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Health Systems and Policy Research

At a global level, international institutions, donors, grants, and conditional loans are increasingly influencing the financing and organization of health systems in much of the world, with implications for equity in access to care. There is a renewed global push for universal health coverage but lack of agreement on how it should be funded or administered. Private financing for health systems in many countries is rising; there is a critical shortage of human resources for health; out-of-pocket payments continue to push people into ‘medical poverty’; and the high costs of new medical technologies or therapeutics too often available only to the few pose a challenge to appropriate funding levels for comprehensive primary health services essential to the many. 

Papers submitted under this section will explore how globalization-related processes are affecting the development of national and regional health systems, with a focus on how such systems improve health equity in terms of access, coverage, and financing. We are not accepting articles on health systems that do not attend to how they are being affected by globalization.

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  1. There has been an increase in the use of co-creation for public health because of its claimed potential to increase an intervention’s impact, spark change and co-create knowledge. Still, little is reported on ...

    Authors: Giuliana Raffaella Longworth, Oritseweyinmi Erikowa-Orighoye, Ebuka Miracle Anieto, Danielle Marie Agnello, Jorge Raul Zapata-Restrepo, Caroline Masquillier and Maria Giné-Garriga
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2024 20:9
  2. COVID-19 pandemic provides a unique opportunity to learn the challenges encountered by public health emergency preparedness systems, both in terms of problems encountered and adaptations during and after the f...

    Authors: Michael A. Stoto, Chiara Reno, Svetla Tsolova and Maria Pia Fantini
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2023 19:51
  3. The transition of donor-supported health programmes to country ownership is gaining increasing attention due to reduced development assistance for health globally. It is further accelerated by the ineligibilit...

    Authors: Eric Ssegujja, Justine Namakula, Allen Kabagenyi, Carol Kyozira, Timothy Musila, Henry Zakumumpa and Freddie Ssengooba
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2023 19:48
  4. Increasing evidence shows low-wage migrant workers experience a high prevalence of mental health disorders and adverse health outcomes. Significant disparities in health services usage among migrant workers cr...

    Authors: Aysha Farwin, Amanda Low, Natasha Howard and Huso Yi
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2023 19:47
  5. The Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) caused by SARS-CoV-2 infections remains a significant health challenge worldwide. There is paucity of evidence on the influence of the universal health coverage (UHC) and glo...

    Authors: Sibhatu Biadgilign, Alemayehu Hailu, Bereket Gebremichael, Mekitew Letebo, Etsub Berhanesilassie and Arega Shumetie
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2023 19:46
  6. Implementation research (IR) is increasingly gaining popularity as the act of carrying an intention into effect. It is thus an important approach to addressing individual practices, policies, programmes and ot...

    Authors: Emmanuel Asampong, Edward Mberu Kamau, Philip Teg-Nefaah Tabong, Franklin Glozah, Adanna Nwameme, Kwabena Opoku-Mensah, Belynda Amankwa and Phyllis Dako-Gyeke
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2023 19:35
  7. In The Netherlands, physicians specialized in global health and tropical medicine (Ps-GHTM) are trained to work in low-resource settings (LRS) after their training program of 27 months. After working for a per...

    Authors: Hasan Özcan, Loes Overeem, Maria Bakker, Caroline Telkamp, Robbert Duvivier, Janine de Zeeuw and Marco Versluis
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2023 19:28

    The Publisher Correction to this article has been published in Globalization and Health 2023 19:33

  8. Active and protracted conflict settings demonstrate the need to prioritise the peace through health agenda. This can be achieved by reorienting attention toward gender diverse leadership and more effective gov...

    Authors: Kristen Meagher, Mouna Khaity, Sali Hafez, Mariana Rodo, Nassim El Achi and Preeti Patel
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2023 19:21
  9. Many lifestyle interventions have demonstrated efficacy up to one-year follow-up, yet maintaining improvements at longer-term follow-up is a well-recognized worldwide challenge, especially in underserved areas...

    Authors: Qinyi Zhong, Yao Chen, Mengchun Luo, Qian Lin, Jianghong Tan, Shuiyuan Xiao, James Allen Willey, Jyu-Lin Chen, Robin Whittemore and Jia Guo
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2023 19:6
  10. Population health needs to pivot toward the primordial prevention of global chronic diseases, most specifically the disease cascade that runs from marketing to obesity to diabetes to its known complications. M...

    Authors: Henry Greenberg
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2022 18:99
  11. Event-based surveillance (EBS) is an essential component of Early Warning Alert and Response (EWAR) as per the International Health Regulations (IHR), 2005. EBS was established in Sudan in 2016 as a complement...

    Authors: Elfatih Mohamed Malik, Ahmad Izzoddeen Abdullah, Sabir Ali Mohammed, Abdelgadir Ali Bashir, Rayyan Ibrahim, Abdalla Mohammed Abdalla, Muntasir Mohamed Osman, Tahani Amin Mahmoud, Mohamed Abdalhafiz Alkhidir, Suleiman Gamal Elgorashi, Mazza Abasher Alzain, Omer Elbadri Mohamed, Ismaiel Mohamed Ismaiel, Hatim Fadelalsyeed Fadelmula, Babiker Ahmed Ali Magboul, Muzhgan Habibi…
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2022 18:98
  12. In recent decades, China has quickly transformed itself into a modern, urban, technological and economic powerhouse. China’s medical education system is internationalizing and attracting a considerable number ...

