Written by Prastuti Soewondo, Halimah Mardani, and Nadhila Adani ThinkWell’s Indonesia team presented research findings from three studies at the Annual Scientific Forum of the Indonesian Public Health Association on November 24-26, 2020. The conference was conducted by the Indonesian Public Health Association, Ministry for National Development and Planning, UNFPA, and Faculty of Public Health […]

This article originally appeared in Health Systems Governance Collaborative here Our current situation – living through the COVID-19 pandemic – highlights the critical role of local governments in securing the health of communities. Since the confirmation of the Philippines’ first COVID-19 case last January 30, 2020, the disease has heavily strained the health system of the country. The […]

This article originally appeared in Health Systems Governance Collaborative here Expanding technical capacity When Covid-19 hit the Philippines last January 2020, a lot of the science behind the disease response was still unknown. Testing was prioritized, and the Department of Health (DOH) grappled with increasing the number of capable testing laboratories and personnel, whilst balancing proper […]

This piece originally appeared on P4H Purchasing of health services during normal times is rarely done by a single entity. Rather, there are usually many different purchasers in a country’s health system, from ministries of health, subnational governments to national health insurance agencies.  This is certainly the case in Indonesia, where their young national health […]

In early 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic caught Kenya off guard, like it did every country. The novel virus meant that the government had to quickly develop their Covid-19 response plan and budget. In the face of the evolving pandemic, translating the plan into action has posed an array of challenges. The government has had to […]

This blog originally appeared on Health Systems Governance Collaborative A slow start for the Philippines Detection is critical in managing and controlling the spread of any pandemic as it determines the consequent strategies to arrest its further spread. After managing the first three cases confirmed in the end of January 2020, the Philippines was blindsided after local […]

This blog originally appeared on Health Systems Governance Collaborative COVID-19 has thrown existing health system weaknesses in Kenya into sharper relief; for example, analysis of facility data showed that only 22 out of the country’s 47 counties had any ventilators at the start of the pandemic. While the Government’s handling of COVID-19 has elicited its share of criticism and push […]

Preliminary data from the current COVID-19 pandemic indicate that immunization coverage rates are declining during the outbreak, likely due to the additional burden on the health system and to communities’ reluctance to visit health facilities. To prevent an increase in vaccine-preventable disease mortality and morbidity, countries need to rethink current immunization strategies to keep coverage […]

The Learning Network for Countries in Transition (LNCT) is a country-driven network dedicated to peer learning to support countries as they transition away from Gavi support to full domestic financing of their national immunization programs. In many LNCT and other low- and middle- income countries, immunization service provision has been heavily affected by the COVID-19 […]