India has undertaken several significant health reforms in the last decade, many under the National Rural Health Mission. Many of these recent reforms were driven by the Millennium Development Goals, going beyond the targets outlined by the MDGs to address other aspects of the health system. Thirteen years after India’s last National Health Po...

(Given the content of this article, it is mostly written from a personal perspective (hence the ‘I’ in many paragraphs), especially when talking about personal experiences; yet both authors share the key messages – hence the “we’ perspective in some parts.)   We’re living in a world full of turmoil. It’s perhaps always been like this; as the...

Remco Van de  Pas is currently for a research assignment in Guinea, one of three countries in West Africa affected by Ebola. Together with the national research center for training and promotion of rural health (CNFRSR) of Maférinyah, Conakry, the Institute of Tropical Medicine will explore policies and possibilities to strengthen the public h...

Mental health workers and activists have complained for many years about the marginal place of mental health on the public health agenda. Mental health has tended to be neglected among public health priorities and when included, it was more for rhetorical than factual reasons. But 2015 starts with two major surprises for mental health. First, in...

(1st part of two-part communication – you find the second part here )   Despite widespread global awareness of the ongoing Ebola crisis in West Africa, humanitarian and relief organizations on the ground say the current response is inadequate to effectively contain the epidemic, even if some progress is noticeable. The debate on the internation...

(2nd part of two-part communication – you find the first part here )   Let’s now try to come up with an early analysis of the overall African response till now, after our – admittedly – ‘quick & dirty’ mapping effort (see the first part of this communication). A very preliminary analysis, obviously, as the Ebola outbreak is far from ove...

The last few decades have seen a proliferation of research in the domain of health policy and systems research (HPSR). Major technological advances in medicine and various healthcare innovations have little chances of succeeding if robust country, provincial and local health systems are lacking. HPSR brings together various disciplines to push f...

As 2014 draws to a close and 2015 is approaching, a presumably Very Important Year for Humanity, I thought I’d offer a short reflection in line with the harmonious ‘end of the year’ spirit. Deep down, you know, I still dream of a Harmonious World, having lived in Hu Jintao’s wonderfully Harmonious Society for a couple of years. But the w...

Last Friday, December 12,  World Universal Health Coverage day was celebrated for the first time. This is meant to be a day to celebrate progress made by the world towards the achievement of UHC. It is also intended as a day for advocacy and to hold leaders accountable towards the provision of equitable health care for all – as a case in poin...