Sara Bennett
Datos Biográficos
| ID | 3927148 |
|---|---|
| NOMBRE | Sara Bennett |
| NOMBRES | Sara |
| APELLIDO | Bennett |
| FIRMA | BENNETT S |
| AFILIACIONES | Johns Hopkins University |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-8094-8798 |
| VERIFICADO | Sí |
| TOTAL DE OBRAS | 64 |
| TOTAL DE CITAS | 135 |
| TOTAL COMO AUTOR | 64 |
| TOTAL COMO EDITOR | 0 |
| PRIMER AÑO DE PUBLICACIÓN | 1992 |
| AÑO MÁS RECIENTE DE PUBLICACIÓN | 2026 |
| ÍNDICE H | 7 |
Optimizing Georgia’s public health workforce
BACKGROUND: A well-functioning public health system relies on a robust workforce. Comprehensive data on the workforce, such as number, distribution, and key characteristics, are crucial for evidence-based workforce planning and development. However, few comprehensive public health workforce assessments exist, especially in low- and middle-income countries. Public health reforms over the years and needs identified during the COVID-19 pandemic prom…
WHO launches global network of institutes to strengthen capacity for health inequality monitoring
This article introduces the global WHO-managed Health Inequality Monitoring Network, which is dedicated to strengthening and expanding health inequality monitoring practices at global, regional and country levels. Launched in 2025, the Health Inequality Monitoring Network consists of 12 inaugural institutional members, represented by over 140 affiliated individuals spanning all world regions. The Network aims to: strengthen capacities for health …
Managing Public-Private Partnerships for Health Diagnostics
This paper draws upon a process evaluation of a public-private partnership (PPP) for diagnostics in three Sub-Saharan African countries, Ethiopia, Ghana and Kenya. The study sought to identify challenges in managing health PPP projects and potential solutions. We used an extensive document review and 72 recent key informant interviews (KIIs), building on 63 KIIs previously conducted to analyze the African Health Diagnostics Platform (AHDP) projec…
Health systems resilience and private for-profit sector engagement
India's second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in April–June 2021 involved an explosion of case numbers, with devastating consequences for the country’s already strained health systems. This case study examines the private health market response to the pandemic in Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state. We analyzed 203 news articles to understand both the experiences of private providers and patients in response to government policies being imp…
The need to document lessons learnt and exemplary practices of maintaining essential health services during the Covid-19 pandemic
Holy grail or convenient excuse? Stakeholder perspectives on the role of health system strengthening evaluation in global health resource allocation
BACKGROUND: The role of evaluation evidence in guiding health systems strengthening (HSS) investments at the global-level remains contested. A lack of rigorous impact evaluations is viewed by some as an obstacle to scaling resources. However, others suggest that power dynamics and knowledge hierarchies continue to shape perceptions of rigor and acceptability in HSS evaluations. This debate has had major implications on HSS resource allocation in …
HIV programme sustainability in Southern and Eastern Africa and the changing role of external assistance for health
High human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)–prevalence countries in Southern and Eastern Africa continue to receive substantial external assistance (EA) for HIV programming, yet countries are at risk of transitioning out of HIV aid without achieving epidemic control. We sought to address two questions: (1) to what extent has HIV EA in the region been programmed and delivered in a way that supports long-term sustainability and (2) how should developme…
How integration of refugees into national health systems became a global priority
The past decade has seen a substantial reframing of refugee integration, along with increased financing sources and increased collaboration, explains this shift towards their integration into health systems. However, despite the emergence of integration as a global political priority, the extent to which efforts around integration have translated into action at the national level remains uncertain
Assessing the integration of refugee health data into national health information systems in Jordan, Lebanon, and Uganda
The current status of refugee-related health data in Jordan, Lebanon, and Uganda indicates the need for improved data collection and reporting practices, disaggregation by refugee status and better integration of refugee health data into national HIS to capture the health status and needs of refugees in host countries. Key improvement strategies include establishing a centralized authority for consistent and efficient data management, fostering t…
Geographic prioritisation in Kenya and Uganda
Introduction Donor transition for HIV/AIDS programmes remains sensitive, marking a significant shift away from the traditional investment model of large-scale, vertical investments to control the epidemic and achieve rapid scaling-up of services. In late 2015, the United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) headquarters instructed their country missions to implement ‘geographic prioritisation’ (GP), whereby PEPFAR investment…
