Lessons from the development process of the Afghanistan integrated package of essential health services

Sayed Ataullah Saeedzai; Karl Blanchet; Ala Alwan; Najibullah Safi; Ahmad Salehi; Neha S Singh; Gerard Joseph Abou Jaoude; Shafiq Mirzazada; Wahid Majrooh; Ahmad Jan Naeem; Jolene Skordis-Worral; Zulfiqar A Bhutta; Hassan Haghparast-Bidgoli; Fahrad Farewar; Isabelle Lange; William Newbrander; Ritsuko Kakuma; Teri Reynolds; Ferozuddin Feroz

doi:10.1136/bmjgh-2023-012508

Lessons from the development process of the Afghanistan integrated package of essential health services

BMJ Glob Health. 2023 Sep;8(9):e012508. doi: 10.1136/bmjgh-2023-012508.

Authors

Sayed Ataullah Saeedzai¹, Karl Blanchet², Ala Alwan³, Najibullah Safi⁴, Ahmad Salehi³, Neha S Singh³, Gerard Joseph Abou Jaoude⁵, Shafiq Mirzazada⁶, Wahid Majrooh⁷, Ahmad Jan Naeem⁸, Jolene Skordis-Worral⁹, Zulfiqar A Bhutta¹⁰, Hassan Haghparast-Bidgoli⁵, Fahrad Farewar⁷, Isabelle Lange³, William Newbrander¹¹, Ritsuko Kakuma¹², Teri Reynolds¹³, Ferozuddin Feroz⁸

Affiliations

¹ M&E HIS, Ministry of Public Health, Kabul, Afghanistan.
² Global Health Development, University of Geneva Faculty of Medicine, Geneva, Switzerland [email protected].
³ Faculty of Public Health and Policy, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK.
⁴ Health System Development, WHO Country office for Afghanistan, Kabul, Afghanistan.
⁵ Institute for Global Health, University College London, London, UK.
⁶ Geneva Centre of Humanitarian Studies, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneve, Switzerland.
⁷ Ex- Ministry of Public Health, Kabul, Afghanistan.
⁸ Ministry of Public Health, Kabul, Afghanistan.
⁹ Institute for Global Health, UCL, London, London, UK.
¹⁰ Centre for Global Child Health, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
¹¹ Management Sciences for Health, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.
¹² Centre for Global Mental Health, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK.
¹³ Integrated Health Services, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland.

Abstract

In 2017, in the middle of the armed conflict with the Taliban, the Ministry of Public Health decided that the Afghan health system needed a well-defined priority package of health services taking into account the increasing burden of non-communicable diseases and injuries and benefiting from the latest evidence published by DCP3. This leads to a 2-year process involving data analysis, modelling and national consultations, which produce this Integrated Package of Essential health Services (IPEHS). The IPEHS was finalised just before the takeover by the Taliban and could not be implemented. The Afghanistan experience has highlighted the need to address not only the content of a more comprehensive benefit package, but also its implementation and financing. The IPEHS could be used as a basis to help professionals and the new authorities to define their priorities.

Keywords: Health economics; Health policies and all other topics; Health policy; Health services research; Public Health.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Afghanistan
Health Services*
Humans
Public Health*

Grants and funding

001/WHO_/World Health Organization/International