AmCham Singapore hosted an in-person Healthcare Committee Connect in March, as Singapore started to ease Covid-19 pandemic restrictions. The Healthcare Committee promotes and represents the healthcare industry in Singapore and the wider region and brings together representatives from various roles in healthcare for networking opportunities. Participants discussed critical healthcare issues they are passionate about and high-priority healthcare topics, ranging from the trajectory of the pandemic to the role of sustainability in healthcare. Consultant Vigneswari A represented ACCESS Health International Southeast Asia and attended the session. "It was an enriching experience meeting and connecting with great minds in healthcare yesterday,” said Vigneswari. “It indeed feels so surreal to be interacting in person again, and looking forward to meeting new people, and getting energized by ideas and possibilities." ACCESS Health International thanks AmCham Singapore for hosting the session and looks forward to more Committee Connect sessions.
ACCESS Health Southeast Asia Regional Director Participates in APPIS Summit
From March 22 to 24, ACCESS Health Southeast Asia Regional Director Sejal Mistry took part in the Alliance and Partnerships for Patient Innovation and Solutions (APPIS) Initiative Region-wide Summit. APPIS is a patient-driven platform which aims to drive better outcomes for healthcare consumers across Asia Pacific, Africa, and the Middle East by bringing together patient communities and other key stakeholders in the healthcare ecosystem, including policymakers, payers, and the medical community, to identify key challenges and prioritize actionable solutions. The three day summit focused on the three themes: 1. Health Literacy (Day 1) 2. Health Policy Shaping (Day 2) 3. Digital Health Solutions (Day 3) As an APPIS Advisory Council Member, Mistry co-moderated the Health Policy Shaping discussion and presented on critical challenges patient advocacy groups face in interacting with policymaking and driving change. The APPIS Summit garnered over 1000 participants around the globe who tuned in to learn, share, and take forward meaningful action for better patient-centered and patient-driven health outcomes.
ACCESS Health Participates in Asia Insurance Review Webinar
On March 29 and 30, 2022, Vigneswari A, Consultant of ACCESS Health International Southeast Asia, spoke on a webinar session hosted by Asia Insurance Review, titled “Asia Conference on Healthcare and Health Insurance 2022.” As more countries prepare to transition to the era of endemic Covid-19, the theme of the conference-defining the true driver of health insurance beyond the pandemic-is timely. The webinar focused on how private health insurance models can support the advancement of universal health coverage in Asia. Vigneswari also spoke on the white paper that she co-wrote, “Strengthening Universal Health Coverage in Asia: Opportunities for Innovation in Private Health Insurance.” Read the white paper here.
New Research Provides Hope in the Search for a Respiratory Syncytial Virus Vaccine- Part II
Groundbreaking research paves the way in the development of vaccines for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).
Dr. Uma Aysola of ACCESS Health India appointed CII-IWN Chairperson
Dr. Uma Aysola, Director of Communications, Relations & Partnerships at ACCESS Health India, was elected Chairperson to the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII)-Indian Women Network (IWN) Telangana for the year 2022-23. Over the years, Dr. Aysola has been a Member of the Core Council, Health & Wellbeing and Mentorship verticals at CII IWN in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Dr. Aysola was appointed the vice chairperson of CII-IWN last April. Before coming to ACCESS Health India, Dr. Aysola held several notable positions within the healthcare sector. She has previously worked at the Indian Institute of Public Health, PHFI as Programme Deputy Director, and Athena Energy Ventures as Head Health and CSR amongst other positions.
ACCESS Health China to co-organize health and medical services forum in Shenzen
ACCESS Health China will be co-organizing the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Medical and Health Services High-Quality Development Forum with the China Chamber of Commerce for Import & Export of Medicines & Health Products and Shenzhen Life Science and Biotechnology Association. The forum will be held in Shenzhen on May 17, 2022. The morning session will focus on medical system cooperation, payment reform, and innovation. The closed-door seminar in the afternoon will discuss drug regulation and industry innovation. Officials from the Health Commission; CFDA and local governments; experts from hospitals and academic institutions; executives from pharmaceutical MNCs; and local innovative companies will be invited to have an in-depth discussion about the key focuses and challenges in the development of biomedical industry, and how innovative policies can further support and promote development of the industry.
ACCESS Health India leads the discussion on health systems resilience at the NATHealth Summit 2022
ACCESS Health India participated in and led key discussions at the annual NATHealth Summit held in New Delhi on March 28 and 29. Dr Krishna Reddy, Regional Director of South Asia, presented on the Global Best Practices for Health Systems Resilience and later moderated a panel discussion on Building Resilient Healthcare Systems in India. Dr. Reddy spoke about how the existing frameworks to assess the resilience of global health systems proved inadequate in measuring preparedness for an event such as the Covid-19 pandemic. He referenced the study conducted by ACCESS Health International as a part of the Global Learning Collaborative for Health Systems Resilience. The study looked at existing resilience frameworks across the country and found gaps that need to be addressed by through effective surveillance and data sharing. Dr Reddy spoke with a focus on resilience frameworks in public health.
ACCESS Health launches the Global Learning Collaborative for Health Systems Resilience
On March 11, 2022, ACCESS Health International launched the Global Learning Collaborative for Health Systems Resilience (GLC4HSR), supported by the Rockefeller Foundation. Held on the second anniversary of WHO declaring Covid-19 a global pandemic, the event underscored how Covid-19 has exposed the fragility of health systems around the world. The recording of the launch event can be viewed here. The GLC4HSR is envisaged as a global community of health systems experts who will share knowledge and best practices to build resilient health systems that can endure pandemics and other crises. The platform will foster collaboration between technical experts, physicians, governments, the private healthcare industry, academic and research institutes, and development agencies. The initial focus will be on the areas of disease surveillance, preparedness, rapid response system design, and resilient social security networks. Learn more here.
