News & Events
Webinar report – Practical Pathways for Change: Learning how to integrate a gender and equity lens in AMR research projects
In this blog Hayley Stewart reports back on the recent Practical Pathways for Change webinar, introducing a new resource aiming to incorporate gender and equity considerations into Antimicrobial Resistance innovation, intervention, and implementation research. Gender, among other social, cultural, and biological factors, can have an impact on susceptibility to antimicrobial resistance and adversely impact the […]
10 Key Messages from the Webinar on Gendered Approaches to Monitoring and Evaluation in Health
On the 19 October 2023 the MAGE project convened a stellar panel of experts to explore and advocate for gender-responsive monitoring and evaluation of health programmes. In this blog our Director, Kate Hawkins, has synthesised ten key points from the webinar for health systems researchers to consider. The workshop speakers emphasised that “We measure what […]
‘We did our best’ – Resilience in the local health system in response to COVID-19
In this blog post by Kate Hawkins, Saugat Pratap KC, Shreeman Sharma, Sophie Witter, Karen Miller, Jo Raven and Shophika Regmi, we report from the HERDi learning site in Kapilvastu, Nepal where ReBUILD for Resilience is implementing embedded health systems research. “Nobody could have imagined the impact that COVID-19 created. I have been working as a paramedic […]
Increase the impact of online events with our new superscribe service
We know that researchers put a lot of precious time, effort, and expertise into running informative online events such as workshops and webinars. But what happens to all that work after the event has passed? Why recording online events isn’t enough Since 2020 there has been an explosion of online workshops and webinars as the […]
How to build and maintain trust in International Research
Trust is the bedrock of all relationships and is a key ingredient to establishing effective relationships between different players, be it researchers, communities, countries, policymakers or scientists. In this blog Lynda Keeru shares a discussion between Prof Doris Schroeder, Lauren Paremoer and Ethan Greenwood in the Trust, Trustworthiness and the COVID-19 pandemic webinar, organized by […]
The first of its kind: Book on women and global health leadership
Lynda Keeru reports back on the book launch for Women and global health leadership: Power and transformation. This book could not have been launched on a more befitting day, International Women’s day 2022. The authors and editors of the book are a bunch of brilliant, erudite women, well versed in global health matters. The book […]
COVID-19 and Health Inequalities
The International Conference on COVID-19 2022 was hosted by BRAC James P Grant School of Public Health (JPGSPH) and the Bangladesh Health Watch (BHW). This was an opportunity to discuss, debate and document experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic across low-and middle-income countries. Lynda Keeru and Kate Hawkins report back. The conference covered: Evidence and lessons […]
Achieving Universal Health Coverage – webinar report back
To mark UHC Day 2021, THET joined forces with Action for Global Health and Students for Global Health to call for Health Equity for All on this webinar ‘HEAL: Together for UHC’. Lynda Keeru and Kate Hawkins from Pamoja Communications reflect on what was said. Ben Simms kicked off the webinar by reflecting on 2021, […]
Supporting adolescent mothers in Nairobi’s informal settlements
This blog by Lynda Keeru and Kate Hawkins (Pamoja Communications) reports back on the recent webinar – ‘Empowering urban adolescent mothers using digital tools’ – which was organized by the USAID Urban Health Community of Practice. The webinar on urban adolescents showcased implementation research to ensure rapid knowledge and learning from evidence. It featured speakers […]
Supporting community health workers in fragile settings requires a gendered approach
