#lmics — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #lmics, aggregated by home.social.
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🌍 Population insight where it matters most.
Population Explorer combines high-resolution WorldPop data with an intuitive map interface to support humanitarian response and smarter planning - free for LMIC governments.
👉 https://www.worldpop.org/blog/how-population-explorer-turns-worldpop-open-data-into-action/
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🌍 Population insight where it matters most.
Population Explorer combines high-resolution WorldPop data with an intuitive map interface to support humanitarian response and smarter planning - free for LMIC governments.
👉 https://www.worldpop.org/blog/how-population-explorer-turns-worldpop-open-data-into-action/
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🌍 Population insight where it matters most.
Population Explorer combines high-resolution WorldPop data with an intuitive map interface to support humanitarian response and smarter planning - free for LMIC governments.
👉 https://www.worldpop.org/blog/how-population-explorer-turns-worldpop-open-data-into-action/
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🌍 Population insight where it matters most.
Population Explorer combines high-resolution WorldPop data with an intuitive map interface to support humanitarian response and smarter planning - free for LMIC governments.
👉 https://www.worldpop.org/blog/how-population-explorer-turns-worldpop-open-data-into-action/
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🌍 Population insight where it matters most.
Population Explorer combines high-resolution WorldPop data with an intuitive map interface to support humanitarian response and smarter planning - free for LMIC governments.
👉 https://www.worldpop.org/blog/how-population-explorer-turns-worldpop-open-data-into-action/
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Surgical Referral in LMICs Review:
📊 14 studies analyzed.
🔍 Multiple shortages in surgical resources.
🔗 Lack of referral protocols.
🔄 Improves coordination could enhance pathways. -
Surgical Referral in LMICs Review:
📊 14 studies analyzed.
🔍 Multiple shortages in surgical resources.
🔗 Lack of referral protocols.
🔄 Improves coordination could enhance pathways. -
Surgical Referral in LMICs Review:
📊 14 studies analyzed.
🔍 Multiple shortages in surgical resources.
🔗 Lack of referral protocols.
🔄 Improves coordination could enhance pathways. -
Surgical Referral in LMICs Review:
📊 14 studies analyzed.
🔍 Multiple shortages in surgical resources.
🔗 Lack of referral protocols.
🔄 Improves coordination could enhance pathways. -
Surgical Referral in LMICs Review:
📊 14 studies analyzed.
🔍 Multiple shortages in surgical resources.
🔗 Lack of referral protocols.
🔄 Improves coordination could enhance pathways. -
Review of surgical referral systems in LMICs highlights:
📊 Streamlined coordination improves system efficiency.
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Urban - or rural? The answer matters more than you may think. 🏙️🌾
Countries are learning to map it better than ever.
🚀📊 Our DEGURBA training is building skills that power smarter policies - now and for the future.#LMICs #DEGURBA #CapacityBuilding #GeospatialData #Urbanisation #DataForDevelopment #SDGs #NationalStatistics #Cameroon #Zambia
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Urban - or rural? The answer matters more than you may think. 🏙️🌾
Countries are learning to map it better than ever.
🚀📊 Our DEGURBA training is building skills that power smarter policies - now and for the future.#LMICs #DEGURBA #CapacityBuilding #GeospatialData #Urbanisation #DataForDevelopment #SDGs #NationalStatistics #Cameroon #Zambia
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Urban - or rural? The answer matters more than you may think. 🏙️🌾
Countries are learning to map it better than ever.
🚀📊 Our DEGURBA training is building skills that power smarter policies - now and for the future.#LMICs #DEGURBA #CapacityBuilding #GeospatialData #Urbanisation #DataForDevelopment #SDGs #NationalStatistics #Cameroon #Zambia
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Urban - or rural? The answer matters more than you may think. 🏙️🌾
Countries are learning to map it better than ever.
🚀📊 Our DEGURBA training is building skills that power smarter policies - now and for the future.#LMICs #DEGURBA #CapacityBuilding #GeospatialData #Urbanisation #DataForDevelopment #SDGs #NationalStatistics #Cameroon #Zambia
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Review of surgical referral systems in LMICs
🔍 Found gaps in infrastructure and skills
🛠️ Need comprehensive referral protocols
🏥 60% lack of local surgical capacity affects outcomes#SurgicalCare #LMICs #HealthSystems #Pub2Post tnyp.me/BQ4J2biE
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How can governments protect and promote mental health and well-being across sectors?
For decades, global health policy has approached mental illness primarily as a clinical challenge, a condition to be managed within the walls of hospitals and clinics by medical professionals. This biomedical focus, while essential, has often obscured the broader context in which mental health is shaped. A new publication from the World Health Organization, Guidance on policy and strategic actions to protect and promote mental health and well-being across government sectors, marks a significant shift in normative standards. It posits that mental health is not merely a health outcome but a structural one, determined as much by the fiscal policy, urban planning, and labor laws of governments as by psychiatric care.
A technical framework for cross-sectoral governance
The guidance emerges against a backdrop of escalating costs. The global economic burden of mental health conditions is projected to reach US$6 trillion by 2030. In response, the WHO outlines a “whole-of-government” approach, moving beyond general advocacy to provide specific policy directives for ministries that have historically operated independently of mental health considerations.
The document details an eight-step implementation cycle, requiring high-level political dialogue, rigorous situational analysis, and the drafting of sector-specific policies. It assigns distinct responsibilities to key government sectors:
- Finance and Treasury: The guidance suggests that fiscal policies – including tax rates and welfare allocations – must be evaluated for their impact on health equity, rather than viewing mental health funding solely as a healthcare expenditure.
