One year ago this May, President Obama announced the formation of the Global Health Initiative (GHI), a $63 billion project spanning six years dedicated to developing a comprehensive U. S global health strategy. With a focus on combating HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis (TB), malaria and other global health issues, the GHI brings together multiple government agencies to strengthen health systems and fight diseases around the world.
Earlier this week I attended a panel discussion and forum organized by The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation in which three senior-level government officials involved in the GHI addressed key issues ranging from implementation challenges to promoting country ownership of GHI initiatives, to budget allocations, to the GHI’s increased focus on women’s health issues.
As the panel spoke and answered audience questions, one theme caught my attention again and again: the need for the GHI to better measure and capitalize on their successes, apply them to existing and expanded platforms and push for results.
Quantifying success and measuring results so that they are useful to future initiatives is a challenge faced by many industries, including the communications sector. Understanding not just the numbers and figures that come with success, but also the true impact of your efforts is essential, yet sometimes difficult.
The Kaiser Family Foundation gave this example to illustrate the point: Although measuring HIV incidence is recognized as the best measure for assessing HIV prevention initiative progress, we frequently are forced to use proxy measurements in lieu of actual incidence data. Existing measurement tools also do not always account for benefits gained in one health area due to intervention in another (i.e. how HIV treatments impact maternal health). How health initiatives can benefit non-health issues, such as school attendance is also lost in the shuffle.
Deborah Birx, Directly of the Global AIDS Program for the CDC, gave the audience a sense of how the GHI is and should be handling these issues:
- The first of the GHI’s Implementation Components is to do more of what works and promote proven approaches.
- The GHI must start documenting their successes so they are applicable, replicable and adaptable to each country touched by their work.
- To truly understand how their past experiences can be applied to current initiatives, the GHI must harness the intellect and experience of those working in the field.
With this foundation in place, the GHI will be poised to move forward and help countries worldwide own these health initiatives and create change. While much still needs to be done and issues remain surrounding budgets, health services and operations among other things (which I’ll leave for another post), capturing and reapplying proven successes seems like a perfect springboard for making a true impact.
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