Maintaining essential health services during Covid-19
The COVID-19 pandemic severely disrupted the delivery of essential health services (EHS) worldwide, contributing to excess morbidity and mortality from preventable conditions. Some countries employed innovative strategies that may have enabled their health systems to be more resilient than others in responding to COVID-19. This cross-country analysis aimed to identify beneficial practices and policies employed by six low- and middle-income countr…
‘All my co-workers are good people, but…’
Multisectoral collaboration has been identified as a critical component in a wide variety of health and development initiatives. For India’s Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme, which serves >100 million people annually across more than one million villages, a key point of multisectoral collaboration—or ‘convergence’, as it is often called in India—is between the three frontline worker cadres jointly responsible for delivering ess…
Understanding reasons for and strategic responses to administrative health data misreporting in an Indian state
The misreporting of administrative health data creates an inequitable distribution of scarce health resources and weakens transparency and accountability within health systems. In the mid-2010s, an Indian state introduced a district ranking system to monitor the monthly performance of health programmes alongside a set of data quality initiatives. However, questions remain about the role of data manipulation in compromising the accuracy of data av…
Public sector engagement of private healthcare providers during the Covid-19 pandemic in Uttar Pradesh, India
The COVID-19 pandemic has strained public health resources and overwhelmed health systems capacity of countries worldwide. In India, the private sector is a significant source of healthcare particularly in large states like Uttar Pradesh (UP). This study sought to examine: (i) the government’s approach to engaging the private health sector in the COVID-19 response in UP; (ii) the effects of government’s engagement on private providers’ practices …
An investigation of the relationship between the performance and management practices of health facilities under a performance-based financing scheme in Nigeria
Whereas the effect of performance-based financing (PBF) on improving the quantity and quality of health services has been established, little is known about what matters for health facilities to improve performance under a PBF scheme. This study examined the associations between management practices and the performance of primary healthcare centres (PHCCs) under a PBF scheme in Nigeria. This study utilized longitudinal data on monthly institution…
Exploring perceived effects from loss of Pepfar support for outreach in Kenya and Uganda
INTRODUCTION: In 2015, the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief undertook policy shifts to increase efficiencies in its programming, including transitioning HIV/AIDS funding away from low burden areas. We examine the impact of these changes on HIV outreach in Kenya and Uganda. METHODS: Qualitative data collection was conducted as a part of a broader mixed-methods evaluation. Two rounds of facility-level case studies and national-level inter…
Reimagining health systems
Examining policy intentions and actual implementation practices
Strengthening medical specialisation policy in low-income and middle-income countries
The availability of medical specialists has accelerated in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs), driven by factors including epidemiological and demographic shifts, doctors’ preferences for postgraduate training, income growth and medical tourism. Yet, despite some policy efforts to increase access to specialists in rural health facilities and improve referral systems, many policy questions are still underaddressed or unaddressed in LMI…
Understanding the implications of the Sustainable Development Goals for health policy and systems research
BACKGROUND: Given the paradigmatic shift represented by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as compared to the Millennium Development Goals - in particular their broad and interconnected nature - a new set of health policy and systems research (HPSR) priorities are needed to inform strategies to address these interconnected goals. OBJECTIVES: To identify high priority HPSR questions linked to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Go…
Measuring management practices in primary health care facilities – development and validation of management practices scorecard in Nigeria
BACKGROUND: In low- and middle-income countries, there is scarcity of validated and reliable measurement tools for health facility management, and many interventions to improve primary health care (PHC) facilities are designed without adequate evidence base on what management practices are critical. OBJECTIVE: This article developed and validated a scorecard to measure management practices at primary health care facilities under the performance-b…
How does embedded implementation research work? Examining core features through qualitative case studies in Latin America and the Caribbean
