Webinar Series: Care during and beyond the COVID-19 Crisis: Building integrated care as the cornerstone of our new reality

Not a luxury: a call to maintain sexual and reproductive health in humanitarian and fragile settings during the COVID-19 pandemic

About 1·8 billion people live in fragile contexts worldwide,1 including 168 million individuals in need of humanitarian assistance. Approximately a quarter of those in fragile contexts are women and girls of reproductive age. Experience from past epidemics in these settings has showed that discontinuing healthcare services deemed unrelated to the epidemic response resulted in more deaths than did the epidemic itself. The COVID-19 pandemic will magnify the risks inherent to resource reshuffling at the expense of other services; however, sexual and reproductive health cannot be viewed as a luxury.

Covid-19 and the Need for Health Care Reform

The Covid-19 pandemic has brought into sharp focus the need for health care reforms that promote universal access to affordable care. lthough all aspects of U.S. health care will face incredible challenges in the coming months, the patchwork way we govern and pay for health care is unraveling in this time of crisis, leaving millions of people vulnerable and requiring swift, coordinated political action to ensure access to affordable care.Our policies on health and health care, both during this pandemic and in the future, should reflect this reality, and we should not let the lessons of this crisis pass us by.

Webinar: Promoting Visibility and Inclusion: Protecting Older Persons and People with Disabilities during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic is intensifying inequalities and producing new threats for older persons and persons with disabilities. COVID-19 case fatality rates suggest a notable increase in risk after age 60, with progressively worse outcomes for those over 70 and over 80 years. Likewise, people with disabilities are among the hardest hit. 

To raise awareness and ensure that the UN regional system is equipped to help governments  guarantee the equal rights of older people and people with disabilities to access healthcare and lifesaving procedures during the pandemic, UNFPA, WHO and UNDCO, in coordination with the United Nations European Regional Issue Based Coalition on Health, will convene a one-hour webinar focused on supporting UNCTs in their work to advocate for greater attention to the specific needs of vulnerable persons. Panelists from civil society organizations actively engaged with the UN system will offer views on scaling up immediate responses while making COVID19 a ...

Realising the True Value of Integrated Care: Beyond COVID-19

Stronger and more resilient care systems and communities are better able to cope, respond and adapt to new challenges and crises such as the current COVID-19 pandemic. They are able to quickly come together to ‘act as one’ and collaborate across disciplines and sectors towards a common goal. This is the essence of integrated care and this is what the International Foundation for Integrated Care (IFIC) stands for – creating a more connected health and care system.

HealthBuddy: a new chatbot to engage with communities in Europe and central Asia on COVID-19

HealthBuddy, a multilingual interactive chatbot, is the newest tool to be launched as a resource for countries in Europe and central Asia in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The chatbot, developed by WHO/Europe and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Europe and Central Asia Regional Office (ECARO), will help countries in the region to access accurate information, and counter misinformation surrounding the virus.

The COVID-19 Pivot: Clinical approaches to the global pandemic from an international panel

The Besrour Centre for Global Family Medicine from College of Family Physiscians of Canada presents the COVID-19 Pivot Webinar: Clinical approaches to the global pandemic from an international panel, host by Dr. David Ponka, with the presentation of Dr.William Goldberg, Dr. Elena Klusova and Dr. Nisanth Menon.

Facebook: www.facebook.com/CFPC.CMFC/videos/612435246287226/
YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpKyuFHW-RA

Driving and accelerating a 'one system' response: why COVID-19 has shone a spotlight on Integrated Care

High performing health and social care systems provide exceptional care, quality and experiences for patients, caregivers and providers. Pivotal to this, is how we work across health and social care as one team. The need for integrated care is a global priority and is poised to address fragmentation and accelerate the improvements that are needed. During a global pandemic, the need to work as an integrated system is even more pressing and gives us an opportunity to pause, reflect and respond.

In situations where systems are subjected to unprecedented pressure, organizations and sectors may respond from the lens of what can their individual organization or sector do, rather than responding as a cohesive and interconnected system.

Organizations that have embraced collaborative models of response and care and were already working to advance integration pre-pandemic appear to be more effective in responding as one connected team and community.

This webinar will ...

Global COVID-19 Pandemic Response and Impact Grant (Global Co-RIG)

The Besrour Centre for Global Family Medicine (Besrour Centre) at the College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC), thanks to the generous support of the CFPC’s Foundation for the Advancement of Family Medicine (FAFM) and the Fondation Docteur Sadok Besrour, is seeking proposals for a Global COVID-19 pandemic innovation response.