- Interior and Justice: It recommends a shift in the role of police and prisons, advocating for the retraining of first responders to manage crises through de-escalation rather than coercion, and establishing independent mechanisms to report abuse.
- Education and Employment: The framework calls for schools to embed social-emotional learning into standard curricula and for labor ministries to enforce standards that mitigate psychosocial risks in the workplace, such as precarious contracts and unsafe working conditions.
This approach frames mental health as a shared liability across the state apparatus, requiring coordinated action to address the social and structural determinants such as poverty, discrimination, and violence that drive poor mental health outcomes.
The challenge of implementation in resource-constrained settings
While the normative framework is clear, the practical pathway to implementation remains complex, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The current development finance landscape is characterized by shrinking budgets and a fracturing of global health funding. Governments in LMICs face the dual challenge of executing complex, multi-sectoral strategies while managing severe fiscal constraints.
One critical question for policymakers is operational: How can a Ministry of Health in a resource-constrained setting effectively engage other sectors – such as finance or justice – to adopt these recommendations without significant new external funding? Moving from high-level policy documents to localized action requires a mechanism that can bridge the gap between statutory intent and the reality of service delivery.
So what are the options to do more with less?
Peer learning as a mechanism for structural change
The Geneva Learning Foundation (TGLF) offers an operational model that addresses this implementation gap by utilizing the existing capacity of the health and social workforce. Rather than relying on traditional, resource-intensive capacity-building or technical assistance models, TGLF employs a “learning-to-action” methodology rooted in structured peer interaction. This approach connects thousands of frontline professionals – ranging from district administrators to social workers – into a structured digital network to learn from and support each other in actual implementation.
This model could support this WHO guidance in three specific ways:
- Generating actionable local data: In contexts where central data is scarce, the network functions as a distributed sensor. In a recent deployment in Nigeria, working with NPHCDA and UNICEF, 4,300 health workers generated over 400 root cause analyses within weeks. By identifying specific local barriers to service delivery the network produced the granular evidence needed to inform the cross-sectoral policies advocated by the WHO, and turn them into practice.
- Facilitating cross-sectoral integration: The WHO guidance necessitates collaboration between siloed professionals. TGLF’s model creates a forum where professionals from different sectors can share experience as they work to drive change, each in their own context. A school nurse can analyze crisis response strategies alongside a social worker from a different district, fostering the “collective intelligence” required to implement complex, multi-agency directives right down to the community level.
- Improving cost-efficiency: By digitizing the peer-learning process and utilizing peer accountability rather than external consultants, the model achieves a cost reduction of approximately 90 percent compared to conventional implementation methods. This efficiency could allow governments to begin operationalizing the WHO guidelines immediately using existing payroll structures, rather than waiting for external grants.
By validating local knowledge and structuring peer accountability, this innovative model provides a practical means to transform the WHO’s technical guidance into sustained administrative action. It demonstrates that the capacity to reform mental health governance lies not only in new financial instruments but in the structured coordination of the workforce already present on the ground.
Image: Crossing Into Clarity, The Geneva Learning Foundation Collection © 2025. A corridor built from carved, interlocking forms – half letters, half symbols – evokes the dense, overlapping pressures that shape mental health across societies. As the viewer steps through this textured passage, the individual ahead emerges into a space of light and openness, suggesting the possibility of coherence after complexity. The piece reflects a core truth of whole-of-government mental health action: when fragmented systems align, even imperfectly, they create pathways that help people move from burden toward balance, and from confusion toward care.
Reference
Michelle Funk, Dévora Kestel, Natalie Drew Bold, Celline Cole, Maria Francesca Moro, 2025. Guidance on policy and strategic actions to protect and promote mental health and well-being across government sectors. World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland. https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240114388
#governmentSectors #implementationScience #lmics #mentalHealth #peerLearning #genevaLearningFoundation #wellBeing #workforce
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How can governments protect and promote mental health and well-being across sectors?
For decades, global health policy has approached mental illness primarily as a clinical challenge, a condition to be managed within the walls of hospitals and clinics by medical professionals. This biomedical focus, while essential, has often obscured the broader context in which mental health is shaped. A new publication from the World Health Organization, Guidance on policy and strategic actions to protect and promote mental health and well-being across government sectors, marks a significant shift in normative standards. It posits that mental health is not merely a health outcome but a structural one, determined as much by the fiscal policy, urban planning, and labor laws of governments as by psychiatric care.
A technical framework for cross-sectoral governance
The guidance emerges against a backdrop of escalating costs. The global economic burden of mental health conditions is projected to reach US$6 trillion by 2030. In response, the WHO outlines a “whole-of-government” approach, moving beyond general advocacy to provide specific policy directives for ministries that have historically operated independently of mental health considerations.
The document details an eight-step implementation cycle, requiring high-level political dialogue, rigorous situational analysis, and the drafting of sector-specific policies. It assigns distinct responsibilities to key government sectors:
- Finance and Treasury: The guidance suggests that fiscal policies – including tax rates and welfare allocations – must be evaluated for their impact on health equity, rather than viewing mental health funding solely as a healthcare expenditure.
- Interior and Justice: It recommends a shift in the role of police and prisons, advocating for the retraining of first responders to manage crises through de-escalation rather than coercion, and establishing independent mechanisms to report abuse.
