Karl Blanchet
Biographic Data
| ID | 303570 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Karl Blanchet |
| GIVEN NAMES | Karl |
| FAMILY NAME | Blanchet |
| SIGNATURE | BLANCHET K |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Geneva |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-0498-8020 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 62 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 67 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 62 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2001 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Chronic NCD care in crises
Comprehensive guidance would foster standardization, continuity, integration and, thus, better quality care. Future models should take a health system strengthening approach, use patient-centred design, and should be co-created with patients and providers. Those designing new models may draw on lessons learned from existing chronic care models in high- and low-income settings
The development of Afghanistan's Integrated Package of Essential Health Services
Health systems in fragile states need to respond to shifting demographics, burden of disease and socio-economic circumstances in the revision of their health service packages. This entails making difficult decisions about what is and is not included therein, especially in resource-constrained settings offering or striving for universal health coverage. In this paper we turn the lens on the 2017-2021 development of Afghanistan's Integrated Package…
The Lancet Global Health Commission on Global Eye Health
There is extensive evidence showing that improving eye health contributes directly and indirectly to achieving many Sustainable Development Goals, including reducing poverty and improving work productivity, general and mental health, and education and equity. Improving eye health is a practical and cost-effective way of unlocking human potential. Eye health needs to be reframed as an enabling, cross-cutting issue within the sustainable developmen…
The effects of armed conflict on the health of women and children
A health systems resilience research agenda
Health system resilience, known as the ability for health systems to absorb, adapt or transform to maintain essential functions when stressed or shocked, has quickly gained popularity following shocks like COVID-19. The concept is relatively new in health policy and systems research and the existing research remains mostly theoretical. Research to date has viewed resilience as an outcome that can be measured through performance outcomes, as an ab…
Building a multisystemic understanding of societal resilience to the Covid-19 pandemic
The current global systemic crisis reveals how globalised societies are unprepared to face a pandemic. Beyond the dramatic loss of human life, the COVID-19 pandemic has triggered widespread disturbances in health, social, economic, environmental and governance systems in many countries across the world. Resilience describes the capacities of natural and human systems to prevent, react to and recover from shocks. Societal resilience to the current…
Does disability increase the risk of poverty ‘in all its forms’? Comparing monetary and multidimensional poverty in Vietnam and Nepal
To meet the Sustainable Development Goals target of ending poverty “in all its forms”, it is critical to monitor progress towards poverty alleviation, including amongst people with disabilities. This research used data from a population-based nested case control studies (n=667) and compares monetary and multidimensional poverty levels amongst people with and without disabilities in the districts of Cam Le, Vietnam and Tanahun, Nepal. Overall, the…
Understanding the health needs of internally displaced persons
We seek to strengthen understanding of the health needs of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in contexts of conflict or violence. Based upon a scoping review, our paper identified limited evidence on IDP health, but nevertheless indicates that IDPs tend to experience worse health outcomes than other conflict-affected populations across a range of health issues; and this is due to the particularly vulnerable situation of IDPs relative to these o…
Use of Covid-19 evidence in humanitarian settings
Experiences from the field indicate that humanitarian organisations consulted guidance to respond and adapt to COVID-19, but whether referring to available guidance indicates evidence use depends on its accessibility, coherence, contextual relevance and trustworthiness. Feedback loops through online platforms like the COVID-19 Humanitarian platform that relay details of these evidence-use processes to global guidance setters could improve future …
Setting research priorities for sexual, reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health in humanitarian settings
Data needs, effective intervention strategies and approaches, as well as greater efficiency and quality during delivery of care in humanitarian settings were prioritized. The findings from this research provide guidance for researchers, program implementers, as well as donor agencies on SRMNCAH research priorities in humanitarian settings. A global research agenda could save the lives of those who are at greatest risk and vulnerability as well as…
Sanctioned countries in the global Covid-19 vaccination campaign
COVAX, the global initiative on COVID-19 vaccines, has set the target of achieving a COVID-19 vaccination coverage of up to 30% of the population of 135 countries in 2 years. Here, we argue that COVAX should anticipate important and unforeseen challenges with regard to sanctioned countries. For those, COVAX needs to provide a higher percentage of the vaccines. Otherwise, the problems of vaccination will linger, risking the advent of new variants …