The initiative is a response to how the COVID-19 pandemic is disrupting the health and economic well-being of nations. There are more than six million cases, and more than 370,000 deaths, worldwide.

* The response to such a threat must be rapid and effective to minimize the harmful impact of a virus that is highly transmissible and that is affecting the most vulnerable worldwide. The primary care response to COVID-19 must support innovation that targets and protects highly vulnerable populations that lack access to primary care.

The goal of this initiative is to have the greatest impact for reducing ...

Care during and beyond the COVID-19 Crisis: Workforce Capacity and Capability

Integrated Care in Latin America, cornerstone of the new reality: Atención Integrada en Iberoamérica piedra angular de la nueva realidad

In this webinar hosted in Spanish, we want to identify and share emerging integrated care practices to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic in Ibero-America, as well as discuss new opportunities in the integration of health services and systems in the future.

Wednesday August 05/Miércoles 05 de Agosto
Hora: 11:00 h (Costa Rica) 12:00 h (Colombia, Mexico), 13:00 h (Bolivia, Chile), 14:00 h (Argentina, Uruguay), 19:00 h (España)

La actual pandemia de COVID-19 ha impactado rápidamente nuestras vidas, particularmente, está creando un desafío sin precedentes para nuestros sistemas de salud y sociales en todo el mundo. En este contexto todos los países están tomando numerosas medidas para responder a las necesidades de atención urgente de las personas afectadas por COVID-19, al mismo tiempo que intentan reducir al máximo el impacto entre los grupos vulnerables.

La Fundación ...

From Crisis to Coordination: Challenges and Opportunities for Integrated Care posed by the COVID-19 Pandemic

The pandemic caused by Covid 19 affects all types of countries and societies without distinction. However, within the com link, the unit shows brutal inequality in its "attack."The impact of COVID-19 has thrown into sharp relief the problems that fragmented health and care systems face in adapting to crises that require an urgent and collaborative response. The disproportionate impact of the pandemic – for example on ethnic minority and indigenous populations; on older people living in residential aged care facilities; on those living in rural and remote communities; on the poorest; and on people with the most complex health and care needs – says much about our continued inability to coordinate care and support our vulnerable communities, and so expose them to disproportionate risk.

This editorial does not propose 3 action challenges:

Challenge 1: Responses to COVID-19 have largely NOT been integrated, leading to adverse outcome

Challenge 2: Responses continue to ...

Integrated Care and Geriatrics: A Call to Renovation from the COVID-19 Pandemic

We are experiencing an unprecedented demographic change, in terms of speed. The population over 65 years of age corresponds to approximately 9% of the world population (Population Division of the Department of Economics and Social Affairs of the United Nations).
We know that the elderly population has a high risk of suffering from serious diseases.

Long-term care facilities (LTCFs) of geriatric care has been traditionally marginalized within healthcare networks. LTCFs have constantly been living in the ambiguity that their residential nature does not fit with the relevant clinical burden of care of their frail and complex residents.

Covid 19 presents us with a challenge: to establish an integrated system that includes LTFCs. This editorial makes a call to which we must go.

IFIC Ireland Webinar: Medium and Long-term Impact of COVID-19. Making Integrated Care Happen

The International Foundation for Integrated Care (IFIC) Ireland hosts and facilitates a series of webinars titled ‘Making Integrated Care Happen’ which forms one of the key delivery mechanisms enabling knowledge mobilisation across all stakeholders with an interest in developing and implementing integrated care within the healthcare systems on the island of Ireland.

The last session in IFIC Ireland 2020 series will focus on the medium and long term impacts of COVID-19 on the person and the implications for health and social care delivery.

Prof Lynne Turner-Stokes, King's College London, Northwick Park Hospital - Long-term impacts of COVID-19 and meeting the needs for Rehabilitation (40 minutes) will present research and clinical understanding of how COVID-19 may continue to impact those diagnosed long after the initial course of the disease.

Anne O'Connor, Chief Operations Officer at Health Service Executive (HSE) - Impacts of COVID-19 on service delivery, design and integration (30 minutes ...

Integrated Healthcare Systems Response Strategies Based on the Luohu Model During the COVID-19 Epidemic in Shenzhen, China

COVID-19 has affected primary health-care delivery in metropolitan areas. An integrated health-care system offers advantages in response to the community outbreak and transmission of highly infectious diseases.

