A delegation from Thailand’s Ministry of Public Health (MoPH), hosted by Imperial’s Global Health & Development team, visited London and Warwick this month to learn about healthcare in the UK. Like many countries, Thailand is plagued by the ‘modern epidemic’ of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), responsible for 70 per cent of deaths worldwide. Nearly three-quarters of these deaths occur in developing …
Improving hypertension detection and control in Kerala – the journey continues
The Government of Kerala, with technical assistance from iDSI, delivered a ‘training of trainers’ programme for 46 doctors and 57 nurses from six districts of Kerala, enabling them to train further healthcare staff across the State. Also present were 12 clinicians and 18 staff nurses from the Alappuzha and Ernakulam districts, whose focus is on hypertension Quality Standards. The ‘training …
China National Health Development Research Center announced as iDSI core partner
iDSI is delighted to announce that the China National Health Development Research Center (CNHDRC) has become one of our core partners. The announcement follows the appointment of Mr Hongwei Yang, Deputy Director-General of CNHDRC, as a non-executive member of the iDSI Board in 2017. Through the work of Professor Kun Zhao, Director of the Health Policy and Technology Assessment Division, …
Developing methods for use of the iDSI Reference Case
Research groups developing methods to support the use of the iDSI Reference Case (RC) for economic evaluation met to discuss work to date at a workshop in Glasgow. The iDSI RC sets out a principle-based framework as an ‘aid to thinking’ to inform better decision making in health in low-to-middle income countries (LMICs). Representatives from Imperial College London, University of …
Attending this year’s Indian Health Economics and Policy Association meeting
This month we attended the 6th annual Indian Health Economics and Policy Association (IHEPA) meeting in Pondicherry to share knowledge on applying economic principles to address key issues within India’s health sector. At the meeting we both featured on a panel with other leading academics from around the world and discussed the use of cost-effectiveness in the Indian healthcare system. …
The application of Health Technology Assessment in India – a visit to West Bengal
I was fortunate enough to visit Kolkata in November 2017 to discuss the application of Health Technology Assessment (HTA) with academics from Calcutta University, the Institute for Development Studies Kolkata, Calcutta School of Tropical Medicine, the National Sample Survey Organisation and the Institute of Public Health in Kalyani. Whilst in town I was invited to give seminars at the Department …
Implementing Diabetic Foot Quality Standards in Mumbai
The implementation of diabetic foot quality standards (QS) within primary care in Mumbai, supported by iDSI, has resulted in the identification of patients at risk of neuropathy who may have otherwise gone undetected. Between April-October 2017 842 diabetes patients that attended Dispensary 9 at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre had their feet examined once by physicians that had received additional …
A Policy Dialogue on Designing and Implementing a Health Services Package for South Africa – March 2017, South Africa
The South African government’s vision for 2030 is to provide quality health care for all. In alignment with this vision, South Africa is on a path towards Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and the National Department of Health (NDoH) released a White Paper in December 2015 on a National Health Insurance (NHI) for South Africa, subsequently updated in June 2017. In …
Improving detection and control of hypertension in Kerala, India
A risk factor left unmonitored Hypertension is a leading risk factor for mortality in India with more than 200 million people in the country estimated to have high blood pressure (BP). There is, however, very little awareness about this silent killer with 75% of the rural and 60% of the urban Indian population unaware of their hypertensive status. BP control in …
Indian public health budget allocation announced today at 20% lower than expected: Is the Government justified in not increasing the budget in line with Ministry of Health requests?
The government of India has today approved a three-year budget for its flagship public health programme, the National Health Mission. At $20billion, this budget is almost 20 percent lower than what the health ministry said was needed, according to documents reviewed by Reuters India. This leaves the potential increase of funding to the health system at 2.5% GDP from the …