Innovative strategies are needed to improve the delivery of evidence-informed health interventions. Embedded implementation research (EIR) seeks to enhance the generation and use of evidence for programme improvement through four core features: (1) central involvement of programme/policy decision-makers in the research cycle; (2) collaborative research partnerships; (3) positioning research within programme processes and (4) research focused on i…
The differential impacts of Pepfar transition on private for-profit, private not-for-profit and publicly owned health facilities in Uganda
While transition of donor programs to national control is increasingly common, there is a lack of evidence about the consequences of transition for private health care providers. In 2015, President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) identified 734 facilities in Uganda for transition from PEPFAR support, including 137 private not-for-profits (PNFP) and 140 private for-profits (PFPs). We sought to understand the differential impacts of trans…
Bureaucracies and power
Methodological gaps and opportunities for studying multisectoral collaboration for health in low- and middle-income countries
The current body of research into multisectoral collaborations (MSCs) for health raises more questions than it answers, both in terms of how to implement MSCs and how to study them. This article reflects on current methodological gaps and opportunities for advancing MSC research, based on a targeted review of existing literature and qualitative input from researchers and practitioners at the 2018 Health Systems Research (HSR) Symposium in Liverpo…
Health sector reform and public sector health worker motivation
Determinants and consequences of health worker motivation in hospitals in Jordan and Georgia
Problematising depression
Health care-seeking behaviour and out-of-pocket payments in Tbilisi, Georgia
Based on a household survey conducted in Tbilisi, Georgia, in 2000, this paper examines current patterns of health care-seeking behaviour and the extent of out-of-pocket payments. Results show that health care services are a financial burden and that private (out-of-pocket) payment creates financial barriers to accessing health services. Members of the poorest households are less likely to seek care than people from more affluent households, and …
Epistemic communities in global health and the development of child survival policy
Nearly all African countries have recently implemented some form of integrated community case management of childhood illness (iCCM), a strategy aimed at reducing child mortality by providing curative care for common yet fatal childhood illnesses. This case study describes the evolution of iCCM at the global level using the theory of epistemic communities first outlined by Haas, which explains how international policy coordination on technical is…
Evaluating health systems strengthening interventions in low-income and middle-income countries
In recent years, there have been several calls for rigorous health policy and systems research to inform efforts to strengthen health systems (HS) in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), including the use of systems thinking concepts in designing and evaluating HS strengthening interventions. The objectives of this paper are to assess recent evaluations of HS strengthening interventions to examine the extent to which they ask a broader set o…
Carrot and stick
The behavior of private sector health care providers will depend critically on the environment within which they operate. A bewildering array of possible regulatory and incentive setting structures exist. Most developing countries have the basic legislation for regulation, but there are frequently difficulties in enforcing such controls. While process aspects of quality of care regulation are often the responsibility of professional organizations…
Power and pro-poor policies
Analyses of health policy in low- and middle-income countries frequently mention but rarely adequately explore power dynamics, whether or not the policy in question targets the poor. We present a case study in Niger of integrated community case management (iCCM), a policy to provide basic care for poor rural children sick with malaria, diarrhoea and pneumonia, which has contributed to measurable reductions in child mortality. We focus on the thre…
Influencing policy change
In recent years there has been a growth in the number of independent health policy analysis institutes in low- and middle-income countries which has occurred in response to the limitation of government analytical capacity and pressures associated with democratization. This study aimed to: (i) investigate the contribution made by health policy analysis institutes in low- and middle-income countries to health policy agenda setting, formulation, imp…
Methodological gaps and opportunities for studying multisectoral collaboration for health in low- and middle-income countries
The current body of research into multisectoral collaborations (MSCs) for health raises more questions than it answers, both in terms of how to implement MSCs and how to study them. This article reflects on current methodological gaps and opportunities for advancing MSC research, based on a targeted review of existing literature and qualitative input from researchers and practitioners at the 2018 Health Systems Research (HSR) Symposium in Liverpo…
