, religion) and the power structures that underpin them at multiple levels. In doing so, it is a departure from previous health inequalities research that looked at these forms of social stratification in isolation from one another or in an additive manner. Despite its potential use and long history in other disciplines, intersectionality is uncommonly used in health systems research in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). To orient readers to intersectionality theory and research, we first define intersectionality and describe its role ...

intersectionality, low-income countries, middle-income countries

March 1, 2018 South-East Asia Publication

Engaging and empowering people and communities, Coordinating services within and across sectors, Creating an enabling environment

The effect of community health worker–led education on women’s health and treatment– seeking: A cluster randomised trial and nested process evaluation in Gujarat, India

A community-based health insurance scheme operated by the Self-Employed Women´s Association in Gujarat, India reported that the leading reasons for inpatient hospitalisation claims by its members were diarrhoea, fever and hysterectomy- the latter at the average age of 37. This claims pattern raised concern regarding potentially unnecessary hospitalisation amongst low-income women.

community health services, community health workers, hospitals, insurance scheme, knowledge sharing, low-income countries, women health