On the basis of practitioner experience with a pioneering integrated health-care system in Shenzhen, China, this article presents the following effective strategies in response to the epidemic: (1) enhance the public workforce in primary health care; (2) integrate resources to allow regional sharing and efficient use; (3) employ teams centered on general practitioners for community containment; and (4) adopt e-health and telemedicine for healthcare delivery.

An integrated health-care system is usually very specific to a particular regional context; however, the core strategies and mechanisms based on the Luohu model can contribute to improving the public health capacity in emergency responses; they can transform health-care delivery in the COVID-19 epidemic.

The experience in Shenzhen may help other cities in enhancing and coordinating the preparedness ...

Drawing light from the pandemic: A new strategy for health and sustainable development

Over the year 2020, members of the Commission have reflected on what worked and, more often, what did not work in the COVID-19 response and in previous crises. In the Call to Action that they issued in March 2021 and in this final report, they have made a series of recommendations with the aim of achieving seven key objectives to prevent a catastrophe on the same scale from happening again.

10th Global Conference on Health Promotion for Well-being, Equity, and Sustainable Development

The Tenth Global Conference on Health Promotion for Well-being, Equity and Sustainable Development, to be held on 13–15 December 2021, is organized by the World Health Organization (WHO) with the support of Finland and the United Arab Emirates, United Nations agencies and partners.

The event is taking place at a critical moment in our progress toward achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and building forward better in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Health promotion enables people to increase control over and improve their health. Against this backdrop, health promotion creates conditions and healthy environments for people where they live, work, age and play. The Conference will address how health promotion can advance well-being. It will be the first time that WHO addresses well-being as the theme of a major conference.

Participants at the Conference will discuss the contributions that health promotion can make to people’s and societies’ well-being ...

Transforming health care: stories of changemakers across the world

This film weaves together and amplifies the stories from individuals and groups intentionally leading change, wherever they are situated in their respective ‘system’. It reveals some of the many ways that these changemakers have managed to significantly impact their health care environments and improve health outcomes, often through relatively small, local interventions. Their experiences span subjects such as improving patient safety and reducing patient harm; preventing the death of newborns through a model that places parents at the centre of specialized care; transforming mental health programming; addressing the root causes of teenage suicide; saving the lives of babies born with anomalies; or promoting community health and introducing compassion in health leadership. 

 Why transformative approaches in health care?

The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the challenging, stressful and highly complex environments that staff working in health and social care must navigate. Health systems are a microcosm of the societies ...

The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on primary health care utilization: an experience from Iran

The Covid-19 pandemic affected the performance of Primary Health Care (PHC) worldwide. This study was performed to investigate the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the utilization of PHC in Iran. Covid-19 Pandemic has affected the performance of Iranian PHC at the beginning and overall, has a negative consequence on utilization of services. Preparedness to respond to pandemics and develop programs and interventions is necessary to cover the weaknesses of the PHC.

Strong Integrated Care Systems Everywhere

One of the lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic is that people need support which is joined up across local councils, the NHS and voluntary and community organisations. This video explains how Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) embed this collaboration, helping local services to respond to the challenges of the pandemic and beyond. We want to make ICSs as strong and effective as possible in every part of England, with partnership working with the ambition to tackle health inequalities, help communities thrive and achieve the very best for everyone. For more information visit: www.england.nhs.uk/integratedcare/

2nd International Conference on Public Health in Africa

Kigali Convention Centre, Kigali, Rwanda | 13-15 December 2022

CPHIA 2022 will provide a unique platform for African researchers, policymakers and stakeholders to come together and share perspectives and research findings in public health while ushering in a new era of strengthened scientific collaboration and innovation across the continent. Building on CPHIA 2021, this year’s conference will also serve as a catalyst to build more resilient health systems that allow African countries to better prepare for and manage emerging health threats while also addressing long-standing infectious diseases.

Conference Tracks:

Track 1 Epidemiology, Diagnostics and Clinical Management of Emerging and Re-emerging High Consequence Infectious Diseases (HCID) in Africa

Track 2 Increasing Local Production in Africa: Advocacy, Research and Development Capacity in Diagnostics, Therapeutics and Vaccine Manufacturing

Track 3 Strengthening Health Systems for Equitable and Universal Health Coverage in Africa

Track 4 Women in Health – From Recipients to Providers to Leaders

Track ...