ACCESS Health India forms strategic three-year partnership with the University of Hyderabad
ACCESS Health India has entered into a three-year strategic partnership with the University of Hyderabad to develop courses, internships, and collaborative research projects focused on public health, health policy advocacy, and healthcare management. University of Hyderabad Vice Chancellor B.J. Rao welcomed the collaboration and was particularly enthusiastic about exploring the potential of digitizing health data and the impact on health policy.
How PM-JAY Empowers Women With Choice
From policy makers to field workers and beneficiaries, women tell us about the successes and challenges of the Maternal and Child Health packages of PM-JAY The Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojna (PM-JAY) aims to provide financial protection against catastrophic health expenditure for secondary and tertiary care through over 1300 healthcare packages. Within these are around 59 packages and 77 procedures that provide a cover for Obstetrics and Gynecology care complementing the other health interventions towards better health outcomes for mothers and children. While the Janani Sukarsha Yojna (JSY-a safe motherhood intervention under the National Health Mission with the objective of reducing maternal and neonatal mortality by promoting institutional delivery among pregnant women) entitles all women to free care and a cash incentive for institutional delivery, PM-JAY compliments JSY, by adding another layer of care for the beneficiaries. It provides women with high risk pregnancies the choice to seek treatment in a public or private facility. No scheme of this scale is devoid of challenges. There are challenges related to enrollment and awareness on the entitlements, getting pregnant women early in the PM-JAY system, referrals to private facilities, service availability, quality and value that continue to be areas that implementers and policymakers continue to untangle. Below is an account of women of the scheme-from policy makers to those ensuring last mile delivery of PM-JAY, about the successes, challenges, high points and somber moments working on PM-JAY. At the Frontlines Versha Maurya, an ASHA worker from Laulai, Chinhat block, has been actively involved in creating awareness for PM-JAY and enrolling beneficiaries into the scheme in her village. Most of those entitled for PM-JAY have been enrolled and Versha continues to follow up on beneficiaries who may have been left out because of lack of identification documents. One of her many tasks is to ensure complete antenatal care, institutional delivery and postnatal care for pregnant women in her village, for which she assists women to the Community Health Centre in Chinhat. After being oriented with the guidelines of PM-JAY, she is now aware that beneficiaries also have the choice of opting for care in private hospitals in high risk pregnancy cases, which may require a cesarean delivery and also for neonatal care. "Every month we have 2 to 3 deliveries in our village. If any of the pregnant women are also a PM-JAY beneficiary and have been alerted of complications, I inform them of their entitlements to seek care at an empaneled private facility without spending money if they want," says Versha. Dr Smriti Mishra, joined the PM-JAY implementation team of Azamgarh in 2018, as the District Program Coordinator. She is a qualified dentist and has worked for the community all her life. Her role in leading the implementation in Azamgarh includes ensuring 10.56 lakh PM-JAY beneficiaries get access to healthcare. For which she coordinates with hospitals, organizes enrollment camps, and liaises with the district functionaires. "PM-JAY cover for obstetric and gynecology care has come as a boon for women. While our district hospitals continue to provide care, in my district there are 17 private hospitals, and 10 have opted for obstetric and gynecology specialty and we need to increase that so that women have more choices. I am working on this so we can improve the network and ease of access for the beneficiaries," says Smriti who believes the scheme empowers vulnerable women with choice. In Purahati village of Ambari, 34-year-old Anjana Jaswal* (name changed) delivered a baby boy in January this year. Her two older daughters aged 13 and 9 years were delivered in the government district hospital. "In my third pregnancy during the antenatal check up I was told there is a complication and may need a surgical delivery. My village ASHA informed me that as a PM-JAY beneficiary, I am eligible for care from private hospitals empaneled under the scheme. I was happy and my son was born in a private hospital. I did not have to pay anything and was provided nutritional supplements at the time of discharge," she says, expressing a deep satisfaction with the care provided to her. Drivers from the State Nitu Singh is Manager, Operations, at State Agency for Comprehensive Health and Integrated Services (SACHIS), Lucknow, the implementing body of PM-JAY in Uttar Pradesh. She tells us that one of the issues that comes up with maternal and child care packages and is now being actively addressed, is that of enrolling a new member (daughter in law) in a PM-JAY beneficiary family. Currently, a marriage certificate is necessary for enrolment into the scheme for newly married women. "We have suggested to the National Health Authority to ease enrolment via Aadhar card or ration card. Singh is also hopeful that with the release of the government order to incentivise ASHAs for their role in helping beneficiaries avail the scheme, PM-JAY uptake will see an improvement especially among women. Manisha Tripathi, who leads the work for ACCESS Health in Uttar Pradesh, says the government's decision to include nearly 1.5 lakh ASHAs into the PM-JAY will bring more women under the insurance cover. At the field level, ASHAs are connected to the community and play a huge role in mobilizing and creating awareness among pregnant women. "Maternal and child health care in rural areas begins with the public sector. Strengthening the public sector in informing beneficiaries about the choice of care is necessary to help the beneficiary make an informed choice," she says. "Continuum of care is the vision of Ayushman Bharat reforms for which there is a need for more coordination and setting up referral pathways so the beneficiary can truly exercise her choice," says Tripathi whose team provides technical support to SACHIS. Policy planners Dr. Lily Singh, Director General, Family Welfare Division of Uttar Pradesh has been vocal about the need for ensuring early identification of PMJ-AY beneficiaries to ensure they get the entitled care-a big part of which is the choice of care at a public or private hospital. "We are working […]