Pathways to high and low performance
The determinants of primary health facility performance in developing countries have not been well studied. One of the most under-researched areas is health facility management. This study investigated health facilities under the pilot performance-based financing (PBF) scheme in Nigeria, and aimed to understand which factors differentiated primary health care centres (PHCCs) which had performed well, vs those which had not, with a focus on health…
Evidence-informed policymaking in practice
Integrated Community Case Management of Childhood Illness (iCCM) is a policy for providing treatment for malaria, diarrhoea and pneumonia for children below 5 years at the community level, which is generating increasing evidence and support at the global level. As countries move to adopt iCCM, it becomes important to understand how this growing evidence base is viewed and used by national stakeholders. This article explores whether, how and why e…
Developing more participatory and accountable institutions for health
Health policy and systems research (HPSR) is vital to guiding global institutions, funders, policymakers, activists and implementers in developing and enacting strategies to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. We undertook a multi-stage participatory process to identify priority research questions relevant to improving accountability within health systems. We conducted interviews (n = 54) and focus group discussions (n = 2) with policymake…
Best resources for community engagement in implementation research
Implementation research (IR) focuses on understanding how and why interventions produce their effects in a given context. This often requires engaging a broad array of stakeholders at multiple levels of the health system. Whereas a variety of tools and approaches exist to facilitate stakeholder engagement at the national or institutional level, there is a substantial gap in the IR literature about how best to do this at the local or community lev…
Integrated community case management for childhood illnesses
BACKGROUND: There has been a re-emphasis recently on community health workers to provide child health care services including integrated community case management for childhood illness (iCCM). This research analysed iCCM policy development in Kenya and in particular the types of decision-making criteria used by Kenyan policy-makers in considering whether to advance iCCM policy. METHOD: Data were collected through document reviews (n = 41) and sem…
Bureaucracies and power
Regulating recognition and training for new medical specialties in India
Regulation is essential to health systems and is central to advancing equity-oriented policy objectives in health. Regulating new medical specialties is an emerging, yet underexplored, aspect of health sector governance in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), such as India. Limited research exists regarding how regulatory institutions in India decide what specialties should be formally recognized and how training programmes for these special…
Privilege and inclusivity in shaping Global Health agendas
ICCM policy analysis
Pneumonia, diarrhoea and malaria remain leading causes of death for children under 5 years of age and access to effective and appropriate treatment for sick children is extremely low where it is needed most. Integrated community case management (iCCM) enables community health workers to provide basic lifesaving treatment for sick children living in remote communities for these diseases. While many governments in sub-Saharan Africa recently change…
Establishing health systems financing research priorities in developing countries using a participatory methodology
Promoting the private sector
Two questions are addressed in this article: (i) How can it be ensured that private sector resources promote national health goals? and; (ii) What can be learnt from the private sector to enhance operations in the public sector? There is a surprising degree of private sector activity in both the finai icing and provision of services, despite the fact that few countries have adopted wide-reaching privatization programmes. In some countries pressur…
Carrot and stick
The behavior of private sector health care providers will depend critically on the environment within which they operate. A bewildering array of possible regulatory and incentive setting structures exist. Most developing countries have the basic legislation for regulation, but there are frequently difficulties in enforcing such controls. While process aspects of quality of care regulation are often the responsibility of professional organizations…
Health sector reform and public sector health worker motivation
Problematising depression
Overcoming health-systems constraints to achieve the Millennium Development Goals
The role of community-based health insurance within the health care financing system