Experts at the recent ‘Close-to-community providers in fragile settings and vulnerable communities during crisis: Gender and COVID-19’ webinar discussed evidence from Brazil, Lebanon and Nepal. Participants also got an overview of the global situation for these vital workers. Lynda Keeru of Pamoja Communications Ltd reports back. Close-to-community health workers play a vital role in supporting […]
Uncovering the voices of the most vulnerable in health systems is important
The President’s Lecture 2021 webinar hosted by RSTMH brought about some thought provoking conversation and presentations from Professor Sally Theobald and her colleagues, Abriti Arjyal, Bachera Aktar and Zeela Zaizay. The webinar was a great opportunity to share learning on analysing and addressing intersecting inequities in global health across different contexts, projects and health issues. […]
Launch of the Alliance flagship report on learning health systems
This blog by Lynda Keeru reports on the launch of the Alliance flagship report on learning health systems. During the webinar, participants heard an overview of the report, comments from a people who put together the report, as well as the thoughts of an esteemed panel on the report. Reflections of the flagship report During […]
Health service access and COVID-19 vaccination through the lens of persons with disabilities
COVID-19, the modern world’s first pandemic has wrought many negative effects. Everyone around the world has been dealt a bad hand. However, some people have had their circumstances profoundly aggravated by COVID-19. Lynda Keeru and Kate Hawkins explore how COVID-19 and subsequent vaccine rollout has affected persons with disability. This is a summary of a […]
A silver lining in the midst of the pandemic
In this blog Lynda Keeru reports back on some of the best moments from the Generation Equality Forum. Get up to date on what was said and pledged! In his key address at the inception of the Generation Equality Forum 2021, French President, Emmanuel Macron remarked that ‘no country in the world has yet achieved […]
The Power of Policy Analysis
Lynda Keeru reports back on a webinar organized by the Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research – ‘The Power of Policy Analysis’. Health policy analysis (HPA) is a critical approach to health policy and systems research (HPSR) that seeks to understand how health policies are formed and implemented. By gaining a better understanding of […]
Working with research brokers: Power, positionality and ethics
Lynda Keeru reports back on a recent webinar, ‘Coloniality of research and spotlight on the research backstage.’ The speakers suggested ways that we can forge more ethical and transparent research collaborations that produce knowledge that is accessible, meaningful and transformatory in a world altered by COVID-19. This blog summarises the presentation given by Swati Parasha […]
None of us are safe until we are all safe
Lynda Keeru reports back from the two-day summit, ‘Lives in the Balance: Equity in COVID-19 Response and Recovery’ organized by PMNCH, the Global Financing Facility for Women, Children and Adolescents (GFF), Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and CORE Group. This summit revealed the urgent needs of women, children and adolescents during COVID-19, and enabled coordinated action […]
Secondary impacts of COVID-19 on informal urban settlements
This blog was written for World Cities Day, 31 October 2020. The theme this year is Valuing Our Communities and Cities. People in informal urban settlements deserve our support and solidarity. In the blog we explore how they are experiencing some of the secondary effects of COVID-19 and mechanisms that could strengthen the ways that they […]
Remote research methods to use during the COVID-19 pandemic
Kate Hawkins, Jessica Amegee and Rosie Steege The COVID-19 pandemic has unsettled the world as most countries were not prepared to face such a wide and disruptive event, with very little knowledge of how things would progress at the onset. As the pandemic continues to impact societies – organisations and communities are dealing with challenges […]
Launch of The WHO Handbook on Social Participation in UHC
Launch of the WHO Handbook on Social Participation; why social participation matters and presenting real life experiences of implementation.