- Education and Employment: The framework calls for schools to embed social-emotional learning into standard curricula and for labor ministries to enforce standards that mitigate psychosocial risks in the workplace, such as precarious contracts and unsafe working conditions.
This approach frames mental health as a shared liability across the state apparatus, requiring coordinated action to address the social and structural determinants such as poverty, discrimination, and violence that drive poor mental health outcomes.
The challenge of implementation in resource-constrained settings
While the normative framework is clear, the practical pathway to implementation remains complex, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The current development finance landscape is characterized by shrinking budgets and a fracturing of global health funding. Governments in LMICs face the dual challenge of executing complex, multi-sectoral strategies while managing severe fiscal constraints.
One critical question for policymakers is operational: How can a Ministry of Health in a resource-constrained setting effectively engage other sectors – such as finance or justice – to adopt these recommendations without significant new external funding? Moving from high-level policy documents to localized action requires a mechanism that can bridge the gap between statutory intent and the reality of service delivery.
So what are the options to do more with less?
Peer learning as a mechanism for structural change
The Geneva Learning Foundation (TGLF) offers an operational model that addresses this implementation gap by utilizing the existing capacity of the health and social workforce. Rather than relying on traditional, resource-intensive capacity-building or technical assistance models, TGLF employs a “learning-to-action” methodology rooted in structured peer interaction. This approach connects thousands of frontline professionals – ranging from district administrators to social workers – into a structured digital network to learn from and support each other in actual implementation.
This model could support this WHO guidance in three specific ways:
- Generating actionable local data: In contexts where central data is scarce, the network functions as a distributed sensor. In a recent deployment in Nigeria, working with NPHCDA and UNICEF, 4,300 health workers generated over 400 root cause analyses within weeks. By identifying specific local barriers to service delivery the network produced the granular evidence needed to inform the cross-sectoral policies advocated by the WHO, and turn them into practice.
- Facilitating cross-sectoral integration: The WHO guidance necessitates collaboration between siloed professionals. TGLF’s model creates a forum where professionals from different sectors can share experience as they work to drive change, each in their own context. A school nurse can analyze crisis response strategies alongside a social worker from a different district, fostering the “collective intelligence” required to implement complex, multi-agency directives right down to the community level.
- Improving cost-efficiency: By digitizing the peer-learning process and utilizing peer accountability rather than external consultants, the model achieves a cost reduction of approximately 90 percent compared to conventional implementation methods. This efficiency could allow governments to begin operationalizing the WHO guidelines immediately using existing payroll structures, rather than waiting for external grants.
By validating local knowledge and structuring peer accountability, this innovative model provides a practical means to transform the WHO’s technical guidance into sustained administrative action. It demonstrates that the capacity to reform mental health governance lies not only in new financial instruments but in the structured coordination of the workforce already present on the ground.
Image: Crossing Into Clarity, The Geneva Learning Foundation Collection © 2025. A corridor built from carved, interlocking forms – half letters, half symbols – evokes the dense, overlapping pressures that shape mental health across societies. As the viewer steps through this textured passage, the individual ahead emerges into a space of light and openness, suggesting the possibility of coherence after complexity. The piece reflects a core truth of whole-of-government mental health action: when fragmented systems align, even imperfectly, they create pathways that help people move from burden toward balance, and from confusion toward care.
Reference
Michelle Funk, Dévora Kestel, Natalie Drew Bold, Celline Cole, Maria Francesca Moro, 2025. Guidance on policy and strategic actions to protect and promote mental health and well-being across government sectors. World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland. https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240114388
#governmentSectors #implementationScience #lmics #mentalHealth #peerLearning #genevaLearningFoundation #wellBeing #workforce
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Assessing patterns of authorship of low- and middle-income countries in global commercial clinical trials in oncology | Globalization and Health
Bray F, Laversanne M, Sung H, Ferlay J, Siege…
#NewsBeep #News #Health #AU #Australia #Authorshippatterns #breast #clinicaltrials #Colon #DevelopmentEconomics #epidemiology #GlobalHealth #HealthServicesResearch #HICs #Inequalities #LMICs #Lung #oncology #publichealth #QualityofLifeResearch #Socialpolicy #trend #UMICs
https://www.newsbeep.com/au/302013/ -
‘Risks and opportunities’ in US global health strategy
#Health #USHealthStrategy #PEPFAR #GlobalHealth #HIVResearch #LMICs #HealthEquity #PublicHealth #GlobalPartnerships #HealthPolicy #InfectiousDiseases #HealthFunding #ResilientHealthSystems
https://the-14.com/risks-and-opportunities-in-us-global-health-strategy/ -
‘Risks and opportunities’ in US global health strategy
#Health #USHealthStrategy #PEPFAR #GlobalHealth #HIVResearch #LMICs #HealthEquity #PublicHealth #GlobalPartnerships #HealthPolicy #InfectiousDiseases #HealthFunding #ResilientHealthSystems
https://the-14.com/risks-and-opportunities-in-us-global-health-strategy/ -
‘Risks and opportunities’ in US global health strategy
#Health #USHealthStrategy #PEPFAR #GlobalHealth #HIVResearch #LMICs #HealthEquity #PublicHealth #GlobalPartnerships #HealthPolicy #InfectiousDiseases #HealthFunding #ResilientHealthSystems
https://the-14.com/risks-and-opportunities-in-us-global-health-strategy/ -
‘Risks and opportunities’ in US global health strategy
#Health #USHealthStrategy #PEPFAR #GlobalHealth #HIVResearch #LMICs #HealthEquity #PublicHealth #GlobalPartnerships #HealthPolicy #InfectiousDiseases #HealthFunding #ResilientHealthSystems
https://the-14.com/risks-and-opportunities-in-us-global-health-strategy/ -
‘Risks and opportunities’ in US global health strategy
#Health #USHealthStrategy #PEPFAR #GlobalHealth #HIVResearch #LMICs #HealthEquity #PublicHealth #GlobalPartnerships #HealthPolicy #InfectiousDiseases #HealthFunding #ResilientHealthSystems
https://the-14.com/risks-and-opportunities-in-us-global-health-strategy/ -
While #OpenScience provides substantial opportunities for researchers in #LMICs, this paper highlights core global barriers and inequities
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/25152459251357565
It is also a good general introduction into OS!It is important to recognise that current OS practices may not suit local contexts in #LMICs given how strongly they have been shaped (so far!) by researchers in #HICs. There is ample opportunity for #HICs to learn and improve practices from this dialogue!