Models of care for patients with hypertension and diabetes in humanitarian crises
Care for non-communicable diseases, including hypertension and diabetes (HTN/DM), is recognized as a growing challenge in humanitarian crises, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) where most crises occur. There is little evidence to support humanitarian actors and governments in designing efficient, effective, and context-adapted models of care for HTN/DM in such settings. This article aimed to systematically review the eviden…
Understanding the maternal and child health system response to payment for performance in Tanzania using a causal loop diagram approach
When Refugees Care for Refugees in Lebanon
Despite a surge in initiatives to integrate foreign-trained physicians into local health systems and a drive to learn from localised humanitarian initiatives under the COVID-19 pandemic, we still know little about the on-the-ground strategies developed by refugee doctors to meet the needs of refugee patients. In Lebanon, displaced Syrian health professionals have mounted informal, local responses to care for displaced Syrian patients. Drawing on …
What does ‘leave no one behind’ mean for humanitarian crises-affected populations in the Covid-19 pandemic
Background Risks of hospitalized infections associated with newer biologic agents have not been well characterized in relation to risks with anti-TNF therapy, especially in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients with high comorbidity burdens. Objectives To compare the risk of hospitalized infections among RA patients switching from anti-TNF therapy to rituximab (RTX), abatacept (ABA) or another anti-TNF. Methods Using data from 2002-10 from the U.S. …
The cost-effectiveness of using performance-based financing to deliver the basic package of health services in Afghanistan
Performance-based financing (PBF) is a mechanism to improve the quality and the utilisation of health benefit packages. There is a dearth of economic evaluations of PBF in the ‘real world’. Afghanistan implemented PBF between 2010 and 2015 and evaluated the programme using a pragmatic cluster-randomised control trial. We conducted a cost-effectiveness analysis of the PBF programme in Afghanistan, compared with the standard of care, from the provi…
Towards systematic evaluation of epidemic responses during humanitarian crises
Epidemics continue to pose a significant public health threat to populations in low and middle-income countries. However, little is known about the appropriateness and performance of response interventions in such settings. We undertook a rapid scoping review of public health evaluation frameworks for emergency settings in order to judge their suitability for assessing epidemic response. Our search identified a large variety of frameworks. Howeve…
Protecting essential health services in low-income and middle-income countries and humanitarian settings while responding to the Covid-19 pandemic
In health outcomes terms, the poorest countries stand to lose the most from these disruptions. In this paper, we make the case for a rational approach to public sector health spending and decision making during and in the early recovery phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on ethics and equity principles, it is crucial to ensure that patients not infected by COVID-19 continue to get access to healthcare and that the services they need continue t…
Covid-19 in humanitarian settings
Humanitarian organizations have developed innovative and context specific interventions in response to the COVID-19 pandemic as guidance has been normative in nature and most are not humanitarian specific. In April 2020, three universities developed a COVID-19 humanitarian-specific website ( www.covid19humanitarian.com ) to allow humanitarians from the field to upload their experiences or be interviewed by academics to share their creative respon…
Responding to health needs of women, children and adolescents within Syria during conflict
The case of Syria provides a unique perspective on creative ways of managing the humanitarian response and delivering RMNCAH&N interventions, mainly in the multi-hub structure and use of remote management, despite encountered challenges. The scarcity of RMNCAH&N data is a tremendous challenge for both researchers and implementing agencies, as it limits accountability and monitoring, thus hindering the evaluation of delivered interventions
Thank You to Reviewers 2019
Contested legitimacy for anthropologists involved in medical humanitarian action
The growing involvement of anthropologists in medical humanitarian response efforts has laid bare the moral and ethical consequences that emerge from humanitarian action. Anthropologists are well placed to examine the social, political, cultural and economic dimensions that influence the spread of diseases, and the ways in which to respond to epidemics. Anthropologists are also, with care, able to turn a critical lens on medical humanitarian resp…
Localisation and cross-border assistance to deliver humanitarian health services in North-West Syria
Our multifaceted narrative unpacks circular flows of interactions among actors and uncovers strategies developed by practitioners on the field, which are often left undocumented. We argue that there is an opportunity for the humanitarian sector to learn from these synergies to rethink how medical humanitarianism is framed (hopefully leading to a more collaborative framing that resists mainstreaming "local" actors within a "traditional" system). T…