Solidarity and psychosocial support: Healthcare workers on World Mental Health Day
By Joanna Raven, Sally Theobald, Kate Hawkins, Sophie Witter and Haja Wurie, members of the Fragile and Conflict Affected States TWG “Healthcare workers are only human. We experience the same COVID-19-related fear and anxiety as anyone else. This might be fear that we or our friends and family will have to self-isolate or quarantine, or become ill. […]
Learning, acting and building for rehabilitation in health systems
By ReLAB-HS Consortium (Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s International Injury Research Unit (JH-IIRU), Nossal Institute for Global Health at the University of Melbourne, Humanity and Inclusion, MiracleFeet, PhysioPedia, and UCP Wheels for Humanity) We live in a time of rapid demographic and epidemiological change. Improvements in health care mean people live longer -the […]
Participatory predicaments: Inclusion, safety and capitalising on community strengths
By Kim Ozano, Abu Conteh, Laura Dean and Kate Hawkins ARISE will engage with communities in participatory method design, data collection and analysis to develop priorities and actions. To make this a reality we are debating the community based participatory approaches we will use. It’s a rich and challenging discussion! In this blog we outline […]
Gender and COVID-19 evidence informs Europe-wide policy change
The Gender and COVID-19 Project are delighted to welcome new measures from the European Parliament to protect women’s rights and enhance gender equality during and after the pandemic. We are proud that evidence published by our colleague Clare Wenham has had such a monumental influence on this decision. Kate Hawkins explains more. A press statement reported that […]
Reflections from health and advocacy practitioners on responses to COVID-19: A COPASAH webinar
By Lynda Keeru Communities are the most tested by the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19). Those that are most feeling the consequences are the poorer communities where its implications will be massive and may unfortunately undo many of the strides and gains made especially in public health and health systems. Governments, health practitioners, NGOS/CSOs are hell bent […]
A new tool for analysing power in partnerships
Power dynamics within international development and global health are often hidden. This is particularly true in partnerships between organisations in high- middle- and low-income countries. Uncovering and analysing these relations is at the heart of much of our ethics work. In research, relationships between universities and communities face similar challenges. Highlighting and challenging abuses in […]
Participatory predicaments
Charting some of the challenges that you might run into conducting participatory research on health.
Reflections on reading and writing for World Book Day
It’s World Book Day in the UK! A more cheerful international day than many we tend to highlight. A book is a precious, precious thing. I love to read. It’s one of the ways I relax at the end of the day and I find novels, in particular, relieve stress and help me go to […]
Adopting a gender lens in health systems policy
By Lynda Keeru Momentum is building towards International Women’s Day marked and celebrated around the world on the 8 March. This indeed coincides with the general international interest among policy makers in knowing what practical steps to take to move towards a more gender-equitable and transformative health system. This year will also mark 25 years since […]
COPASAH launch Charter on Accountability and Health
READ THE CHARTER: https://www.copasah.net/uploads/1/2/6/4/12642634/copasah_sa_charter_and_call_to_action.pdf We had the good fortune to attend a webinar where COPASAH launched their new Charter and Call to Action on Social Accountability for Health. This comes hot on the heels of the successful Symposium which was held in New Delhi in October. The Charter is grounded in human rights, particularly the right to health. […]
A focus on women in the health workforce on International Women’s Day
Kate Hawkins, Pamoja Communications Ltd./Research in Gender and Ethics: Building Stronger Health Systems Just in time for International Women’s Day 2018 the Global Equity Hub (coordinated by Women in Global Health and The WHO Global Health Workforce Network) held a hard-hitting webinar on Gender Transformative Approaches in the Health and Social Sectors. Drawing on expert […]
On International Women’s Day we need to shine a spotlight on women in fragile and conflict-affected settings
This blog post is part of a wider HSG blog series to celebrate International Women’s Day 2018. In this series, HSG members provide their perspectives on why gender should be a critical component of UHC, and what we can do about it. By Sally Theobald, Valerie Percival and Kate Hawkins Attention to fragile and conflict-affected states is critical to […]
6 Key Insights on Young People and SRHR in Bangladesh