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While #OpenScience provides substantial opportunities for researchers in #LMICs, this paper highlights core global barriers and inequities
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/25152459251357565
It is also a good general introduction into OS!It is important to recognise that current OS practices may not suit local contexts in #LMICs given how strongly they have been shaped (so far!) by researchers in #HICs. There is ample opportunity for #HICs to learn and improve practices from this dialogue!
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While #OpenScience provides substantial opportunities for researchers in #LMICs, this paper highlights core global barriers and inequities
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/25152459251357565
It is also a good general introduction into OS!It is important to recognise that current OS practices may not suit local contexts in #LMICs given how strongly they have been shaped (so far!) by researchers in #HICs. There is ample opportunity for #HICs to learn and improve practices from this dialogue!
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While #OpenScience provides substantial opportunities for researchers in #LMICs, this paper highlights core global barriers and inequities
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/25152459251357565
It is also a good general introduction into OS!It is important to recognise that current OS practices may not suit local contexts in #LMICs given how strongly they have been shaped (so far!) by researchers in #HICs. There is ample opportunity for #HICs to learn and improve practices from this dialogue!
-
While #OpenScience provides substantial opportunities for researchers in #LMICs, this paper highlights core global barriers and inequities
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/25152459251357565
It is also a good general introduction into OS!It is important to recognise that current OS practices may not suit local contexts in #LMICs given how strongly they have been shaped (so far!) by researchers in #HICs. There is ample opportunity for #HICs to learn and improve practices from this dialogue!
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Exploring perceived barriers and facilitators to using mobile phone technology for delivering HPV test results in malawi: a qualitative study with HPV-Screened women, healthcare providers, and health officials | BMC Public Health
Amo…
#NewsBeep #News #Health #AU #Australia #Biostatistics #cervicalcancer #EnvironmentalHealth #epidemiology #general #HPVscreening #LMICs(Low-andMiddle-IncomeCountries) #Medicine/PublicHealth #Mobiletechnology #publichealth #Vaccine
https://www.newsbeep.com/au/27500/ -
One year after launch, the #OpenAccess edition of the International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease finds that "OA is helping us to achieve our goal of improving knowledge dissemination in #LMICs, where there is restricted access to subscription journals. Citation analysis of the first few issues of IJTLD OPEN also suggests that this higher level of downloads [higher than for the non-OA edition] is leading to articles being cited at an accelerated rate."
https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/iuatld/ijtldo/2025/00000002/00000001/art00001 -
One year after launch, the #OpenAccess edition of the International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease finds that "OA is helping us to achieve our goal of improving knowledge dissemination in #LMICs, where there is restricted access to subscription journals. Citation analysis of the first few issues of IJTLD OPEN also suggests that this higher level of downloads [higher than for the non-OA edition] is leading to articles being cited at an accelerated rate."
https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/iuatld/ijtldo/2025/00000002/00000001/art00001 -
One year after launch, the #OpenAccess edition of the International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease finds that "OA is helping us to achieve our goal of improving knowledge dissemination in #LMICs, where there is restricted access to subscription journals. Citation analysis of the first few issues of IJTLD OPEN also suggests that this higher level of downloads [higher than for the non-OA edition] is leading to articles being cited at an accelerated rate."
https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/iuatld/ijtldo/2025/00000002/00000001/art00001 -
One year after launch, the #OpenAccess edition of the International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease finds that "OA is helping us to achieve our goal of improving knowledge dissemination in #LMICs, where there is restricted access to subscription journals. Citation analysis of the first few issues of IJTLD OPEN also suggests that this higher level of downloads [higher than for the non-OA edition] is leading to articles being cited at an accelerated rate."
https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/iuatld/ijtldo/2025/00000002/00000001/art00001 -
One year after launch, the #OpenAccess edition of the International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease finds that "OA is helping us to achieve our goal of improving knowledge dissemination in #LMICs, where there is restricted access to subscription journals. Citation analysis of the first few issues of IJTLD OPEN also suggests that this higher level of downloads [higher than for the non-OA edition] is leading to articles being cited at an accelerated rate."
https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/iuatld/ijtldo/2025/00000002/00000001/art00001 -
The cost of inaction: Quantifying the impact of climate change on health
This World Bank report ‘The Cost of Inaction: Quantifying the Impact of Climate Change on Health in Low- and Middle-Income Countries’ presents new analysis of climate change impacts on health systems and outcomes in the regions that are bearing the brunt of these impacts.