A case-control study of musculoskeletal impairment
Adults with MSI in Myanmar who are not in receipt of rehabilitative services may be at increased risk of poverty and lower quality of life in relation to increased health needs and limited opportunities to participate in productive work. This study highlights the need for more comprehensive and appropriate support to persons with physical impairments in Myanmar
Access to Social Protection Among People with Disabilities
While people with disabilities are often targeted as key beneficiaries of social protection, there is little evidence available on their participation in existing programmes. This study uses mixed methods to explore access to disability-targeted and non-targeted social protection programmes in Nepal, particularly the District of Tanahun. In total, 31% of people with disabilities had Disability Identification Cards, which entitles them to a range …
A life in waiting
Refugees in Greece experience psychosocial distress and social suffering as a consequence of their uncertain and disrupted lives and the loss of social networks. Faster and transparent asylum procedures, the development of meaningful and empowering activities, and fostered social interactions with the surrounding society would contribute to alleviating their psychosocial suffering
Towards an understanding of resilience
The recent outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in West Africa has drawn attention to the role and responsiveness of health systems in the face of shock. It brought into sharp focus the idea that health systems need not only to be stronger but also more 'resilient'. In this article, we argue that responding to shocks is an important aspect of resilience, examining the health system behaviour in the face of four types of contemporary shocks: the …
The role of social networks in the governance of health systems
Efforts have been increasingly invested to improve local health systems' capacities in developing countries. We describe the application of innovative methods based on a social network analysis approach. The findings presented refer to a study carried out between July 2008 and January 2010 in the Brong Ahafo region of Ghana. Social network analysis methods were applied in five different districts using the software package Ucinet to calculate the…
Societal acceptance of urban drones
The use of drones (or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) in urban areas has emerged rapidly in the last decade, and continues to expand at an unprecedented pace. Alongside these emergent uses of high-impact technology in both public and private sectors, political debates about the potential risks and challenges have arisen, encompassing diverse perspectives and attitudes about the ethical, legal, social, and regulatory implications of introducing and inte…
Access to social protection among people with disabilities
Although people with disabilities are frequently targeted as key beneficiaries of social protection, little is known on their access to existing programmes. This study uses mixed methods to explore participation in disability‐targeted and non‐targeted social protection programmes in Viet Nam, particularly in the district of Cam Le. In this district, social assistance and health insurance coverage among people with disabilities was 53 per cent and…
Contested legitimacy for anthropologists involved in medical humanitarian action
The growing involvement of anthropologists in medical humanitarian response efforts has laid bare the moral and ethical consequences that emerge from humanitarian action. Anthropologists are well placed to examine the social, political, cultural and economic dimensions that influence the spread of diseases, and the ways in which to respond to epidemics. Anthropologists are also, with care, able to turn a critical lens on medical humanitarian resp…
Access to Social Protection Among People with Disabilities
While people with disabilities are often targeted as key beneficiaries of social protection, there is little evidence available on their participation in existing programmes. This study uses mixed methods to explore access to disability-targeted and non-targeted social protection programmes in Nepal, particularly the District of Tanahun. In total, 31% of people with disabilities had Disability Identification Cards, which entitles them to a range …
Chronic NCD care in crises
Comprehensive guidance would foster standardization, continuity, integration and, thus, better quality care. Future models should take a health system strengthening approach, use patient-centred design, and should be co-created with patients and providers. Those designing new models may draw on lessons learned from existing chronic care models in high- and low-income settings
Understanding the maternal and child health system response to payment for performance in Tanzania using a causal loop diagram approach
Participatory Development
Forty years after independence, the African countries have still not taken off economically. The many indicators produced by national bodies describe a wholly discouraging situation, even worse than in the 1970s. Yet, for many years, quite large budgets have been invested in development and thousands of people are working on the subject. Why is it that, now that the development policies of the 1970s and 1980s have been questioned and there is awa…
Providing continuity of care for people living with noncommunicable diseases in humanitarian settings