“We live in a rapidly changing world where it is difficult to keep up. Sexual and reproductive health needs, desires, expectations, and pressures are part of this.” –Sabina Faiz Rashid, Dean, BRAC JPGSPH From the 30-31 January I was lucky to attend the BRAC James P Grant School of Public Health (JPGSPH) Gender and Sexual Reproductive […]
Problem solving on maternal health: Experience of Shebedino Quality Improvement Team in Ethiopia
By Aschenaki Z. Kea, Kate Hawkins, and Daniel G. Datiko Though improvements have been achieved in maternal and child health related indicators, Ethiopia still experiences high maternal mortality due to challenges related to utilization of antenatal care, skilled delivery and postnatal care. REACHOUT has been working to improve the performance of health extension workers (HEWs) […]
A Community Health Worker gender action framework: Implications for decent work, rights, and responsibilities
By Rosie Steege, Sally Theobald, Kate Hawkins The health system is a growing employer of women and can help to contribute towards gender equality. Yet gender biases and discrimination are sadly alive and well within this sector. The need to promote gender transformational processes and decent work for health workers of all cadres was discussed […]
Ensuring data quality? Let’s walk in the shoes of Community Health Workers in Kenya and Malawi
By Kingsley Chikaphupha, Regeru Njoroge Regeru and Kate Hawkins Data from community health programmes is essential in understanding their contribution to healthy lives and promotion of well-being of all. Unfortunately, the quality of data reported by Community Health Workers is often poor meaning – like community health programmes themselves – this information remains on the […]
We’re editing a new book on women’s leadership in global health
By Kate Hawkins There is a growing interest in women’s role in global health leadership. We know that women are the majority of people working to improve health outcomes in communities, health facilities, non-governmental organizations, and multilateral organizations. So why is it that when it comes to leadership positions we have a governance system that […]
Measuring quality in Malawi’s community health system: Barriers and challenges
By Kate Hawkins, Maryse Kok, Kingsley Chikaphupha and Meghan Bruce Kumar “There is significant data collection through various methods and implementers of community health. HSA’s are technically assigned to complete over 40 M&E forms and processes while there are currently 15 different types of data used in community health. The amount of data collection creates a […]
What did we learn at the Inspiring Communities workshop?
By Kate Hawkins On the 12 June 2017 the University of York’s Department of Politics and Centre for Global Health Histories held a fascinating meeting which explored the impetus towards the mobilization of communities in the definition of health policies and the delivery of care; and the role played by community health workers (CHWs) in […]
Research uptake: Learning from policy makers in Kenya
By Lynda Keeru, Kate Hawkins and Robinson Karuga Since our inception, we have placed a great deal of emphasis on communications and research uptake. Our initial project planning included a stakeholder mapping and policy and practice analysis which led us to prioritise this area as an integral part of our research on community health workers. […]
Ethics in health systems research is ‘everybody’s business’
By Sassy Molyneux, Genevieve Dubois-Flynn, Kate Hawkins, Rosemary Morgan, Kate Gooding, Hayley McGregor, Dorcas Kamuya, and Bridget Pratt Ethics is ‘everybody’s business’, and at the Fourth Global Symposium on Health Systems Research (HSR2016) in Vancouver last year, the stream on ‘Equity, rights, gender and ethics’ gave greater prominence to this topic than in previous years. We hope […]
Emerging issues related to gender and community health workers
By Kate Hawkins, Sally Theobald, Rosie Steege, Maryse Kok, Mohsin Sidat, Kingsley Chikaphupha, Ralalicia Limato, Hermen Ormel, Daniel Gemechu Datiko, Robinson Karuga To celebrate International Women’s Day the REACHOUT Consortium held a symposium in Nairobi on “women in the changing world of work”. This symposium grew out of a recognition that the sex of the […]
What does trust have to do with Community Health Workers and the Sustainable Development Goals?
By Kate Hawkins, Kingsley Chikaphupha, Rosalind Steege, Sushama Kanan, Aschenaki Z. Kea. Robinson Karuga, Ralalicia Limato, Nelly Muturi, Daniel Datiko, Maryse Kok Trust: “The optimistic acceptance of a vulnerable situation in which the trustor believes the trustee will care for the trustor’s interest”(Hall et al. 2001) Trusting relationships:“Respectful, fair and cooperative interactions between individuals” (Gilson 2003; Okello and Gilson 2015) The […]
Power and prejudice: How does inequity play out in the institutions and processes of health systems research?
