CHORUS Working Paper: Review of Effective Primary Care Models to Prevent and Manage Non-Communicable Diseases

Improving primary care services has been identified as a key need on most countries and in particular ensuring systems are able to provide good quality services for non-communicable diseases (NCDs) which are becoming more prevalent amongst this population.

This review was undertaken to help inform the co-creation of interventions that improve primary care focused NCD services. It forms part of an evidence based on models available and their effectiveness.

CHORUS Paper: Assessment of Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Models in Health Systems in Least Developed, Low Income and Lower-Middle-Income Countries and Territories : A Protocol for a Systematic Review

The objective of this research is to systematically review the effectiveness of PPPs on the utilization of urban health provision to achieve health outcomes in the urban contexts of least developed, low income, and lower-middle-income countries and territories. The findings will help to understand the modalities of the existing health related PPPs in urban areas, their functionalities and their contribution in achieving health outcomes.

CHORUS Case Study: The Influence of Changing Gender and Social Norms on Health Seeking Behaviour and Health Systems in Cities

This case study is based on one of the CHORUS ICUH 2022 sessions titled ‘How are Changing Gender and Social Norms Influencing Health Seeking Behaviour and Health Systems in Cities in West Africa and South Asia?’. Presentations used early CHORUS findings to look at how gender interacts with other social stratifies to affect health-seeking behaviour in poor urban areas.

CHORUS Policy Brief: Preparedness of Urban Primary Healthcare Centres of Bangladesh in Managing Diabetes Mellitus and Hypertension

ARK Foundation’s CHORUS Policy Brief identifies key gaps and policy recommendations to potentially play a role in strengthening the integration of NCD management within the urban primary health care system.

CHORUS Presentation: Opportunities and threats to linking informal healthcare providers into the formal urban health system in Nigeria

In Nigeria, informal healthcare providers (IHPs) account for a significant proportion of health service delivery in underserved urban areas. In the absence of more consistent and structured linkages between informal and formal providers, the consequence of fragmented and poor quality of care will be borne by service users​. The CHORUS Nigeria team present findings from stakeholder consultations on linking the informal healthcare providers into the formal urban health system in Nigeria.

CHORUS Presentation: Initial findings from needs assessments in Nepal and Nigeria

Members of the CHORUS team presented initial needs assessment findings from the projects in Nigeria and Nepal to the FCDO Health Network Technical Meeting on 22 September 2022. 
The presentation included a brief introduction on CHORUS, and the initial needs assessment findings in both CHORUS counties.

Paper: Conceptual framework for systemic capacity strengthening for health policy and systems research

Capacity strengthening in global health has often been understood as a responsibility of those based in high-income countries (HICs) as part of their partnership arrangements with those based in LMICs. For example, encouraged by funders, principal investigators of international projects who are based in HICs may assume responsibility for capacity strengthening of LMIC-based collaborators, with…

CHORUS Paper: Strengths, disconnects and lessons in local and central governance of the response to the first wave of COVID-19 in Ghana

Despite the high commitment of the government of Ghana to a whole of government and a whole of society approach, and many strengths such as high-quality staff and established plans, local governance of the pandemic was challenged in several ways. Some of these challenges, such as incomplete decentralisation, slow funds transfer, and poor equipping of health facilities, reflect pre-existing governance and logistical challenges and reinforce the need to address them.

CHORUS Paper: The Role of Contextual Factors in Private Sector Engagement: A Case Study of Private Sector Contribution to COVID-19 Mitigation in Nigeria

The CHORUS team at the University of Nigeria undertook a descriptive case study to explore the contextual factors that contributed to the private sector engagement and contribution to COVID-19 mitigation in Nigeria. This paper examines these contextual factors with a view to identifying progress and learning opportunities for enhancing public-private partnership in advancing healthcare not just in Nigeria, but also in related countries in Africa and other developing countries.

CHORUS Paper: The Role of the Private Sector in the COVID-19 Pandemic: Experiences From Four Health Systems

We assess the way in which the private sector has acted in response to COVID-19 and seek to understand the Government’s reaction to this response. We present findings of a policy and media review of the private sector response to the pandemic and government’s interaction with this response in urban settings in four LMICs: Ghana, Nigeria, Nepal and Bangladesh. The private sector response was identified as a major theme a larger study undertaken in each country on the COVID-19 response in urban areas.
We focus on two related questions.

1. Who are the private sector actors (profit and not for profit) who have engaged in the COVID-19 first wave response and what was their role?

2. How have national and sub-national governments engaged in, and with the private sector response and what have been the effects of these engagements?