Key analytical insights to quantify climate change impacts on health
The report makes three contributions to our understanding of climate-health interactions:
First, it quantifies the massive scale of climate change impacts on health, projecting 4.1-5.2 billion climate-related disease cases and 14.5-15.6 million deaths in LMICs by 2050. This represents a significant advancement over previous estimates, which the report demonstrates were substantial underestimates.
Second, it illuminates the profound economic consequences, calculating costs of $8.6-20.8 trillion by 2050 (0.7-1.3% of LMIC GDP). The report employs both Value of Statistical Life and Years of Life Lost approaches to provide a range of economic impact estimates.
Third, it reveals stark geographic inequities in impact distribution, with Sub-Saharan Africa bearing approximately 71% of cases and nearly half of deaths, while South Asia faces about 18% of cases and a quarter of deaths. This spatial analysis helps identify where interventions are most urgently needed.
Policy implications and systemic perspectives
The report’s findings point to several critical policy directions:
- The need for systemic rather than disease-specific interventions emerges as a central theme. The authors explicitly advocate for strengthening entire health systems rather than pursuing vertical disease programs.
- The economic analysis makes a compelling case for immediate action, demonstrating that the costs of inaction far exceed potential investment requirements for climate-resilient health systems.
- The geographic distribution of impacts highlights the need for globally coordinated responses while prioritizing support for the most vulnerable regions.
The findings suggest that transforming systems to address climate change impacts on health requires not just technical solutions but fundamental rethinking of how health systems are organized and financed in vulnerable regions.
This aligns with recent scholarship on complex adaptive systems and organizational transformation in global health.
The report’s emphasis on systemic approaches represents a significant shift in thinking about climate-health interventions. This merits unpacking on several levels:
- Inadequacy of vertical disease silos: The report challenges the traditional vertical disease management paradigm that has dominated global health programming for decades. While vertical programs have achieved notable successes in areas like HIV/AIDS or malaria control, the report argues that climate change’s multifaceted health impacts require a fundamentally different approach.
- Need for systemic intervention: Climate change simultaneously affects multiple disease pathways, nutrition status, and health infrastructure. These interactions cannot be effectively addressed through isolated disease-specific programs. Building core health system capabilities (surveillance, emergency response, primary care) creates multiplicative benefits across various climate-related health challenges. Strong health systems can better identify and respond to emerging threats, whereas vertical programs often lack this flexibility.
- Implementation implications: The report suggests this systemic approach requires: integrated planning across health system components, flexible funding mechanisms that support system-wide capabilities, enhanced coordination between different health programmes and investment in cross-cutting infrastructure and capabilities.
What about the health workforce facing impacts of climate change on health?
Between this clear-eyed assessment and effective action lies a critical implementation gap.
Interestingly, the report gives limited explicit attention to the health workforce dimension of climate-health challenges. Yet that is precisely where we need to focus attention, given that:
- Health workers based in communities are first responders to climate-related health emergencies
- Workforce capacity significantly determines a health system’s adaptive capabilities
- Climate change itself affects health worker distribution and effectiveness
Given the report’s emphasis on systemic approaches, the lack of detailed discussion about human resources for health represents a missed opportunity to explore what effective action might look like.
The Geneva Learning Foundation’s network, developed through nearly a decade of research and practice, has led us to identify a path for supporting the health workforce to strengthen preparedness and response in response to climate change impacts on health.
The network already connects over 60,000 health workers. They represent all job roles, rank, and levels of the health system.
One distinguishing feature of this network is its deep integration with existing government health systems. Over half of network participants are government employees, from community health workers to district officers to national planners.
62% of participants work in remote rural areas, 47% serve urban poor populations, and 21% operate in conflict zones.
These are not just statistics: they represent an unprecedented capability to mobilize knowledge and action where it’s most needed.
Since 2023, network participants have been sharing observations, experiences, and insights of climate change impacts on health.
The model connects different levels of health systems:
- Community-based health workers share ground-level observations
- District managers identify emerging patterns
- National planners gauge system-wide implications
- Global partners access real-time insights
When a malaria control officer in Kenya observes changing disease patterns due to altered rainfall, the network enables rapid sharing of this insight with colleagues working on water safety, nutrition, and primary care. These cross-domain connections do not need to be left to chance – they can be enabled through structured peer learning processes that transcend traditional programme, geographic, and hierarchical boundaries
This creates what organizational theorists call “embedded transformation” – where system change emerges through existing structures rather than requiring new ones.
Rather than creating new coordination mechanisms, the network enables:
- Health workers to learn directly from peers in other programs
- Rapid identification of cross-cutting challenges
- Spontaneous formation of problem-solving groups
- Systematic sharing of effective practices
Rather than replacing existing structures, TGLF’s model demonstrates how digital networks can enable health systems to:
- Maintain necessary specialization while fostering crucial connections
- Enable rapid learning and adaptation across programs
- Optimize resource use through enhanced coordination
- Build system-wide resilience through structured peer learning
Such a network enables what complexity theorists call “distributed sensing” that can provide:
- Early warning of emerging threats
- Rapid sharing of local solutions
- System-wide learning from local innovations
- Continuous adaptation to changing conditions
This has led us to posit that investment in such emergent digital networks could enable health systems to maintain necessary specialization while fostering crucial connections across domains.
This is obviously critical to respond to the systems-level complexity of climate change impacts on health.