This blog explores how power and privilege manifest within the institutions and processes of health systems research. Co-facilitators Kate Hawkins (RinGS), Roopa Dhatt (Women in Global Health), Sreytouch Vong (RinGS), Rosemary Morgan (RinGS & John Hopkins), Kati Wilkins (Women in Global Health), and Sarah Ssali (RinGS) Event Date: 16 November 2016 Location: Vancouver, Canada The […]
How to get health systems evidence into policy and practice in fragile and conflict-affected settings
By Kate Hawkins, Pamoja Communications This week I struggled through the Southern Rail train strike to attend a ReBUILD meeting in London. The long commute aside, this was a great opportunity to reconnect with colleagues and hear more about the consortium’s work and synthesised learning from the last few years. Being a communications person I was particularly taken by […]
Four tips for embedding quality improvement in community health worker programmes
By Kate Hawkins There were many community health worker (CHW) sessions at the recent Global Symposium on Health Systems Research in Vancouver. The need to support CHWs, and to better evidence our policy and interventions, appears to be an issue that is gaining greater traction internationally. I enjoyed the REACHOUT session on how we can embed […]
How we are supporting the world health organization’s work on community health workers and what you can do
By Kate Hawkins Back in January the Thematic Working Group on Supporting and Strengthening the role of Community Health Workers (CHWs) in Health Systems Development co-hosted a session at the Prince Mahidol Award Conference on “CHWs for Achieving UHC: Experience in using evidence to guide decision-making for CHW programs.” The event was something that we ran in partnership with […]
Improving the quality of services provided by community health workers
By Lilian Otiso, Pierre Barker, Diana Frymus, Kate Hawkins Why Community Health Workers? Across the globe, community health workers (CHWs) deployed in a variety of different roles and contexts (village health workers, community volunteers, lay counsellors, home-based care givers, etc.) have contributed substantial health benefits for community members, including mothers and children. In sub-Saharan Africa, CHWs have been […]
Close-to-community providers of health care: increasing evidence of how to bridge community and health systems
Theobald S., Hawkins K., Kok M., Rashid S., Datiko D.G. and Taegtmeyer M. (2016) Close-to-community providers of health care: increasing evidence of how to bridge community and health systems, Human Resources for Health (2016) 14:32 The recent thematic series on close-to-community providers published in this journal brings together 14 papers from a variety of contexts and that use a range of research […]
Voting with your feet: Gender, power and positionality on international women’s day
In this blog post, we discuss different views on how gender dynamics play out in health systems. “Voting with your feet” was an ice-breaker for our RinGS meeting in Kilifi, Kenya as a way to get discussions going and make views explicit in our ongoing meeting on gender. We read out the following statements and […]
Community health workers and the gender agenda: answering your questions
by Rosalind Steege, Amuda Baba Dieu-Merci, Hana Rabadi, Asha George and Sally Theobald As part of a month of events in the lead up to International Women’s day, Health Systems Global’s thematic working group on community health workers (CHWs), CHW Central, REACHOUT, and RinGs, held a webinar: “CHWs: the gender agenda”. There is a blog on the presentations and discussions. The […]
Supporting the health system to respond to the needs of women in bangladesh: close-to-community health service providers and menstrual regulation
By Ilias Mahmud, Sabina Faiz Rashid, Kate Hawkins, Sally Theobald, Rifat Mahfuza, Sadia Chowdhury, Malabika Sarker The liberation war in Bangladesh ended in December 1971. It has left many legacies, one of which is the provision of Menstrual Regulation services. Some health systems researchers have described the post-conflict moment as a ‘window of opportunity’ when […]
Zika virus, human rights, gender and disability: opportunities to ‘build back better’ health and social systems
By Laura Dean*, Kate Hawkins, Rachel Tolhurst, Eleanor Macpherson, Lee Haines, Daniela Ferreira, Angela Obasi and Sally Theobald Zika is a disease exacerbated by poverty – risk is not spread uniformly – those who already face extreme social marginalisation are more vulnerable. If you live in a poor area, such as a Favela; Ghetto etc., […]
