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Essential Health Services and COVID-19

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Overview

HIFA Project on Essential Health Services and COVID-19 

'The COVID-19 pandemic has had a major impact on the capacity of health systems to continue the delivery of essential health services. While health systems around the world are being challenged by increasing demand for care of COVID-19 patients, it is critical to maintain preventive and curative services, especially for the most vulnerable populations, such as children, older persons, people living with chronic conditions, minorities and people living with disabilities.' World Health Organization

HIFA was supported by WHO (2020-21) to promote sharing and learning of experience and expertise around the maintenance of essential health services during and after the pandemic, in a spirit of solidarity and codevelopment.

This project:
1. Strengthened the development, dissemination, awareness, understanding and engagement of WHO guidance: Maintaining essential health services: operational guidance for the COVID-19 context interim guidance (June 2020).
2. Strengthened uptake of WHO Guidance and briefs, including contextualization, implementation and problem-solving of challenges.
3. Identified and harnessed country practices and solutions to help inform the collective global response to COVID-19. 
4. Disseminated emerging COVID-related research (in liaison with the WHO Science Division, IMST and HIFA partners), particularly that which is relevant to the current project.

 

Activities

Outputs
1. Three collections of discussion output from HIFA Thematic Discussions, each including compilation, long edit, short edit, and blog highlights.
2. Three Learning Briefs (lessons learned from thematic discussions, highlights, Lessons learned, interpretation, illustrative quotes from HIFA messages) plus contributions to other Learning Briefs as required
3. Country Action Briefs - catalysed and/or explored on HIFA
3. Archive of all messages on HIFA Voices 2.0 database (in development) 
4. Multilingual working across the six HIFA forums (HIFA-English, CHIFA-English [child health and rights]; HIFA-Portuguese; HIFA- French; HIFA-Spanish, and HIFA-Zambia).

Discussion #1 (Nov-Dec 2020): Maintaining essential health services during the pandemic

Read the Action Brief #1 on the WHO website

Discussion 2 (May-Jun 2021): Maintaining essential health services: Life course and disease considerations

Read the Action Brief #2 on the WHO website
 

 

Publications
Project plan: HIFA-EHS: Leveraging the HIFA community of practice to help maintain essential health services

Purpose: Sharing and learning of experience and expertise around the maintenance of essential health services during and after the pandemic in a spirit of solidarity and codevelopment. 

October 2020

Medline search: 30 papers relating to Essential Health Services and COVID-19

Here are 30 papers relating to Essential Health Services and COVID-19, up to 23 November 2020. To comment on any paper, please email the HIFA forum: hifa@hifaforums.org
With thanks to HIFA Literature Search expert John Eyers

HIFA Essential Health Services and COVID-19 - Forum messages 1-401 FULL COMPILATION

Here are the first 401 messages from HIFA (English) in full. Our thanks to HIFA volunteers Gladson Vaghela, Sanchika Gupta and Sandra Bearcroft for their help in compiling and analysing this EHS-COVID discussion. 

HIFA Essential Health Services and COVID-19 - Forum messages 402-508 FULL COMPILATION

Here are messages 402-508 from HIFA (English) in full. Our thanks to HIFA volunteers Gladson Vaghela, Aashish Lamichhane, Vedant Jha for their help in compiling and analysing this EHS-COVID discussion. 

HIFA Essential Health Services and COVID-19 - Forum messages 1-250 HIGHLIGHTS
2020

Here are the highlights (long edit) of the first 250 messages from HIFA (English). Our thanks to HIFA volunteers Gladson Vaghela, Sanchika Gupta, Vedant Jha and Sandra Bearcroft for their help in preparing this.

HIFA Essential Health Services and COVID-19 - Forum messages 251-401 HIGHLIGHTS
2021

Here are the highlights (long edit) of messages 251-401 from HIFA (English), representing the 2nd thematic discussion (looking at essential health services and COCID-19 across different areas of health: reproductive health, child health, NCDs, mental health, surgery). Our thanks to HIFA volunteers Gladson Vaghela, Sanchika Gupta, Vedant Jha and Sandra Bearcroft for their help in preparing this.

HIFA Essential Health Services and COVID-19 - Forum messages 402-508 HIGHLIGHTS

Here is the edited version of messages 402-508 from HIFA (English) in full. Our thanks to HIFA volunteers Gladson Vaghela, Aashish Lamichhane, Vedant Jha for their help in compiling and analysing this EHS-COVID discussion. 

Summary report: Maintaining Quality Care During COVID-19: Learning from country experiences (shared by WHO)
2020

Summary report of 'Maintaining Quality Care During COVID-19: Learning from country experiences'

 An event jointly hosted by WHO COVID-19 Health Services Learning Hub & The WHO Global Learning Laboratory for Quality UHC

3 December 2020

Maintaining Quality Care During COVID-19: Learning from country experiences (shared by WHO)
2020

Here are the presentation slides shared at the event 'Maintaining Quality Care During COVID-19: Learning from country experiences'

Jointly hosted by WHO COVID-19 Health Services Learning Hub & The WHO Global Learning Laboratory for Quality UHC

3 December 2020

What is the WHO COVID-19 Health Services Learning Hub (HLH)? (shared by WHO)
2020

The WHO COVID-19: Health Services Learning Hub (HLH) is a dynamic new platform that will use innovative approaches to collate, document and synthesise emerging areas of learning on the maintenance of essential health services to support countries during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond, including the recovery and post- pandemic phase.

Members
Name Country
Adesina Miracle Nigeria
Gladson Vaghela India
Isabelle Wachsmuth-Huguet Switzerland
Jagoda Khatri Switzerland
Komal Kapoor India
Liz Grant United Kingdom
Meena Nathan Cherian Switzerland
Neil Pakenham-Walsh United Kingdom
Onikepe Oluwadamilola Owolabi United States
Shams Syed Switzerland
Shannon Barkley Switzerland
Sunny Khan United Kingdom
Vedant Jha India