Strengthening health systems
Our BFA winners discuss developing out-of-the-box solutions to deliver healthcare and building health systems that work for children and pregnant individuals in challenging environments
Definitions
Strengthening health systems involves enhancing the infrastructure, workforce, and processes necessary for effective service delivery.
Fostering innovation involves adopting new technologies and practices that enhance service delivery and patient engagement.
HOW TO STRENGTHEN HEALTH SYSTEMS FOR BETTER HEALTH OUTCOMES
- Ask the question no one is asking; never accept the status quo
- There are people already asking the same question, collaborate
- Think about children as individuals who deserve fair treatment
- Many infrastructure and processes were implemented years ago; ask what we might do differently today
Revising the colonial approach
-Jennifer Furin, USA. BFA Winner 2023/24
In brief
Jennifer had a wake-up call when a very sick 3-year-old girl was brought into her clinic. Her name is Olothando, and all her family members had been ill with drug-resistant TB. While there were protocols for adults with the disease, drug-resistant TB lacked treatment guidelines for children.
Here’s what she did to address this:
Discovered other clinicians with similar challenges and worked with them to create the Sentinel Project.
Moved from being a clinician to becoming an advocate for children with drug-resistant TB
Listened to the children and made them feel heard in the process.
Worked with other scientists to create a guideline – a critical treatment guideline now used worldwide.
Come back soon for more videos on health system strengthening