THEMATIC AREA
Health systems in humanitarian contexts
Humanitarian health responses always intervene in a pre-existing health system, which is generally fragile or damaged. This section analyzes its main conceptual frameworks and examines in depth how the WHO's health system pillars (service delivery, workforce, financing, governance, medicines, and information) are affected in humanitarian crises and how they can be supported.
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In international cooperation we must understand what a health system is, what functions and elements it has and how they are related. For this we have different models and ways of understanding them.
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Health service delivery refers to the package of services that the health system offers, its modalities, and the infrastructure needed to do so. It is the immediate result of introducing resources into a functional health system.
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The way a health system's financing is defined, governed, and managed determines how the necessary economic resources are raised, how they are pooled, and finally, how they are used to purchase goods and services.
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Good governance of the health system protects the public interest and the population's right to health and healthcare. However, in complex emergencies and conflicts, this governance is fragmented and multipolar. Understanding its new configuration is essential to support it.
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If there is one thing that every health system needs, without exception, it is its health professionals. However, in low-income countries, contexts of structural fragility and humanitarian crises, both acute and protracted, health workers are often overburdened and insufficient to address the needs of the population.
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A good healthcare system must ensure equitable access to affordable medicines, vaccines, medical supplies, and health technologies. It must also implement a robust system for regulating and controlling these products to guarantee their quality, safety, and efficacy.
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A health information system seeks to generate information on population health and health services to support decision-making, allow for responses to public health threats, and synthesize information to transform it into actionable knowledge.
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