We recommend that humanitarian actors continue the work underway with the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health to align with and strengthen health system inputs, including supporting health governance through the accreditation process, exploring new funding mechanisms, strengthening the workforce via task sharing and training, supporting the medication supply chain, improving access to facilities and service quality, and supporting the development,…
When Refugees Care for Refugees in Lebanon
Despite a surge in initiatives to integrate foreign-trained physicians into local health systems and a drive to learn from localised humanitarian initiatives under the COVID-19 pandemic, we still know little about the on-the-ground strategies developed by refugee doctors to meet the needs of refugee patients. In Lebanon, displaced Syrian health professionals have mounted informal, local responses to care for displaced Syrian patients. Drawing on …
Participatory Development
Forty years after independence, the African countries have still not taken off economically. The many indicators produced by national bodies describe a wholly discouraging situation, even worse than in the 1970s. Yet, for many years, quite large budgets have been invested in development and thousands of people are working on the subject. Why is it that, now that the development policies of the 1970s and 1980s have been questioned and there is awa…
How to do (or not to do) … a social network analysis in health systems research
The main challenges in international health are to scale up effective health interventions in low- and middle-income countries in order to reach a higher proportion of the population. This can be achieved through better insight into how health systems are structured. Social network analysis can provide an appropriate and innovative paradigm for the health systems researcher, allow new analyses of the structure of health systems, and facilitate un…
The role of social networks in the governance of health systems
Efforts have been increasingly invested to improve local health systems' capacities in developing countries. We describe the application of innovative methods based on a social network analysis approach. The findings presented refer to a study carried out between July 2008 and January 2010 in the Brong Ahafo region of Ghana. Social network analysis methods were applied in five different districts using the software package Ucinet to calculate the…
Syrian refugees in Lebanon
The crisis in Syria has forced more than 4 million people to find refuge outside Syria. In Lebanon, in 2015, the refugee population represented 30 % of the total population. International health assistance has been provided to refugee populations in Lebanon. However, the current humanitarian system has also contributed to increase fragmentation of the Lebanese health system. Ensuring universal health coverage to vulnerable Lebanese, Syrian and Pa…
Governance and Capacity to Manage Resilience of Health Systems
The term resilience has dominated the discourse among health systems researchers since 2014 and the onset of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. There is wide consensus that the global community has to help build more resilient health systems. But do we really know what resilience means, and do we all have the same vision of resilience? The present paper presents a new conceptual framework on governance of resilience based on systems thinking and …
Evidence on public health interventions in humanitarian crises
Systems thinking in public health
The UCL–Lancet Commission on Migration and Health
Thank You to Reviewers 2017
Towards an understanding of resilience
The recent outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in West Africa has drawn attention to the role and responsiveness of health systems in the face of shock. It brought into sharp focus the idea that health systems need not only to be stronger but also more 'resilient'. In this article, we argue that responding to shocks is an important aspect of resilience, examining the health system behaviour in the face of four types of contemporary shocks: the …
A life in waiting
Refugees in Greece experience psychosocial distress and social suffering as a consequence of their uncertain and disrupted lives and the loss of social networks. Faster and transparent asylum procedures, the development of meaningful and empowering activities, and fostered social interactions with the surrounding society would contribute to alleviating their psychosocial suffering
Localisation and cross-border assistance to deliver humanitarian health services in North-West Syria
Our multifaceted narrative unpacks circular flows of interactions among actors and uncovers strategies developed by practitioners on the field, which are often left undocumented. We argue that there is an opportunity for the humanitarian sector to learn from these synergies to rethink how medical humanitarianism is framed (hopefully leading to a more collaborative framing that resists mainstreaming "local" actors within a "traditional" system). T…
A case-control study of musculoskeletal impairment
Adults with MSI in Myanmar who are not in receipt of rehabilitative services may be at increased risk of poverty and lower quality of life in relation to increased health needs and limited opportunities to participate in productive work. This study highlights the need for more comprehensive and appropriate support to persons with physical impairments in Myanmar
Access to Social Protection Among People with Disabilities