    Authors: Maximilian Andreas Storz
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2022 18:96
  13. This study aligns with Sustainable Development Goal 3 which borders on “good health and well-being for people by ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all at all ages”. It contributes to the health ...

    Authors: Yetunde Oluranti Adegoke, Gavin George and Josue Mbonigaba
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2022 18:84
  14. The use of telemedicine, or the provision of healthcare and communication services through distance-based technologies, has increased substantially since the 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. However...

    Authors: Mário Scheffer, Alex Cassenote, Maria Teresa Seabra Soares de Britto e Alves and Giuliano Russo
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2022 18:81
  15. Mental health is mostly affected by numerous socioeconomic factors that need to be addressed through comprehensive strategies. The aftermath of armed conflict and natural disasters such as Ebola disease virus ...

    Authors: Bives Mutume Nzanzu Vivalya, Martial Mumbere Vagheni, Germain Manzekele Bin Kitoko, Jeremie Muhindo Vutegha, Augustin Kensale Kalume, Astride Lina Piripiri, Yvonne Duagani Masika and Jean-Bosco Kahindo Mbeva
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2022 18:71
  16. One of the worst pandemics of recent memory, COVID-19, severely impacted the public. In particular, students were physically and mentally affected by the lockdown and the shift from physical person-to-person c...

    Authors: Fatima M. Azmi, Habib Nawaz Khan and Aqil M. Azmi
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2022 18:70
  17. Despite the declining trends worldwide, infant and child mortality rates are still high in many African countries. These high rates are problematic; therefore, this study attempts to explore the contributing f...

    Authors: Mohammad Mafizur Rahman, Khosrul Alam and Rasheda Khanam
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2022 18:69
  18. Health, social and economic crises triggered by the Coronavirus disease pandemic (COVID-19) can derail progress and achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. This commentary analyses the complex nexus ...

    Authors: Angkana Lekagul, Anamika Chattong, Putthipanya Rueangsom, Orratai Waleewong and Viroj Tangcharoensathien
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2022 18:65
  19. A stable, well-functioning and integrated national medicines regulatory system is a core component of health systems resilient against infectious disease outbreaks. In many low- and middle-income countries, ho...

    Authors: Solomon Owusu Sekyere, Ivana Škrnjug-Yudov, Ulysse Ateba Ngoa, Marcela Juárez Hernández, Onome T. Abiri, James P. Komeh, Markieu Janneh Kaira, Essa Marenah, Juwe Darnuwele Kercula, Keturah Smith, Olga Rassokhina, Heidi Meyer and Christoph Conrad
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2022 18:63
  20. To achieve efficiency and high quality in health systems, the appropriate use of hospital services is essential. We identified the initiatives intended to manage adult hospital services and reduce unnecessary ...

    Authors: Leila Doshmangir, Roghayeh Khabiri, Hossein Jabbari, Morteza Arab-Zozani, Edris Kakemam and Vladimir Sergeevich Gordeev
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2022 18:53
  21. Practical links between health systems and health security are historically prevalent, but the conceptual links between these fields remain under explored, with little on health system strengthening. The need ...

    Authors: Garrett Wallace Brown, Gemma Bridge, Jessica Martini, Jimyong Um, Owain D. Williams, Luc Bertrand Tsachoua Choupe, Natalie Rhodes, Zheng Jie Marc Ho, Stella Chungong and Nirmal Kandel
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2022 18:51
  22. The Africa One Health University Network (AFROHUN) with support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), has since 2012 conducted pre and in-service One health (OH) trainings with t...

    Authors: Tonny Ssekamatte, John Bosco Isunju, Aisha Nalugya, Richard K. Mugambe, Patrick Kalibala, Angella Musewa, Winnie Bikaako, Milly Nattimba, Arnold Tigaiza, Doreen Nakalembe, Jimmy Osuret, Solomon Tsebeni Wafula, Esther Buregyeya, Fatima Tsiouris, Susan Michaels-Strasser, John David Kabasa…
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2022 18:49
  23. Urbanization challenges the assumptions that have traditionally influenced maternal and newborn health (MNH) programs. This landscaping outlines how current mental models for MNH programs have fallen short for...

    Authors: Shanon McNab, Elaine Scudder, Uzma Syed and Lynn P. Freedman
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2022 18:46
  24. Hypoxic ischaemic encephalopathy (HIE) is a major cause of neonatal mortality and disability in the United Kingdom (UK) and has significant human and financial costs. Therapeutic hypothermia (TH), which consis...

    Authors: Giulia Dallera, Mark Skopec, Cheryl Battersby, James Barlow and Matthew Harris
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2022 18:43
  25. Child undernutrition continues to be a major public health problem in many countries, including Nepal. The repercussions of undernutrition are not only limited to the affected children and families but also tr...

