IPCHS. Integrated People-Centred Health Services

Publications

This growing repository holds WHO documents, scientific publications, policy documents, implementation reports, presentations and others with information and insights about integrated people-centred health services. Share your publication by clicking “Add publication”.

June 16, 2020 South-East Asia

A narrative review of gaps in the provision of integrated care for noncommunicable diseases in India

Low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) account for a higher burden of noncommunicable diseases (NCD) and home to a higher number of premature deaths (before age 70) from NCDs. NCDs have become an integral part of the global development agenda. This paper reinforces the need for an integrated comprehensive model of NCD care especially at primary health care level to address the growing burden of these diseases.

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May 19, 2020 South-East Asia Europe Eastern Mediterranean Global

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.

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Dec. 4, 2019 South-East Asia

Care providers, access to care, and the Long-term Care Nursing Insurance in China: An agent-based simulation

China piloted a publicly funded Long-term Care Nursing Insurance (LTCNI) with an aim to improve access to long-term care (LTC) for older people in China in 2012. Existing studies showed that the scheme has been successful in meeting some goals, but little is known on how the availability, price and quality of the local care providers affect access to care. This article founded considerable discrepancies in terms of access to services among the LTCNI beneficiaries. The poor are more likely to choose nursing home care with low costs albeit these services may be of poor quality. The demand for home-based ...

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Oct. 7, 2019 South-East Asia

The development and reform of public health in China from 1949 to 2019

Public health system plays a vital role in the development of health sector in China and protects the health of Chinese people. However, there are few comprehensive reviews and studies focusing on its evolution and reform. It is worthwhile to pay attention to the public health development in China, given that the history and structure of public health system have their own characteristics in China.

The study is a retrospective review of the development public health over seven decades in China. It presents the findings from some national or provincial survey data, interviews with key informants, reviews of relevant published ...

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Oct. 3, 2019 South-East Asia

China country assessment report on ageing and health

China is ageing much faster than other low- and middle-income countries. The proportion of the population aged 60 years and over will increase from 12.4% in 2010 to 28% in 2040. Also women outlive men, and populations in rural areas have higher proportions of older people.
Therefore, social and economic transitions are changing traditional care arrangements for older people in China. So, a health transition from communicable to noncommunicable disease is well under way in China.

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Oct. 10, 2018 South-East Asia

Sharing public health data and information across borders: lessons from Southeast Asia

The importance of data and information sharing for the prevention and control of infectious diseases has long been recognised. In recent years, public health emergencies such as avian influenza, drug-resistant malaria, and Ebola have brought renewed attention to the need for effective communication channels between health authorities, particularly in regional contexts where neighbouring countries share common health threats. However, little empirical research has been conducted to date to explore the range of factors that may affect the transfer, exchange, and use of public health data and expertise across borders, especially in developing contexts.

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Sept. 7, 2018 South-East Asia

Strategies to integrate community-based traditional and complementary healthcare systems into mainstream HIV prevention programs in resource-limited settings

Global spending for HIV prevention has been decreasing over the years. As a result, several low-income countries, including Nepal, are increasingly facing the challenge to minimize the funding gap to continue providing HIV prevention services to the people. This paper attempted to clarify why it is important to integrate community-based traditional and complementary healthcare systems and mobilize them into the mainstream HIV programs to ensure access to HIV prevention messages, HIV testing, and treatment in resource-limited settings.

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July 23, 2018 South-East Asia

Vertical integrated service model: an educational intervention for chronic disease management and its effects in rural China – a study protocol

Chronic diseases are becoming a huge threat to the Chinese health system. Although the New Round of Medical Reform aims to improve this, the chronic disease management in rural China is still worrying as it relies highly on hospital care instead of primary care. The vertical integrated care model has proven to be effective for chronic disease patients in many high-income countries, while few studies have been conducted in China. In this project, vertical integrated care will be applied to optimize the care of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and primary hypertension in rural China, and to shift ...

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July 18, 2018 Americas South-East Asia

A Qualitative Study on Primary Care Integration into an Asian Immigrant-specific Behavioural Health Setting in the United States

 Integrating primary care and behavioural health services improves access to services and health outcomes among individuals with serious mental illness. Integrated care is particularly promising for racial and ethnic minority individuals given higher rates of chronic illnesses and poorer access to and quality of care compared to Whites. However, little is known about integrated care implementation in non-White populations. The aim of this study is to identify facilitators and barriers to successful implementation of primary care-behavioural health integration in a multilingual behavioural healthcare setting.

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June 13, 2018 South-East Asia

Developing and deploying a community healthcare worker-driven, digitally- enabled integrated care system for municipalities in rural Nepal

Integrating care at the home and facility level is a critical yet neglected function of healthcare delivery systems. There are few examples in practice or in the academic literature of affordable, digitally-enabled integrated care approaches embedded within healthcare delivery systems in low- and middle-income countries. Simultaneous advances in affordable digital technologies and community healthcare workers offer an opportunity to address this challenge. This article describe the development of an integrated care system involving community healthcare worker networks that utilize a home-to-facility electronic health record platform for rural municipalities in Nepal.

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