While people with disabilities are often targeted as key beneficiaries of social protection, there is little evidence available on their participation in existing programmes. This study uses mixed methods to explore access to disability-targeted and non-targeted social protection programmes in Nepal, particularly the District of Tanahun. In total, 31% of people with disabilities had Disability Identification Cards, which entitles them to a range …
Access to social protection among people with disabilities
Although people with disabilities are frequently targeted as key beneficiaries of social protection, little is known on their access to existing programmes. This study uses mixed methods to explore participation in disability‐targeted and non‐targeted social protection programmes in Viet Nam, particularly in the district of Cam Le. In this district, social assistance and health insurance coverage among people with disabilities was 53 per cent and…
What does ‘leave no one behind’ mean for humanitarian crises-affected populations in the Covid-19 pandemic
Background Risks of hospitalized infections associated with newer biologic agents have not been well characterized in relation to risks with anti-TNF therapy, especially in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients with high comorbidity burdens. Objectives To compare the risk of hospitalized infections among RA patients switching from anti-TNF therapy to rituximab (RTX), abatacept (ABA) or another anti-TNF. Methods Using data from 2002-10 from the U.S. …
The cost-effectiveness of using performance-based financing to deliver the basic package of health services in Afghanistan
Performance-based financing (PBF) is a mechanism to improve the quality and the utilisation of health benefit packages. There is a dearth of economic evaluations of PBF in the ‘real world’. Afghanistan implemented PBF between 2010 and 2015 and evaluated the programme using a pragmatic cluster-randomised control trial. We conducted a cost-effectiveness analysis of the PBF programme in Afghanistan, compared with the standard of care, from the provi…
Towards systematic evaluation of epidemic responses during humanitarian crises
Epidemics continue to pose a significant public health threat to populations in low and middle-income countries. However, little is known about the appropriateness and performance of response interventions in such settings. We undertook a rapid scoping review of public health evaluation frameworks for emergency settings in order to judge their suitability for assessing epidemic response. Our search identified a large variety of frameworks. Howeve…
Protecting essential health services in low-income and middle-income countries and humanitarian settings while responding to the Covid-19 pandemic
In health outcomes terms, the poorest countries stand to lose the most from these disruptions. In this paper, we make the case for a rational approach to public sector health spending and decision making during and in the early recovery phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on ethics and equity principles, it is crucial to ensure that patients not infected by COVID-19 continue to get access to healthcare and that the services they need continue t…
Covid-19 in humanitarian settings
Humanitarian organizations have developed innovative and context specific interventions in response to the COVID-19 pandemic as guidance has been normative in nature and most are not humanitarian specific. In April 2020, three universities developed a COVID-19 humanitarian-specific website ( www.covid19humanitarian.com ) to allow humanitarians from the field to upload their experiences or be interviewed by academics to share their creative respon…
Responding to health needs of women, children and adolescents within Syria during conflict
The case of Syria provides a unique perspective on creative ways of managing the humanitarian response and delivering RMNCAH&N interventions, mainly in the multi-hub structure and use of remote management, despite encountered challenges. The scarcity of RMNCAH&N data is a tremendous challenge for both researchers and implementing agencies, as it limits accountability and monitoring, thus hindering the evaluation of delivered interventions
Thank You to Reviewers 2019
Contested legitimacy for anthropologists involved in medical humanitarian action
The growing involvement of anthropologists in medical humanitarian response efforts has laid bare the moral and ethical consequences that emerge from humanitarian action. Anthropologists are well placed to examine the social, political, cultural and economic dimensions that influence the spread of diseases, and the ways in which to respond to epidemics. Anthropologists are also, with care, able to turn a critical lens on medical humanitarian resp…
The Lancet Global Health Commission on Global Eye Health
There is extensive evidence showing that improving eye health contributes directly and indirectly to achieving many Sustainable Development Goals, including reducing poverty and improving work productivity, general and mental health, and education and equity. Improving eye health is a practical and cost-effective way of unlocking human potential. Eye health needs to be reframed as an enabling, cross-cutting issue within the sustainable developmen…
The effects of armed conflict on the health of women and children
Political science (40 works) · Medicine (38 works) · Global Maternal and Child Health (28 works) · Economic growth (23 works) · Economics (23 works) · Business (22 works) · Public health (22 works) · Environmental health (21 works) · Computer Science (18 works) · Nursing (17 works)