Why we’re celebrating international women’s day and we invite you to too
By Kate Hawkins, Research in Gender and Ethics: Building stronger health systems (RinGs) When you work on health there are many international days which crop up during the year. Sometimes it’s easy to disconnect from their origins and meaning. It is International Women’s Day in a month’s time. So I thought it might be useful […]
The health system in liberia: priorities post-ebola
by Kate Hawkins, Anthony Bettee, Karsor Kollie, Sally Theobald, and Laura Dean Late last year – with funding from the Thematic Working Group on Fragile and Conflict-Affected States – we were able to run two workshops in Liberia to better understand the impact of the Ebola outbreak on the different levels of the Liberian health system, […]
Community health workers (chw) for achieving universal health coverage: experience in using evidence to guide decision-making for chw programs – #chws4uhc
by Kate Hawkins* The Prince Mahidol Award Conference will take place in Thailand from the 26-31 January and is organized around the theme of decision making for Universal Health Coverage (UHC). They note: “Universal health coverage (UHC) is high on the global agenda as a means to ensure population health, equity and social development. In most countries where […]
Sex and the Citadel: Shereen El Feki on the evolution of sexual rights in the Arab World
By Kate Hawkins This week Sussex University’s Amnesty International society hosted a fascinating event on sexuality, the Middle East and North African regions where we were lucky enough to hear Shereen El Feki speak. Shereen was previously a journalist at the Economist. But she wears many hats, having been Vice-Chair of the Global Commission on HIV […]
Ten gender-related points to keep in mind when you are doing health systems research. This post explores 10 gender-related points to consider in health systems research.
Following RinGs webinar on how to do gender analysis in health systems research, Benjamin Uzochukwu and Kate Hawkins published a blog on Health Systems Global titled Ten gender-related points to keep in mind when you are doing health systems research. For information visit Health Systems Global or read the 10 points below! Recently we both attended a RinGs webinar on how to […]
Ten gender-related points to keep in mind when you are doing health systems research
By Benjamin Uzochukwu and Kate Hawkins* Recently we both attended a RinGs webinar on how to do gender analysis. This is part of the capacity strengthening activities of the project. It is really nice to take some time to hear from colleagues working on health systems around the world and get some space to think through how […]
Close-to-community providers and menstrual regulation
By Ilias Mahmud, Sabina Faiz Rashid, Kate Hawkins, Sally Theobald, Rifat Mahfuza, Sadia Chowdhury, Malabika Sarker The liberation war in Bangladesh ended in December 1971. It has left many legacies, one of which is the provision of Menstrual Regulation services. Some health systems researchers have described the post-conflict moment as a ‘window of opportunity’ when […]
Community health workers: supporting them to serve their communities
By Joanna Raven and Kate Hawkins* Working with community health workers (CHWs) is seen as a good solution to the problem of a shortage of formal health workers and the push to scale up of programmes to meet universal health coverage. But how do you attract, retain and support CHWs? Who manages CHWS and how […]
Global Strategy on Human Resources for Health: How can it support close-to-community providers?
By Kate Hawkins Are close-to-community providers and community health workers (CHW) part of the health workforce? If so, what can governments and international agencies like the World Health Organization do to support them and ensure that their work is integrated into and supported by the wider health system? What does a human resources for health […]
Announcing a special article collection on community health workers
By Kate Hawkins* One of the main purposes of the Thematic Working Group on Community Health Workers is to support the generation of evidence to inform the scale up of Community Health Worker programmes which is pragmatic and contextually embedded. To try and publish and promote good work in this area we partnered with Human Resources for Health on […]
Snap shots from a photo competition: what does it reveal about close-to-community providers, gender and power in health systems?
