Developing health workforce capacities to responding to health emergencies is a critical to effective disaster risk management. However, this is an emerging field.
WKC supports research for stronger disaster response and more resilient health systems. In 2018 and 2019, the Centre convened expert meetings to identify gaps in research and knowledge, and promote evidence based recommendations in Health Emergency and Disaster Risk Management (Health EDRM).
Coinciding with World Health Worker Week (5-9 April 2021) and aligned with WHO’s Year of Health and Care Workers, WKC is publishing the first in a series of papers to gather evidence-based recommendations for strengthening the health emergency workforce. Laying the groundwork for future studies, this paper identifies research gaps and explores core competencies for Health-EDRM workforce training. This evidence will inform recommendations and best practices to guide policy and practice across WHO regions.
“This is the first step in synthesizing knowledge to address the need for evidence-based recommendations,” said WKC’s technical officer, Dr Ryoma Kayano.
“The consensus study and recommendations from this new body of work will be useful for low-and-middle income countries often affected by disasters for developing their emergency health workforce. In fact, all countries will benefit since COVID-19 has highlighted challenges in health workforce capacities everywhere.”
Japan and Kansai-based experts also contribute to this international research project by sharing experience in managing disasters.
Click here to read more: https://extranet.who.int/kobe_centre/en/project-details/h-edrm_area4
This year on World Health Day, 7 April, WHO is launching a campaign to build a fairer, healthier world. This is one of the founding principles of Universal Health Coverage (UHC): ensuring that people have access to quality services that they need without financial hardship. Identifying health inequalities and what drives them is essential in promoting coverage and financial protection.
Building resilient health systems to respond to population ageing is one of the pillars of WKC’s work. Globally, population ageing is growing at a rapid rate. Health systems must adapt to the changing needs of populations as they age and have the capacity to recognize and address diverse health care needs. Older populations face challenges in accessing the care they need. Monitoring UHC is important to determine the capacity of health systems to respond to people’s needs as they age.
WKC is supporting research globally to identify factors that affect equitable access to health and social care service coverage for older people. This information will help build systems to monitor access and use of health services and help national authorities to take appropriate action to address the inequities among older populations.
WHO is calling on policy-makers to collect and use timely and reliable health data, broken down by gender, age, income, education, migratory status, disability, and geographic location. This gives meaningful information to decision-makers to assess inequities across population groups and take policy actions to reduce these inequalities.
COVID-19 has highlighted how our world is unequal, with some people able to live healthier lives and have better access to health services than others, simply because of where they are born, grow, live, work and age. WHO is committed to ensuring that everyone, everywhere, can realize the right to good health.
Twenty-five years ago, the WHO Centre for Health Development (WHO Kobe Centre) was established in Kobe, Japan. The official inauguration on 17 March 1996 realized the vision of the Governor of Hyogo Prefecture, the Mayor of Kobe City and the Director-General of WHO to set up a research centre in Japan focusing on health development.
Today, WKC’s work is even more relevant as we conduct research on promoting health systems for universal health coverage in the context of population ageing, and advancing knowledge on health emergencies and disaster risk preparedness. Local engagement with communities in Hyogo, Kobe and the Kansai region more broadly is a cornerstone of our work.
Please see the grateful acknowledgement of WHO’s Director-General, Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, to the four representatives of the Kobe Group for 25 years of sustained and generous support to WKC.
The WHO Centre for Health Development, EURO Observatory for Health Systems and Policies and the WHO Western Pacific Regional Office issued six new reports studying the impact of population ageing on health expenditure trends in six countries (Vietnam, Mongolia, New Zealand, Australia, Republic of Korea, and Japan). We find that population ageing results in moderate increase in health care expenditures over time, but ageing is the not the main driver of health spending.
However, per person health spending for older age groups differ based on health status, whereas populations with older persons that have relatively high levels of disability may face higher health expenditures. Our simulations find that populations with lower levels of disability among older adults experience slower growth in health spending. This suggests that policies to promote good health as populations age are beneficial in reducing growth in health spending.
The reports can be accessed here
On 11 February 2021, over 200 students from 12 high schools across Hyogo Prefecture participated in the WKC Forum “High School Students Thinking Globally Day”. This event is co-organized by the WHO Kobe Centre, Hyogo Board of Education and Osaka University. It has been held annually since 2016 as an important local engagement activity of the WHO Kobe Centre. This year, the Forum was held virtually for the first time due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In previous years, the highlight of this event has been a poster session of students’ research projects. This year, the students were asked in advance to submit video presentations of their independent research projects to an online platform created specifically for this event by Osaka University, where the video presentations would undergo peer review and formal judging by a panel of judges from the Board of Education. A total of 53 videos were submitted by individuals or groups of students from 15 different schools. The four presentations that received the highest marks from the panel of judges were from Hyogo High School, Nagata High School, Kakogawa Higashi High School and Himeji Nishi High School. The students were invited to give their presentations live during the online Forum.
The students gave outstanding presentations on topics of local interest with global relevance and consideration for the current pandemic, such as on the potential for virtual international tourism and effective remote learning/teaching techniques. The students also handled the Q&A session with Osaka University faculty members and graduate students with poise, demonstrating the skills of this young generation with information technology and remote communication.
The event also featured a discussion with Mr Yoshiaki Nagata, Deputy Assistant Director of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Kansai Centre and Dr Megumi Rosenberg, Technical Officer of the WHO Kobe Centre. This session aimed to raise awareness about the work of these local organizations and promote general interest in global development careers. It elicited several questions from the students about each organization’s work, the impact of the current pandemic, and the educational and career experiences of Mr Nagata and Dr Rosenberg.
The Forum concluded with a message from Dr Sarah Louise Barber, Director of the WHO Kobe Centre, who congratulated the students and their teachers on their achievements despite the many challenges they faced this past year due to the pandemic.
“Innovations for sustainable universal health coverage”
To research and foster innovative solutions and translate them into policies and actions to achieve sustainable universal health coverage.
Accelerating progress towards Universal Health Coverage by 2030 will require strong evidence about systems innovations and sharing of lessons learned across countries. The WHO Centre for Health Development (WHO Kobe Centre – WKC) supports generating new research, building the evidence base, and increasing capacity to advance sustainable universal health coverage. Located in Kobe, Japan, the Centre has a unique role in bringing together initiatives from local to global level.
