Bmc Med
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National health systems performance (HSP) assessments and benchmarking are critical to understanding how well the delivery of healthcare meets the needs of citizens. Benchmarking HSP has often been done between countries to inform the global public health space. ⋯ This is the first empirical sub-national HSP benchmarking study in the country and the results have potentially important health system policy implications. Please see related research: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7015/13/285.
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While the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs; 2000-2015) focused primarily on poverty reduction, hunger and infectious diseases, the proposed Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and targets pay more attention to nutrition and non-communicable diseases (NCDs). One of the 169 proposed targets of the SDGs is to reduce premature deaths from NCDs by one third; another is to end malnutrition in all its forms. Nutrition-related NCDs (NR-NCDs) stand at the intersection between malnutrition and NCDs. ⋯ Another type of food systems transformation will be needed to shift towards a healthier and more sustainable diet--as will meeting many of the other SDGs. The process will be complex but is necessary. Communities concerned with NCDs and with malnutrition need to work more closely together to demand food systems change.
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The impetus and opportunities for improving birth, death, and cause of death data have never been more propitious. Renewed country commitment to strengthen vital registration systems is clearly evident, supported by nascent regional coalitions of technical and development organisations. The announcement of a major new investment by Bloomberg Philanthropies to strengthen data systems and capacity in selected countries has the potential to catalyse and realise significant improvements in the availability and quality of data for health. This will require technical leadership, strategic intervention choices, strong country partnerships, and efficient delivery and management of multiple technical interventions across participating countries.
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Vaccination against influenza is recommended in patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD). However, so far, no systematic review has summarized the available evidence on the effectiveness and safety of influenza vaccination in this patient group. ⋯ Evidence on the protective effects of influenza vaccination in patients with ESRD is limited and of very low quality. Since VE estimates in the available literature are prone to unmeasured confounding, studies using randomization or quasi-experimental designs are needed to determine the extent by which vaccination prevents influenza and related clinical outcomes in this at-risk population. However, given the high rates of health-endangering events in these patients, even a low VE can be considered as sufficient to recommend annual influenza vaccination.
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Controversy surrounds the precise numbers of malaria deaths and clinical episodes in Africa. This would not have surprised malariologists working in Africa 60 years ago as they began to unravel the enigma that is 'malaria'. ⋯ During the 1950s and 1960s parasite prevalence was used in preference to statistics on malaria mortality and morbidity. An argument is made for a resurrection of this measure of the quantity of malaria across Africa as a more reliable means to understand the impact of control.