Sally Theobald, Rosemary Morgan, Kate Hawkins and Sassy Molyneux Human Resources for Health: 57 In this commentary, we discuss a photography competition, launched during the summer of 2014, to explore the everyday stories of how gender plays out within health systems around the world. While no submission fees were charged nor financial awards involved, the winning entries were exhibited at […]
Life histories: a research method to capture people’s experiences of health systems in post-conflict countries
By Sarah Ssali, Sally Theobald and Kate Hawkins* This blog post is part of a series on people-centred research methods for health systems development published in conjunction with a Twitter chat on the same topic. Please see below for links to other blog posts in this series. The ReBUILD Consortium is conducting health systems research […]
The ebola outbreak and the wider health system: understanding impact and the way forward in liberia
By Laura Dean, Anthony Bettee, Kate Hawkins, Sally Theobald and Karsor Kollie During the recent Ebola outbreak Liberia lost over 185 of its professional health workforce. Trust between health workers and communities broke down and resources were diverted from routine health system activities to control the outbreak. This resulted in the near collapse of the […]
Intimacy, love, freedom, heartbreak, separation and migration
By Kate Hawkins A conference participant views the ‘Queer Crossings’ poster Sitting in front of a South African poster on ‘queer crossings’ was one of my highlights from the recent Migrating Out Of Poverty conference in Singapore. It made me happy that one of my pet subjects – sexuality – was being addressed by such […]
A webinar to help define a health systems research agenda in fragile and conflict affected states
By Kate Hawkins For some months now our team within the Thematic Working Group on Health Systems in Fragile and Conflict Affected States has been involved in a process of canvassing opinions on key research needs. This has included face-to-face meetings, a survey, and online discussion. This has enabled us to reach out to over […]
A REACHOUT update from Ethiopia
By Kate Hawkins Main messages: The Quality improvement cycle will focus on community engagement, supervision and referral This builds on the strengths of the existing system at multiple levels REACHOUT research provide strategies to monitor and improve supervision policy and practice REACH Ethiopia are working to improve the performance of close-to-community health programmes in Ethiopia […]
A REACHOUT update from Indonesia
By Kate Hawkins Main messages The first Quality Improvement (QI) cycle will focus on strengthening the partnership between Village Midwives, Kaders, and Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs) The intended outcome of this work is increased referrals to health facility for delivery Through the health promotion intervention the communication and advocacy skills of Village Midwives, Kaders and […]
A REACHOUT update from Kenya
By Kate Hawkins, 2 December 2014 Main messages There is an urgent need for enhanced supervision among community-level staff in Kenya Formal policies for supervision of CHWs and CHEWS don’t currently exist By testing group supervision, peer supervision, and other tools LVCT Health hope to support the Government in strengthening the Community Health Strategy LVCT […]
A REACHOUT update from Malawi
By Kate Hawkins Main messages In Malawi the Quality Improvement Cycle will focus on strengthening supervision The two districts we are working in currently use two different models of supervision: the cluster system and the block system A three-prong checklist will be used to evaluate supervision REACH Trust will conduct an economic evaluation based on […]
CHW central and the TWG announce an exciting new partnership on community health workers
By Kate Hawkins Initiatives Inc.’s CHW Central and the Thematic Working Group on Supporting and Strengthening the Role of Community Health Workers in Health System Development are delighted to announce their decision to work together to improve the accessibility and applicability of evidence. A meeting of minds CHW Central, managed by Initiatives Inc. is a […]
REACHOUT honourable mention in photo competition
By Kate Hawkins We are really proud that two of the REACHOUT partners (LVCT Health and The Eijkman Institute of Molecular Biology) were singled out for special praise in a recent photography competition which was organised by Research in Gender and Ethics (RinGs), a new cross-RPC partnership between Future Health Systems, ReBUILD and RESYST. The […]
UK International Development Select Committee report on health systems
By Kate Hawkins The UK International Development Select Committee – a group of parliamentarians whose task is to monitor development policy – have included evidence from REACHOUT in their new report on health systems. We are delighted that they have turned their attention to the role of community health workers. The report states: 65. The […]
