Despite the growing recognition of the importance of strengthening health systems around the world, there is a considerable lack of shared definitions and guiding principles that are threatening the ability to form strategic policy, practice and evaluations. In this week's PLoS Medicine, Robert Chad Swanson from Brigham Young University, USA and colleagues present a set of 10 guiding principles for health systems strengthening to address this problem, developed from a comprehensive review of the literature and consultation with experts.
"We invite global health leaders and planners to scrutinize and counter these principles," say the authors, "and we hope that such a discussion will establish a common set of principles that will serve as the foundation for future health systems strengthening discussions and strategies.
http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.1000385
www.plos.org/press/plme-07-12-swanson.pdf
Could heparin offer new hope in the fight against dementia?