Taking action to fight the coronavirus reaches beyond the workday for ThinkWell’s Philippines team. On the side, they’re volunteering their expertise in these six ways: Matching health workers to health facilities: When coronavirus cases started spreading through the Philippines, Administrative and Finance Coordinator Susan Rosales stepped in to help. As a volunteer, she provided administrative […]

This blog has been posted with kind permission from Health Policy and Planning Debated How countries are responding to the COVID-19 pandemic is not only driven by technical and sociopolitical considerations, but also by their recent histories. Uganda is an example of a country whose government’s response has been greatly informed by their recent battles […]

This piece originally appeared on P4H The COVID-19 crisis offers Burkina Faso the chance to land on a more coherent approach to health financing. All sights are trained on the health system right now because of the COVID-19 crisis, and within the COVID-19 response lies Burkina Faso’s best chance at addressing fragmentation in health financing. In […]

On January 30, the Philippines reported its first coronavirus case. Fast forward 38 days and the government declared a state of emergency on March 9. Soon afterwards, ThinkWell’s Philippines team dove headfirst into tackling the challenges as the pandemic swept through the country. Scaling-up testing capacity In January and February, the country had a single […]

Five months into the coronavirus crisis, the pandemic has permeated nearly all corners of the globe. Everywhere, Covid-19’s impact is exposing gaps in health systems’ capacity to ensure that people can access high-quality, affordable care. In low and middle-income countries (LMICs) with limited healthcare capacity, crowded living conditions, and inadequate access to sanitation resources, people […]

Note: This is an update of a post that was published on the 15th of May. This update reflects newly published guidance from WHO on the implementation of campaigns in the context of COVID-19. Many immunization campaigns have been suspended to prevent increased COVID-19 transmission, but some campaigns will nevertheless need to go ahead, with […]

This post was originally published in BMJ Global Health Four months since the first confirmed case of COVID-19 in the Philippines, the number of cases has risen into the thousands. Testing capacity has expanded rapidly, but testing continues to limit the Philippines response. The Philippines has adopted a “whole of government, whole of society” approach to address […]

“The coronavirus spreads like wildfire, and thanks to us, it’s spreading now to other regions [of Indonesia]. Social distancing acts like the fire extinguisher, but it must be readily implemented in affected areas. It is the responsibility of regional government to provide the fire extinguisher for places in need. Question is: is government financially ready […]

This piece originally appeared on Health Systems Governance Collaborative. As country governments execute their COVID-19 response, the World Health Organization and other stakeholders have stressed the importance of engaging the private sector.  One critical part of that is purchasing health services from private providers, the case for which is strongest in places where private health facilities account for […]