Health Priority Interventions

a) Outline the four major categories of the priority areas of the NHSP.

The focus of the NHSP was to formulate high impact interventions and to ensure successful implementation, it came up with priority areas that were grouped into four major categories without which the efficiency and effectiveness of delivering health care services will be vulnerable.

These four categories of priority areas were as follows:

A. Human Resources

1. Human Resource crisis: B. Health Service Delivery Priority Interventions

1. Basic Health Care Package (BHCP)

2. Public Health Priority Interventions

• Child health and Nutrition:

• Integrated Reproductive Health:

• HIV/AIDS, TB and STIs

• Malaria

• Epidemics & Public Health Surveillance and Control:

Despite the importance and level of support that all health service interventions receive, the NHSP only focused on the 12 main national health priorities that included 7 public health interventions and 5 systemic interventions. The latter interventions represented support services which facilitate the efficient and effective management of the health sector, which without would pose implementation challenges of the public health priorities. Moreover, these priorities were selected based on the health related MDGs and other national health priorities.

The objectives under these health priority areas are;

Public Health Related Priorities;

1. Primary health care

• To provide cost-effective, quality and gender sensitive primary health care services to all as defined in the Basic Health Care Package (BHCP).

2. Maternal, neonatal and child health(MNCH).

• To reduce U5MR from 119 per 1,000 live births in 2007 to 119 by 2015.

• To increase access to integrated reproductive health and family planning services aimed at reducing Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) from 591 per 100,000 live births in 2007 to 159 by

Leadership and governance (Governance and Health Care Financing)

• To strengthen leadership and governance systems, in order to ensure highest standards of transparency and accountability at all levels.

(National Health Strategic Plan 2006-10), (National Health Strategic Plan 2011-14)

c) Explain how the four approaches of Public health could be used to attain the objectives outlined in b).

Public health is the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life, and promoting health through organized efforts of society - The Acheson Report (1988)

Therefore, the public health approach principles provide a useful framework for investigating and understanding the causes and effects of Health related conditions and for planning there mitigation interventions through primary prevention programmes, policy interventions and advocacy. This public health approach to prevention seeks to improve the health and safety of all individuals by addressing underlying risk factors that increase the likelihood that an individual will become vulnerable to these health conditions.

The approach consists of four steps:

1. Surveillance: What is the problem?:To define the problem through the systematic collection of information about the magnitude, scope, characteristics and consequences of various health conditions and associated