World Bank findingTGLF model strategic fitScale of impact (4.1-5.2B cases, 14.5-15.6M deaths by 2050)TGLF’s digital network model demonstrates scalability, already connecting over 60,000 health practitioners across 137 countries. More significantly, the model’s effectiveness increases with scale – as more practitioners join, the network’s ability to identify emerging threats and disseminate effective responses improves. Network analysis shows that larger scale enables more diverse inputs and faster adaptation, suggesting this approach could help health systems respond to the massive scale of projected impacts.Economic consequences ($8.6-20.8T by 2050)TGLF’s model offers remarkable cost-effectiveness through its networked learning structure. Rather than requiring massive new investments in parallel systems, it leverages existing health system resources while enabling and accelerating both learning and action. The model demonstrates how digital infrastructure can maximize return on investment – practitioners implement solutions using existing resources, with 82% reporting ability to continue without external support. This suggests potential for significant cost savings while building system resilience.Geographic inequities (71% SSA, 18% SA)TGLF’s network already demonstrates strongest presence precisely where the World Bank identifies greatest need – 70% of participants work in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. This concentration is not coincidental; the model’s digital infrastructure and peer learning approach prove particularly effective in resource-constrained settings. The network enables rapid sharing of context-appropriate solutions between regions facing similar challenges, while maintaining sensitivity to local conditions.Need for systemic interventionThe network transcends traditional program boundaries through what organizational theorists call “structured emergence” – practitioners naturally form cross-program connections based on shared challenges. When a malaria control officer observes changing disease patterns due to climate shifts, the network enables rapid sharing with colleagues in water safety, nutrition, and primary care. This organic integration emerges through peer learning rather than requiring new coordination mechanisms.Urgency of investmentTGLF’s model offers an immediately scalable approach that builds on existing health system capabilities. Rather than waiting years to develop new infrastructure, the network can rapidly expand to connect more practitioners and regions. Evidence shows 7x acceleration in implementation of new approaches compared to conventional means of technical assistance, suggesting potential for rapid, sustainable strengthening of health system resilience.Global coordination needWhile enabling global connection, the network maintains strong local grounding through its emphasis on locally-led action and contextual adaptation. Government health workers comprise over 50% of participants, creating what scholars term “embedded transformation” – change emerging through existing structures rather than imposed from outside. This enables coordinated response while respecting local health system authority.System transformationThe model demonstrates how digital networks can fundamentally transform how health systems operate without requiring complete restructuring. By enabling rapid knowledge flow across traditional boundaries, supporting emergence of new coordination patterns, and fostering system-wide learning, it shows how transformation can emerge through enhanced connection rather than structural overhaul. Analysis reveals development of new capabilities in surveillance, response, and adaptation through networked learning.Reference
Uribe, J.P., Rabie, T., 2024. The Cost of Inaction: Quantifying the Impact of Climate Change on Health in Low- and Middle-Income Countries. The World Bank, Washington, D.C. https://doi.org/10.1596/42419
Image: The Geneva Learning Foundation Collection © 2024
Share this:
#digitalLearning #globalHealth #health #JuanPabloUribe #LMICs #networkedLearning #peerLearning #TamerRabie #TheCostOfInactionQuantifyingTheImpactOfClimateChangeOnHealth #TheGenevaLearningFoundation #WorldBank
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The cost of inaction: Quantifying the impact of climate change on health
This World Bank report ‘The Cost of Inaction: Quantifying the Impact of Climate Change on Health in Low- and Middle-Income Countries’ presents new analysis of climate change impacts on health systems and outcomes in the regions that are bearing the brunt of these impacts.
Key analytical insights to quantify climate change impacts on health
The report makes three contributions to our understanding of climate-health interactions:
First, it quantifies the massive scale of climate change impacts on health, projecting 4.1-5.2 billion climate-related disease cases and 14.5-15.6 million deaths in LMICs by 2050. This represents a significant advancement over previous estimates, which the report demonstrates were substantial underestimates.
Second, it illuminates the profound economic consequences, calculating costs of $8.6-20.8 trillion by 2050 (0.7-1.3% of LMIC GDP). The report employs both Value of Statistical Life and Years of Life Lost approaches to provide a range of economic impact estimates.
Third, it reveals stark geographic inequities in impact distribution, with Sub-Saharan Africa bearing approximately 71% of cases and nearly half of deaths, while South Asia faces about 18% of cases and a quarter of deaths. This spatial analysis helps identify where interventions are most urgently needed.
Policy implications and systemic perspectives
The report’s findings point to several critical policy directions:
- The need for systemic rather than disease-specific interventions emerges as a central theme. The authors explicitly advocate for strengthening entire health systems rather than pursuing vertical disease programs.
- The economic analysis makes a compelling case for immediate action, demonstrating that the costs of inaction far exceed potential investment requirements for climate-resilient health systems.
- The geographic distribution of impacts highlights the need for globally coordinated responses while prioritizing support for the most vulnerable regions.
The findings suggest that transforming systems to address climate change impacts on health requires not just technical solutions but fundamental rethinking of how health systems are organized and financed in vulnerable regions.
This aligns with recent scholarship on complex adaptive systems and organizational transformation in global health.
The report’s emphasis on systemic approaches represents a significant shift in thinking about climate-health interventions. This merits unpacking on several levels:
- Inadequacy of vertical disease silos: The report challenges the traditional vertical disease management paradigm that has dominated global health programming for decades. While vertical programs have achieved notable successes in areas like HIV/AIDS or malaria control, the report argues that climate change’s multifaceted health impacts require a fundamentally different approach.
