Conceptual approaches in combating health inequity: A scoping review protocol

Amri, Michelle; Mohamood, Liban; Mansilla, Cristián; Barrett, Kathryn; Bump, Jesse B.

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0282858

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…However, 4% of respondents expressed that this was not a priority, 12% indicated that it is sometimes a priority, and an additional 3% were unsure. Given that there is growing attention paid to health equity in global and public health [ 11 - 16 ], this finding draws attention to the need to reiterate the importance of health equity and ensure it is a shared goal across sectors. Coupled with the finding that a substantial number of respondents (22%) were unsure if population and civic health interests are the focus of public sector engagement with the private sector, this may point to the need to stress the importance of population and civic interests, alongside health equity, in these public-private engagements.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing the governance environment for private sector engagement in health in Africa: Results from a multi-country survey

Amri,

Sam,

Anye

et al. 2023

J Glob Health

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Background The role of the private sector in health is clear in many countries but engagement can be improved. The World Health Organization (WHO) developed a global strategy in 2020 focused on engaging the private sector in health service delivery through governance in mixed health systems and detailed six governance behaviours to guide its Member States. To operationalise these global ideas into practice, the Regional Office for Africa conducted a multi-country study to understand perceptions around the six governance behaviours. This article examines the perceptions of respondents from 13 African countries on the governance environment for private sector engagement in health. Methods Data were collected through an online survey that was distributed to individuals from ministries of health and their partner organisations, private sector institutions and initiatives in countries and development organisations (n = 81) across 13 countries. The survey was based on the following six governance behaviours: build understanding, enable stakeholders, nurture trust, foster relations, align structures and deliver strategy. Results Results showed that respondents had mixed perceptions of the governance environment for private sector engagement in health in their respective countries. Although 88% of respondents (n = 63/72) were familiar with the general inclusion of the private sector in national health sector plans, 63% of respondents (n = 45/71) noted there was limited or no integration of the private sector in the health system, and further, 28% of respondents noted there was no private sector reporting in health information systems (n = 19/69). Key opportunities presented in more than one governance behaviour include: (i) increasing private sector engagement in public sector activities, (ii) establishing clear roles and responsibilities through formal partnership agreements, (iii) improving data sharing through shared health information systems, (iv) incentives and subsidies, (v) capacity building, (vi) creating norms, guidelines, and regulations and (vii) conducting joint monitoring and evaluation. Many of these outlined overlapping concepts are not exclusive to one behaviour, thus, it is evident that when targeted, there is the potential to improve numerous governance behaviours. This further reiterates the view that the governance behaviours should be understood as connected and not unrelated areas. Conclusions The study provides insight into the perceptions of respondents from select African countries on the governance environment for private sector engagement in health. These findings can inform the development of strategies and interventions to support and enhance private sector engagement in health in the region.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing the governance environment for private sector engagement in health in Africa: Results from a multi-country survey

Amri,

Sam,

Anye

et al. 2023

J Glob Health

Self Cite

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“…Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) [15] (as other studies have done [16][17][18][19][20]), and with the expert guidance of a research librarian. The PRISMA/PRISMA-ScR guidelines were followed as they are widely used and can be considered as a best practice tool in evidence syntheses, given that they allow for a largely rigorous and transparent approach to literature searches.…”

Section: Plos Onementioning

confidence: 99%

Equity and gender mainstreaming in public policy: A scoping review protocol

Amri,

Yang,

Jessiman-Perreault

et al. 2024

PLoS ONE

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Background Despite growing attention paid to health equity and efforts to promote gender mainstreaming—a global strategy to promote gender equality—how policymakers have ‘institutionalized’ this in their work is less clear. Therefore, this planned scoping review seeks to search the peer-reviewed and grey literature to compile evidence on the ways in which policymakers have routinely or systematically considered equity and/or gender in their work. Methods A scoping review will be undertaken by drawing on the PRISMA guidelines for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR). With the expert guidance of a research librarian, Ovid MEDLINE, Ovid EMBASE, PAIS Index, and Scopus databases will be searched, in addition to custom Google searches of government documents. The search will be conducted from 1995 and onwards, as there were no hits prior to this date that included the term “gender mainstream*” in these databases. The inclusion criterion is that: (i) texts must provide information on how equity and/or gender has been considered by government officials in the development of public policy in a routine or systematic manner (e.g., descriptive, empirical); (ii) both texts produced by government or not (e.g., commentary about government action) will be included; (iii) there are no restrictions on study design or article type (i.e., commentaries, reports, and other documents, would all be included); and (iv) texts must be published in English due to resource constraints. However, texts that discuss the work of nongovernmental or intergovernmental organizations will be excluded. Data will be charted by: bibliographic information, including the authors, year, and article title; country the text discussed; and a brief summary on the approach taken. Discussion This protocol was developed to improve rigour in the study design and to promote transparency by sharing our methods with the broader research community. This protocol will support a scoping review of the ways in which policymakers have routinely or systematically considered equity and/or gender in their work. We will generate findings to inform government efforts to initiate, sustain, and improve gender and equity mainstreaming approaches in policymaking.

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Health promotion, the social determinants of health, and urban health: what does a critical discourse analysis of World Health Organization texts reveal about health equity?

Amri,

Enright,

O’Campo

et al. 2023

BMC Global Public Health

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Background The World Health Organization (WHO) has focused on health equity as part of its mandate and broader agenda—consider for example, the “health for all” slogan. However, a recent scoping review determined that there are no studies that investigate the WHO’s approach to health equity. Therefore, this study is the first such empirical analysis examining discourses of health equity in WHO texts concerning health promotion, the social determinants of health, and urban health. Methods We undertook a critical discourse analysis of select texts that concern health promotion, the social determinants of health, and urban health. Results The findings of this study suggest that (i) underpinning values are consistent in WHO texts’ approach to health equity; (ii) WHO texts reiterate that health inequities are socially constructed and mitigatable but leave the ‘causes of causes’ vague; (iii) despite distinguishing between health “inequities” and “inequalities,” there are several instances where these terms are used interchangeably across texts; (iv) WHO texts approach health equity broadly (covering a variety of areas); (v) health equity may be viewed as applicable either throughout the life-course or intergenerationally, which depends on the specific WHO text at hand; and (vi) WHO texts at times use vague or unclear language around how to improve health equity. Conclusions This study does not present one definition of health equity and action to be taken. Instead, this study uncovers discourses embedded in WHO texts to spur discussion and deliberate decision-making. This work can also pave the way for further inquiry on other complex key terms or those with embedded values.

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Conceptual approaches in combating health inequity: A scoping review protocol

Cited by 3 publications

References 18 publications

Assessing the governance environment for private sector engagement in health in Africa: Results from a multi-country survey

Assessing the governance environment for private sector engagement in health in Africa: Results from a multi-country survey

Equity and gender mainstreaming in public policy: A scoping review protocol

Health promotion, the social determinants of health, and urban health: what does a critical discourse analysis of World Health Organization texts reveal about health equity?

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