West African Health Organization Announces Her 3rd ECOWAS Good Practices Forum in Health
The West African Health Organization, in collaboration with Member States and partners, are in the process of organizing the 2nd ECOWAS Good Practices Forum in Health (FBPS) that will be held on 23-25 October 2018 in Accra, Ghana.
The forum will bring together senior officials from ministries of health, regional health experts, researchers and managers of training and research institutions, major local, regional and international NGOs, managers of private companies involved in the health sector, as well as partners in the region and elsewhere.
Theme of the Forum:
“Promoting Multi-sectoriality to achieve Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent and Youth (MNCAYH) Health-related Sustainable Development Goals”
Sub-themes:• Good Governance and accountability for the Maternal, Newborn, Child, Adolescent and Youth Health (MNCAYH)
• Public Private Partnership and IT in MNCAYH
• Contribution of Traditional Medicine in improving MNCAYH
• Non Communicable Diseases and MNCAYH
Guidance on key areas to be explored to identify and document good practices:
1. Good Governance and accountability for the Maternal, Newborn, Child, Adolescent and Youth Health (MNCAYH)
The key areas to be explored:
• Interventions related to the reduction of mortality and morbidity during the antenatal, childbirth and postnatal periods.
• Interventions on harmful traditional practices and gender-based violence, including early marriages, female genital mutilation, violence in health care settings, etc.
• Sexual and Reproductive Health Interventions for Adolescents and Youth in the Prevention of Unwanted Pregnancy, Clandestine Abortion, Menstrual Hygiene Management, HIV, etc.
• Practices of use of the Social Media in the improvement of the MNCAYH.
2. Public Private Partnership and IT in MNCAYH
The key areas to be explored:
• Country regulation of the private medical sector;
• Contractualization of service delivery with the profit and not-for-profit private medical sector and non-medical sector;
• Use of new information and communication technologies (NICT) including mobile telephony, Internet and the media, in the supply of health services of MNCAYH;
• Health financing by the private sector (firms, multinational companies, etc.)
3. Contribution of Traditional Medicine in improving MNCAYH
The key areas to be explored:
• Collaboration between practitioners of traditional and conventional medicine
• Traditional Medicine and maternal, child, adolescent and young people’s health
• Traditional Medicine and treatment of Non Communicable Diseases
• Traditional Medicine Research and maternal, child, adolescent and youth health
4. Non Communicable Diseases and MNCAYH
The key areas to be explored:
• Strengthening NCD and Nutrition services at the primary health care level
• NCDs and Nutrition in schools, workplace, prisons and other institutions
• Promoting responsible advertising by the food, beverage, tobacco and alcohol industry
• Public-private partnerships for the prevention and control of NCDs
Methodological tools to be used:
(Download from the WAHO website with the following link: http://www.wahooas.org/fbps):
1. Annex 1 – “Detailed Best Practice Template” from the WHO Guide to identifying and documenting Best Practices in Family Planning Programmes;
2. Template for summarizing information collected with the “Detailed Best Practice Template”;
3. Abstract Registration Form;
4. Guidelines for Oral or Poster Presentation.
Consensus reached by the Regional Technical Working Group on the definition of a Good Practice, a Promising Practice, and an Innovative Practice, and the assessment criteria for Good Practices:
• A Good Practice is defined as “a process, procedure, tool, principle or experience implementing a program or health intervention, based on evidence (with well-defined criteria) that contributes to improvements in expected results”
• A Promising Practice is defined as a practice where “sufficient evidence exists indicating that it can lead to good result, but for which more documentation of successful implementation experiences is required.”
• An Innovative Practice is defined as “a new practice or approach to improving health programs, at an initial stage of implementation, for which more scientific evidence is required.”
Good practices will be evaluated using the following criteria: effectiveness, efficiency, relevance, possibility of replication or scale-up, sustainability, ethical validity/respects human rights, participation of key partners (communities, political engagement etc..)
Purpose and objectives of the ECOWAS Good Practices Forum in Health:
The purpose of the Forum is to promote and disseminate good practices in health, thus accelerating the efficient and effective implementation of the ECOWAS member countries’ priority programs. Also, the Forum will serve as a platform for identifying key strategic issues, good practices, and innovative approaches that will be used to develop recommendations and resolutions to ministers of health from ECOWAS member countries.
More specifically, the Forum aims to:
1. Promote a culture of sharing experiences related to the development and implementation of effective and efficient health policies, strategies, programs, and interventions that are considered good practices.
2. Mobilize and align all key stakeholders (WAHO, Member States, civil society, private sector, and technical and financial partners) around national and regional priorities based on good health practices;
3. Initiate change through the use of good practices in the development and implementation of ECOWAS member countries’ priority health policies, strategies and programs ;
4. Monitor and evaluate the progress made by member states in replicating and scaling up good health practices in the ECOWAS region.
Organization of the Forum:
The FGPH is an annual event, which holds in the form of a scientific conference with plenary and parallel sessions consisting of oral presentations and documentaries, followed by discussions, stand exhibition sessions comprising of poster presentations (Posters), electronic display and exhibition of biomedical equipment and materials.
Selection of presentations will be based on abstracts annexed to the good practices documentation reports and exhibition proposals submitted by stakeholders involved in the implementation, including researchers, health experts and health programme managers from public/private sector or civil society.
A meeting of the Joint Consultative Committee of Directors (JCCD) is convened in the afternoon of day three to validate the recommendations and resolutions from the Forum, which are to be submitted to the Assembly of Health Ministers of ECOWAS for adoption. The JCCD is made up of General or National Directors of Health, Permanent Secretaries, Directors of Research and Training Institutions and the Directorate General of WAHO.
Deadline for submission of abstracts: August 01, 2018
The deadline for submitting abstracts is August 01, 2018.
To submit your abstract attached with the report of the Good Practice documented, please complete the abstract registration form online at www.wahooas.org (using the following link: http://www.wahooas.org/fbps) OR send the completed form and the report of the Good Practice documented to the following email address: fbps@wahooas.org
Please note that the abstract registration form also includes information to guide you in writing
