TY - JOUR
T1 - Community Involvement in Health Systems Strengthening to Improve Global Health Outcomes
T2 - A Review of Guidelines and Potential Roles
AU - Sacks, Emma
AU - Swanson, Robert C.
AU - Schensul, Jean J.
AU - Gleave, Anna
AU - Shelley, Katharine D.
AU - Were, Miriam K.
AU - Chowdhury, A. Mushtaque
AU - LeBan, Karen
AU - Perry, Henry B.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2017, © The Author(s) 2017.
PY - 2017/7/1
Y1 - 2017/7/1
N2 - Definitions of health systems strengthening (HSS) have been limited in their inclusion of communities, despite evidence that community involvement improves program effectiveness for many health interventions. We review 15 frameworks for HSS, highlighting how communities are represented and find few delineated roles for community members or organizations. This review raises the need for a cohesive definition of community involvement in HSS and well-described activities that communities can play in the process. We discuss how communities can engage with HSS in four different areas—planning and priority-setting; program implementation; monitoring, evaluation, and quality improvement; and advocacy—and how these activities could be better incorporated into key HSS frameworks. We argue for more carefully designed interactions between health systems policies and structures, planned health systems improvements, and local communities. These interactions should consider local community inputs, strengths, cultural and social assets, as well as limitations in and opportunities for increasing capacity for better health outcomes.
AB - Definitions of health systems strengthening (HSS) have been limited in their inclusion of communities, despite evidence that community involvement improves program effectiveness for many health interventions. We review 15 frameworks for HSS, highlighting how communities are represented and find few delineated roles for community members or organizations. This review raises the need for a cohesive definition of community involvement in HSS and well-described activities that communities can play in the process. We discuss how communities can engage with HSS in four different areas—planning and priority-setting; program implementation; monitoring, evaluation, and quality improvement; and advocacy—and how these activities could be better incorporated into key HSS frameworks. We argue for more carefully designed interactions between health systems policies and structures, planned health systems improvements, and local communities. These interactions should consider local community inputs, strengths, cultural and social assets, as well as limitations in and opportunities for increasing capacity for better health outcomes.
KW - community-based health systems
KW - health systems strengthening
KW - literature reviews
KW - maternal and child health
KW - policy frameworks
KW - universal health coverage
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85040916646&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85040916646&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/0272684X17738089
DO - 10.1177/0272684X17738089
M3 - Article
C2 - 29086630
AN - SCOPUS:85040916646
SN - 0272-684X
VL - 37
SP - 139
EP - 149
JO - International quarterly of community health education
JF - International quarterly of community health education
IS - 3-4
ER -