- Need for systemic intervention: Climate change simultaneously affects multiple disease pathways, nutrition status, and health infrastructure. These interactions cannot be effectively addressed through isolated disease-specific programs. Building core health system capabilities (surveillance, emergency response, primary care) creates multiplicative benefits across various climate-related health challenges. Strong health systems can better identify and respond to emerging threats, whereas vertical programs often lack this flexibility.
- Implementation implications: The report suggests this systemic approach requires: integrated planning across health system components, flexible funding mechanisms that support system-wide capabilities, enhanced coordination between different health programmes and investment in cross-cutting infrastructure and capabilities.
What about the health workforce facing impacts of climate change on health?
Between this clear-eyed assessment and effective action lies a critical implementation gap.
Interestingly, the report gives limited explicit attention to the health workforce dimension of climate-health challenges. Yet that is precisely where we need to focus attention, given that:
- Health workers based in communities are first responders to climate-related health emergencies
- Workforce capacity significantly determines a health system’s adaptive capabilities
- Climate change itself affects health worker distribution and effectiveness
Given the report’s emphasis on systemic approaches, the lack of detailed discussion about human resources for health represents a missed opportunity to explore what effective action might look like.
The Geneva Learning Foundation’s network, developed through nearly a decade of research and practice, has led us to identify a path for supporting the health workforce to strengthen preparedness and response in response to climate change impacts on health.
The network already connects over 60,000 health workers. They represent all job roles, rank, and levels of the health system.
One distinguishing feature of this network is its deep integration with existing government health systems. Over half of network participants are government employees, from community health workers to district officers to national planners.
62% of participants work in remote rural areas, 47% serve urban poor populations, and 21% operate in conflict zones.
These are not just statistics: they represent an unprecedented capability to mobilize knowledge and action where it’s most needed.
Since 2023, network participants have been sharing observations, experiences, and insights of climate change impacts on health.
The model connects different levels of health systems:
- Community-based health workers share ground-level observations
- District managers identify emerging patterns
- National planners gauge system-wide implications
- Global partners access real-time insights
When a malaria control officer in Kenya observes changing disease patterns due to altered rainfall, the network enables rapid sharing of this insight with colleagues working on water safety, nutrition, and primary care. These cross-domain connections do not need to be left to chance – they can be enabled through structured peer learning processes that transcend traditional programme, geographic, and hierarchical boundaries
This creates what organizational theorists call “embedded transformation” – where system change emerges through existing structures rather than requiring new ones.
Rather than creating new coordination mechanisms, the network enables:
- Health workers to learn directly from peers in other programs
- Rapid identification of cross-cutting challenges
- Spontaneous formation of problem-solving groups
- Systematic sharing of effective practices
Rather than replacing existing structures, TGLF’s model demonstrates how digital networks can enable health systems to:
- Maintain necessary specialization while fostering crucial connections
- Enable rapid learning and adaptation across programs
- Optimize resource use through enhanced coordination
- Build system-wide resilience through structured peer learning
Such a network enables what complexity theorists call “distributed sensing” that can provide:
- Early warning of emerging threats
- Rapid sharing of local solutions
- System-wide learning from local innovations
- Continuous adaptation to changing conditions
This has led us to posit that investment in such emergent digital networks could enable health systems to maintain necessary specialization while fostering crucial connections across domains.
This is obviously critical to respond to the systems-level complexity of climate change impacts on health.
World Bank findingTGLF model strategic fitScale of impact (4.1-5.2B cases, 14.5-15.6M deaths by 2050)TGLF’s digital network model demonstrates scalability, already connecting over 60,000 health practitioners across 137 countries. More significantly, the model’s effectiveness increases with scale – as more practitioners join, the network’s ability to identify emerging threats and disseminate effective responses improves. Network analysis shows that larger scale enables more diverse inputs and faster adaptation, suggesting this approach could help health systems respond to the massive scale of projected impacts.Economic consequences ($8.6-20.8T by 2050)TGLF’s model offers remarkable cost-effectiveness through its networked learning structure. Rather than requiring massive new investments in parallel systems, it leverages existing health system resources while enabling and accelerating both learning and action. The model demonstrates how digital infrastructure can maximize return on investment – practitioners implement solutions using existing resources, with 82% reporting ability to continue without external support. This suggests potential for significant cost savings while building system resilience.Geographic inequities (71% SSA, 18% SA)TGLF’s network already demonstrates strongest presence precisely where the World Bank identifies greatest need – 70% of participants work in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. This concentration is not coincidental; the model’s digital infrastructure and peer learning approach prove particularly effective in resource-constrained settings. The network enables rapid sharing of context-appropriate solutions between regions facing similar challenges, while maintaining sensitivity to local conditions.Need for systemic interventionThe network transcends traditional program boundaries through what organizational theorists call “structured emergence” – practitioners naturally form cross-program connections based on shared challenges. When a malaria control officer observes changing disease patterns due to climate shifts, the network enables rapid sharing with colleagues in water safety, nutrition, and primary care. This organic integration emerges through peer learning rather than requiring new coordination mechanisms.Urgency of investmentTGLF’s model offers an immediately scalable approach that builds on existing health system capabilities. Rather