    Authors: Umesh Prasad Bhusal and Vishnu Prasad Sapkota
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2022 18:42
  26. Universal health coverage, as one of the targets of the Sustainable Development Goals, is the access to key promotive, preventive, curative and rehabilitative health interventions for all at an affordable cost...

    Authors: Thomas Kuipers, Remco van de Pas and Anja Krumeich
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2022 18:38
  27. After nearly a quarter-century of declining poverty, the numbers are rising again significantly. This is due not only to effects of climate change but also to the COVID-19 pandemics and armed conflict. Combine...

    Authors: Doris Klingelhöfer, Markus Braun, Dörthe Brüggmann and David A. Groneberg
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2022 18:35
  28. In the past decade, there has been increasing guideline development for short-term medical missions (STMMs) traveling from high-income to low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of supporting health c...

    Authors: Patti Tracey, Ethan Rajaratnam, Julie Varughese, David Venegas, Belinda Gombachika, Mercy Pindani, Elizabeth Ashbourne and Alexandra Martiniuk
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2022 18:19
  29. Road crashes are a major cause of death among all age groups and the leading cause of death among persons 5–29 years, according to the World Health Organization. One key risk factor is drink-driving. While the...

    Authors: Ivy Stein, Abdulgafoor M. Bachani and Connie Hoe
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2022 18:18
  30. Nepal’s Primary Health Care (PHC) is aligned vertically with disease control programs at the core and a vast network of community health workers at the periphery. Aligning with the globalization of health and ...

    Authors: Bipin Adhikari, Shiva Raj Mishra and Ryan Schwarz
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2022 18:8
  31. Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) are the leading cause of death and disability worldwide. They exact a disproportionate toll in low and middle-income countries, and the world is not on-track to meet internation...

    Authors: Tea Collins, Svetlana Akselrod, Daria Berlina and Luke N Allen
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2022 18:6
  32. Routine maternity care visits (MCVs) such as antenatal care (ANC), institutional delivery, and postnatal care (PNC) visits are crucial to utilisation of maternal and newborn health (MNH) interventions during p...

    Authors: Resham B Khatri, Rajendra Karkee, Jo Durham and Yibeltal Assefa
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2021 17:141
  33. More than half of the working population in Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries is engaged in informal employment. The few previous studies indicate that this employment condition could have negative ...

    Authors: Mireia Utzet, Ferran Botías, Michael Silva-Peñaherrera, Aurelio Tobías and Fernando G. Benavides
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2021 17:140
  34. Social Network Analysis (SNA) demonstrates great potential in exploring health professional relationships and improving care delivery, but there is no comprehensive overview of its utilization in healthcare se...

    Authors: Huajie Hu, Yu Yang, Chi Zhang, Cong Huang, Xiaodong Guan and Luwen Shi
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2021 17:139
  35. Developing essential health services through non-governmental organisations (NGOs) is an important strategy for progressing towards Universal Health Coverage (UHC), especially in low- and middle-income countri...

    Authors: Arman Sanadgol, Leila Doshmangir, Reza Majdzadeh and Vladimir Sergeevich Gordeev
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2021 17:129
  36. Various governments in Ghana have tried to improve healthcare in the country. Despite these efforts, meeting health care needs is a growing concern to government and their citizens. Short term medical missions...

    Authors: Efua Esaaba Mantey, Daniel Doh, Judith N. Lasker, Sirry Alang, Peter Donkor and Myron Aldrink
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2021 17:115
  37. The severity of COVID-19, as well as the speed and scale of its spread, has posed a global challenge. Countries around the world have implemented stringent non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPI) to control tra...

    Authors: Charbel El Bcheraoui, Sophie Alice Müller, Eleanor C Vaughan, Andreas Jansen, Robert Cook and Johanna Hanefeld
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2021 17:106
  38. Health workforce planning is critical for health systems to safeguard the ability to afford, train, recruit, and retain the appropriate number and mix of health workers. This balance is especially important wh...

    Authors: Tracy Kuo Lin, Tim A. Bruckner, Taghred Alghaith, Mariam M. Hamza, Mohammed Alluhidan, Christopher H. Herbst, Hussah Alghodaier, Adwa Alamri, Rana Saber, Nahar Alazemi and Jenny X. Liu
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2021 17:105

    The Correction to this article has been published in Globalization and Health 2021 17:127

  39. Nepal has improved access and utilisation of routine maternal and newborn health (MNH) services. Despite improved access to routine MNH services such as antenatal care (ANC), and delivery and postnatal care (P...

    Authors: Resham B. Khatri, Jo Durham and Yibeltal Assefa
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2021 17:102
  40. Despite progress in global health, the general disease burden still disproportionately falls on low- and middle-income countries. The health needs of these countries’ populations are unmet because there is a s...

    Authors: Vivian Chia-Jou Lee, Jacqueline Yao and William Zhang
    Citation: Globalization and Health 2021 17:101