Reaching out to the Department for International Development on Close-to-Community Providers
By Kate Hawkins This story was first published on the HEART blog. Community health workers in Mozambique are paid by development partners and not by the Government. How does this affect their integration into the broader health system? How can we incentivise supervisors in Malawi to support community health workers in a positive way? Sometimes […]
5 take home messages from Pathways of Women’s Empowerment: Beyond 2015
By Kate Hawkins The life of a meeting report writer is a lonely one. It is easy to get caught up in the energy and excitement of an issue when surrounded by fascinating and challenging speakers. But once everyone has flown home and you are wading through 50 pages of meeting notes, trying to decipher […]
5 key questions on close-to-community programmes as part of a broader health systems approach
By Kate Hawkins On the 26 June the UK Guardian newspaper held an online Live Question and Answer Session on health systems. Sally Theobald contributed on behalf of REACHOUT with a focus on close-to-community providers of health care. Amref set the scene by stressing that strong health systems: ‘Must reach right down to the community level as […]
Building a close-to-community research agenda which is fit for the future
By Kate Hawkins, 18 June 2014 Last week many of us were busy at the CAHRD meeting in Liverpool. This was a major consultation on the future of applied health research and delivery over the next 10-20 years which attracted a large audience of academics, policy makers, and practitioners from around the world. Close-to-community providers featured in many of […]
From ‘Basket Case’ to ‘One of the Great Mysteries of Global Health’: How did Bangladesh become such a success story?
By Kate Hawkins Last week I was lucky enough to attend the UK launch of the Lancet Special Issue on Bangladesh, Innovation for Universal Health Coverage. In addition to this blog, there is also a complete Storify of the event. Bangladesh is a fascinating case study for this type of review because, in terms of many health and social status […]
Myth and Reality: New Alliances to Challenge Stereotypes and Build Gender Equality Beyond 2015 – join us for this event
By Kate Hawkins All over the world women’s rights activists, gender experts, donors, government representatives, and UN staffers are gearing up for this year’s Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) which will take place from the 10 to 21 March in New York. This year’s theme is ‘Challenges and achievements in the implementation of the Millennium […]
Attend our event on close to community providers of health care at the Cape Town Symposium
By Kate Hawkins, 20 February 2014 At REACHOUT we are very excited about the upcoming Global Symposium on Health Systems Research which will be held in Cape Town later in the year. The organisers explain, “The theme of the symposium is the science and practice of people-centred health systems, chosen to enable participants to address current and […]
Our marriage: When lesbians marry gay men in China
By Kate Hawkins He Xiao Pei, a long-time partner and collaborator of the Sexuality and Development Programme and Pathways of Women’s Empowerment, recently launched a new documentary. I was lucky to attend a screening of the film at the University of Sussex just before Christmas. The film, Our Marriage, is an exploration of the lives of four lesbians […]
Sharing and learning in Amsterdam
By Kate Hawkins, 25 November 2013 The REACHOUT team came together for a Consortium meeting from the 4th– 8th of November in Amsterdam. Our meeting was hosted by the team at KIT who provided great facilitation, a wonderful venue and warm hospitality (despite the pouring rain). The meeting was a chance to catch up on progress over the last nine […]
‘Sex and the Marketplace: What’s Love got to do with it?’ – reflections from a recent conference
By Kate Hawkins This year’s International Association for the Study of Sexuality, Culture and Society (IASSCS) conference took place in the beautiful city of Buenos Aires in Argentina. I was lucky enough to go along and hear some fascinating papers which responded to the conference theme ‘Sex and the Marketplace: What’s Love got to do with it?’ The IDS […]
New website on close-to-community providers
Kate Hawkins, 22 March 2013 From midwives, to traditional birth attendants, to informal private practitioners, community health workers, and lay counsellors; close-to-community providers are the unsung champions of primary health care. Working directly with individuals and families, often in their homes and workplaces, they are in a unique position to observe and understand the factors that influence […]