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Experts propose ideas for bridging gap of world health systems

MONTREUX, Switzerland, Nov 18 (KUNA) -- Experts participanting in the First Global Szmposium on health systems research in Montreux stressed on important role of scientific cooperation and funding practical projects to eliminate the gap in health systems and to face the challenges in the new century.
From his point of view, the Dean of the Faculty of Public Health and International Development at the Harvard School of Public Health, Prof. Julio Frenk, affirmed on Thursday that the symposium "represents a unique meeting ground, bringing together all the responsible authorities to achieve the cherished goal of universal coverage through better health systems.
"The world has certainly changed and have witnessed dramatic transformations in global health. There are new actors, new debates, novel challenges. But there is also a broader consensus around the importance of health for development, the central role of knowledge in the improvement of health, and the need to strengthen national health systems in order to meet the health challenges of the 21st century," he added in his Keynote speech.
He said, "like so many other aspects of the global agenda, interest in health systems has gone through cycles of activity and neglect, depending on the dominant winds in the complex process of agenda setting." He proposes a comprehensive strategy, based on four foundations: first, a conceptual base that clearly specifies the object of study, and then a process to generate "the circle of knowledge, involving its production, its re-production translation." Second, the world should include "not only the institutional or supply side of the health system, but also the population. In a dynamic view, the population is not an external beneficiary of the system; it is an essential part of it" he stressed.
A third expansion of understanding of systems "refers to its goals as fair financing, so that the burden of supporting the system is distributed in an equitable manner and families are protected from the financial consequences of disease.
Finally, the world should expand our view with respect to the functions that a health system must perform.
"Health systems must perform other enabling functions, such as stewardship, financing, and resource generation, including key resources like facilities, technologies, information, and the most important of all, the health workforce.
Prof. Frenk emphasizes the importance of the production of knowledge and its reproduction, which assures the consolidation and continuity of the field of inquiry.
Judith Rodin, President of the Rockfeller Foundation, said in her key note that the health systems"that deliver and sustain life-saving interventions are ailing and weak".
She expressed concern that "the combination of the global financial crisis, the epidemiological transition and the need to fill the void that will be left from the Millennium Development Goals when they come to an end in 2015 is creating a window of opportunity for meaningful health systems reform".
She proposed three avenues for action: First, national governments need technical and financial support to transform their domestic health systems.
The Second is to build health sector reform toward UHC with a solid financial investment and should be a priority target for foreign aid in the next decade.
And third, "more information is needed. As countries renegotiate their social contracts for health, they need more research on the mechanisms for linking UHC with global poverty alleviation efforts".
At the same time the "3 avenue" needs "more collaboration between researchers and policymakers, so that proven solutions are put to work right away".
"If universal health coverage is to be a reality, it can't only be a catchword. It has to be a movement - a community acting with purpose, reaching out to actors beyond the field of health research to build a truly global coalition, mounting a worldwide effort to bring health coverage to every individual in need," Judith Rodin said.(end) ta.rk KUNA 182249 Nov 10NNNN