Technical Exchange 2020
The theme of this year’s Technical Exchange was “The Swiss contribution to strengthen global health systems” – learnings from Swiss expertise on malaria and beyond. Covid-19 has shown the crucial role of strong health systems in fighting this major pandemic. Providing uninterrupted routine services is crucial during such times, and hence the quality and resilience of health services is even more important during a crisis. Shared knowledge among different sectors and many partners, as well as practical experience are essential to better prepare for future health crises. The goal of this meeting was to pool our Swiss experience in the national and international health sector to identify interventions that contribute to reaching Universal Health Coverage (UHC). Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, this year was the first time that the meeting was held virtually.
Line-up of speakers:
Ilse van Roy, Head of International Programmes at SolidarMed, gave an excellent key note where she shared her own learning path why she sees community-centricity as key to the solution for Health System Strengthening (HSS). She sees our role as enablers who also need to consider the wider problem & determinants of health.
During our first round of inputs, Alex Schulze, Co-Head Global Programme Health at Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), recalls the Lancet commission's work on Health System Strengthening including delivery of competent care, trust of people and users, address changing needs, resistance to health shocks. Presentation
It has been very interesting to hear from Dianne Stewart, Head of Donor Relations at The Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria, how they integrate elements of primary health care services in malaria programmes. Presentation
We would like to thank Caroline Boulton, Global Program Head Malaria at Novartis, for showing us how Novartis is building local expertise through collaborations especially also to strengthen local capacity for clinical trials. Presentation
Xavier Ding, Malaria Team Leader at FIND, introduced us to their diagnostic application which in the long-run aims to contribute to improving capabilities of countries to have strong surveillance systems and also put into question on how to do this sustainably. Presentation
In the second round of inputs, Martin Leschhorn, Director at Medicus Mundi Switzerland (MMS), showed us how digitalisation is often taking place in an uncoordinated way, different actors enter countries with their own application leading to fragmentation, similar to what we can see from vertical initiatives. Such fragmentation though different digital tools can lead to the weakening of health systems. There is a need for coherent guidance of all actors globally and inclusion of local communities. Presentation
Next Iveth J. González, Deputy Manager MNCH Programme, Terre des Hommes, spoke about strengthening health systems through digital health to improve children’s health. Presentation
Monika Christofori-Khadka, Health Adviser and Co-Lead Policy and Development Unit at Swiss Red Cross, emphasized the importance of trained volunteers and demonstrated how the Swiss Red Cross is working with volunteers to Strengthen Health System. Presentation
Helen Prytherch, Head of Health Systems Support Unit at Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH), highlighted the need to finance health systems and not have families pay for health services because this is the cause of poverty. To solve this, Helen showed us an example on how they built up community health insurance. In addition, she explained how building up a complementary supply system for medicines can lead to 69% more availability of medicines. Presentation