than waiting years to develop new infrastructure, the network can rapidly expand to connect more practitioners and regions. Evidence shows 7x acceleration in implementation of new approaches compared to conventional means of technical assistance, suggesting potential for rapid, sustainable strengthening of health system resilience.Global coordination needWhile enabling global connection, the network maintains strong local grounding through its emphasis on locally-led action and contextual adaptation. Government health workers comprise over 50% of participants, creating what scholars term “embedded transformation” – change emerging through existing structures rather than imposed from outside. This enables coordinated response while respecting local health system authority.System transformationThe model demonstrates how digital networks can fundamentally transform how health systems operate without requiring complete restructuring. By enabling rapid knowledge flow across traditional boundaries, supporting emergence of new coordination patterns, and fostering system-wide learning, it shows how transformation can emerge through enhanced connection rather than structural overhaul. Analysis reveals development of new capabilities in surveillance, response, and adaptation through networked learning.Reference
Uribe, J.P., Rabie, T., 2024. The Cost of Inaction: Quantifying the Impact of Climate Change on Health in Low- and Middle-Income Countries. The World Bank, Washington, D.C. https://doi.org/10.1596/42419
Image: The Geneva Learning Foundation Collection © 2024
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#digitalLearning #globalHealth #health #JuanPabloUribe #LMICs #networkedLearning #peerLearning #TamerRabie #TheCostOfInactionQuantifyingTheImpactOfClimateChangeOnHealth #TheGenevaLearningFoundation #WorldBank
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With view to #multimorbidity I focus on work led by Phuong Bich Tran using our COSMOS /
#IMPACTNIHR qualitative data investigating the lived experiences of people living w MM in #LMICs by exploring their perspectives, experiences, and aspirations
https://gh.bmj.com/content/9/1/e013606The interviews firstly showed strongly the importance of healthcare cost and forgone income as outcomes of #HealthCare, which are often not considered in the development of core outcome sets (see also https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.01.29.24301589v1)
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With view to #multimorbidity I focus on work led by Phuong Bich Tran using our COSMOS /
#IMPACTNIHR qualitative data investigating the lived experiences of people living w MM in #LMICs by exploring their perspectives, experiences, and aspirations
https://gh.bmj.com/content/9/1/e013606The interviews firstly showed strongly the importance of healthcare cost and forgone income as outcomes of #HealthCare, which are often not considered in the development of core outcome sets (see also https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.01.29.24301589v1)
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With view to #multimorbidity I focus on work led by Phuong Bich Tran using our COSMOS /
#IMPACTNIHR qualitative data investigating the lived experiences of people living w MM in #LMICs by exploring their perspectives, experiences, and aspirations
https://gh.bmj.com/content/9/1/e013606The interviews firstly showed strongly the importance of healthcare cost and forgone income as outcomes of #HealthCare, which are often not considered in the development of core outcome sets (see also https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.01.29.24301589v1)
-
With view to #multimorbidity I focus on work led by Phuong Bich Tran using our COSMOS /
#IMPACTNIHR qualitative data investigating the lived experiences of people living w MM in #LMICs by exploring their perspectives, experiences, and aspirations
https://gh.bmj.com/content/9/1/e013606The interviews firstly showed strongly the importance of healthcare cost and forgone income as outcomes of #HealthCare, which are often not considered in the development of core outcome sets (see also https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.01.29.24301589v1)
-
With view to #multimorbidity I focus on work led by Phuong Bich Tran using our COSMOS /
#IMPACTNIHR qualitative data investigating the lived experiences of people living w MM in #LMICs by exploring their perspectives, experiences, and aspirations
https://gh.bmj.com/content/9/1/e013606The interviews firstly showed strongly the importance of healthcare cost and forgone income as outcomes of #HealthCare, which are often not considered in the development of core outcome sets (see also https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.01.29.24301589v1)
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Quality of Life Research 05-2024
https://link.springer.com/journal/11136/volumes-and-issues/33-5
#HRQL of people w heart failure in #LMICs
#QOL of people living w mental illness in Africa
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11136-023-03525-8
#SysReview #SMI #Multimorbidity
#NightshiftEditor seven issues to go...
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Quality of Life Research 05-2024
https://link.springer.com/journal/11136/volumes-and-issues/33-5
#HRQL of people w heart failure in #LMICs
#QOL of people living w mental illness in Africa
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11136-023-03525-8
#SysReview #SMI #Multimorbidity
#NightshiftEditor seven issues to go...
-
Quality of Life Research 05-2024
https://link.springer.com/journal/11136/volumes-and-issues/33-5
#HRQL of people w heart failure in #LMICs
#QOL of people living w mental illness in Africa
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11136-023-03525-8
#SysReview #SMI #Multimorbidity
#NightshiftEditor seven issues to go...
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"#Nestlé adds more #sugar to baby food sold in lower- and middle-income countries, while more affluent markets get healthier versions, according to a recent report released by a nonprofit group."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/04/23/nestle-sugar-baby-food-childhood-obesity/ -
"#Nestlé adds more #sugar to baby food sold in lower- and middle-income countries, while more affluent markets get healthier versions, according to a recent report released by a nonprofit group."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/04/23/nestle-sugar-baby-food-childhood-obesity/ -
"#Nestlé adds more #sugar to baby food sold in lower- and middle-income countries, while more affluent markets get healthier versions, according to a recent report released by a nonprofit group."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/04/23/nestle-sugar-baby-food-childhood-obesity/ -
"#Nestlé adds more #sugar to baby food sold in lower- and middle-income countries, while more affluent markets get healthier versions, according to a recent report released by a nonprofit group."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/04/23/nestle-sugar-baby-food-childhood-obesity/