Policy Briefs
This policy brief presents the challenges facing the sustainable financing of Malawi’s national health research system, the commitments already made to improve the country’s health research as well as individualized case studies of countries Malawi could benchmark its own research funding mechanism. Finally, this policy brief also recommends specific reforms the respective Ministries and National agencies should implement to support research generation and utilization for decision-making.
The demographic dividend (DD) represents a golden opportunity for many developing countries to experience accelerated economic growth as a result of population changes. Africa in particular is ideally positioned to (1) create the opportunity for a DD and (2) develop an environment conducive to reaping the economic benefits of the DD. The time for sustained action to take advantage of this potential is now.
As a result of a “first” demographic transition, age structures of populations become older. Economically, people often move into higher-paying jobs and countries experience higher per capita income. These social and economic changes motivate people to accumulate greater personal wealth—a process known as the “second” demographic dividend.
The teenage pregnancy and motherhood rate in Kenya stands at 18%. This implies that about 1 in every 5 teenage girls between the ages of 15-19 years, have either had a live birth or are pregnant with their first child. The rate increases rapidly with age from 3% among girls aged 15, to 40% among girls aged 19. The situation varies by County with some counties being disproportionately affected than the others.
For Malawi to achieve inclusive development and maximise its demographic dividend, the government and private sector should focus on economic reforms that create adequate decent create jobs to keep pace with the rapidly rising youthful working-age population.
A healthy workforce is critical to support Malawi to harness the demographic dividend and transform into a globally competitive, technologically-driven middle-income country.
Kenya continues to record high levels of maternal deaths and poor maternal health outcomes. According to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey (KDHS) 2014, the national maternal mortality ratio is currently at 362 deaths per 100,000 live births, a decrease from 488 per 100,000 in 2008. This is well above the MDG target of 147 per 100,000 by 2015. It is estimated that for every woman who dies in childbirth in Kenya, more than 20-30 women suffer serious injury or disability due to complications during pregnancy or delivery (Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, 2014).
The Constitution of Kenya 2010 recognises that every Kenyan has a right to the highest attainable standard of health. Even then, many Kenyans still lack access to quality health care, and key health indicators remain poor. For instance, according to the 2014 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey (KDHS 2014), maternal mortality ratio stands at 366 per 100,000; infant mortality rate at 39 per 1,000 live births; and under-five mortality rate at 52 per 1,000.
Water surveillance is an investigative activity undertaken to identify and evaluate factors associated with drinking water that could pose a health risk. Surveillance contributes to the protection of public health by promoting improvement of the quality, safety, quantity, coverage, cost, and continuity of water supplies. It is also both preventive in the sense that it detects risks so that action may be taken before public health problems occur.
Computerised Physician Order Entry (CPOE) is an application that enables health care workers to enter medical orders into a computer system that is located within an inpatient or ambulatory setting. CPOE replaces traditional methods of placing medication orders, including written (paper prescriptions), verbal (in person or via telephone) and fax. Most CPOE systems allow health care workers to electronically specify medication orders as well as laboratory, admission, radiology, referral, and procedure orders.
Equitable access to quality healthcare remains a challenge in Kenya. Although key health indicators have been improving in recent years, access by various socio-economic groups remains highly disproportionate. For instance, major improvements have been made in the area of child and maternal health related indicators. Infant mortality rate improved from 74 to 39 deaths per 1000 live births between 1998 and 2014 (KDHS 2014). Similarly, under-five mortality rate improved from 111 to 52 deaths per 1000 live births over the same period.
Non-communicable diseases and conditions (NCDs) include cardiovascular diseases, cancers, diabetes and chronic respiratory diseases. The World Health Organization estimates that NCDs kill 38 million people each year with three quarters of these deaths (28 million) occurring in low and middle-income countries. Globally, 16 million NCD deaths occur before the age of 70, with 82 percent of these “premature” deaths occurring in low- and middle-income countries.