There is increasing advocacy for community-based health insurance (CBHI) schemes as part of a broader solution to health care financing problems in low-income countries, but to date there is very limited understanding of how CBHI schemes interact with other elements of a health care financing system. This paper aims to set out a preliminary conceptual framework for understanding such interactions, and highlights the kind of research questions rai…
Determinants and consequences of health worker motivation in hospitals in Jordan and Georgia
Health care-seeking behaviour and out-of-pocket payments in Tbilisi, Georgia
Based on a household survey conducted in Tbilisi, Georgia, in 2000, this paper examines current patterns of health care-seeking behaviour and the extent of out-of-pocket payments. Results show that health care services are a financial burden and that private (out-of-pocket) payment creates financial barriers to accessing health services. Members of the poorest households are less likely to seek care than people from more affluent households, and …
Establishing health systems financing research priorities in developing countries using a participatory methodology
Building the Field of Health Policy and Systems Research
Following the First Global Symposium on Health Systems Research in Montreux in November 2010, PLoS Medicine commissioned three articles on the state-of-the-art in Health Policy and Systems Research (HPSR). Three Policy Forum articles, authored by a diverse group of global health academics, critically examine the current challenges to the field and lay out what is needed to build capacity in HPSR and support local policy development and health sys…
Building the Field of Health Policy and Systems Research
Following the First Global Symposium \non Health Systems Research in \nMontreux in November 2010, PLoS \nMedicine commissioned three articles \non the state-of-the-art in Health \nPolicy and Systems Research (HPSR). \nThree Policy Forum articles, authored \nby a diverse group of global \nhealth academics, critically examine \nthe current challenges to the field \nand lay out what is needed to build \ncapacity in HPSR and support local \npolicy de…
Sustainability of donor programs
BACKGROUND: Sustainability is the holy grail of many development projects, yet there is limited evidence about strategies that effectively support transition of programs from donor funding to national governments. The first phase of Avahan, the India AIDS Initiative supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (2003-2009), aimed to demonstrate an HIV/AIDS prevention program at scale, primarily targeted at high-risk groups. During the second…
Expecting the unexpected
Although health interventions start with good intentions to develop services for disadvantaged populations, they often distort the health market, making the delivery or financing of services difficult once the intervention is over: a condition called the 'Develop-Distort Dilemma' (DDD). In this paper, we describe how to examine whether a proposed intervention may develop or distort the health market. Our goal is to produce a tool that facilitates…
Influencing policy change
In recent years there has been a growth in the number of independent health policy analysis institutes in low- and middle-income countries which has occurred in response to the limitation of government analytical capacity and pressures associated with democratization. This study aimed to: (i) investigate the contribution made by health policy analysis institutes in low- and middle-income countries to health policy agenda setting, formulation, imp…
Changes at Health Policy and Planning
Last year we commissioned a strategic review of Health Policy and Planning (HPP) to better position our journal in an increasingly complex publishing landscape and enhance its relevance and impact. As part of this review, we surveyed our readers, authors and editorial board. We also compared HPP against 13 competitors with respect to (1) performance indicators, (2) submission number and acceptance rate, (3) editorial structure, (4) governance str…
Evaluating health systems strengthening interventions in low-income and middle-income countries
In recent years, there have been several calls for rigorous health policy and systems research to inform efforts to strengthen health systems (HS) in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), including the use of systems thinking concepts in designing and evaluating HS strengthening interventions. The objectives of this paper are to assess recent evaluations of HS strengthening interventions to examine the extent to which they ask a broader set o…
Aid alignment
BACKGROUND: Over the past decade, development assistance for health (DAH) in Uganda has increased dramatically, surpassing the government's own expenditures on health. Yet primary health care and other priorities identified in Uganda's health sector strategic plan remain underfunded. METHODS: Using data available from the Creditor Reporting System (CRS), National Health Accounts (NHA), and government financial reports, we examined trends in how d…
The impact of Fogarty International Center research training programs on public health policy and program development in Kenya and Uganda
While FIC has not focused its programs on the goal of policy and program influence, its investments have affected global and national public health policies and practice. These influences have occurred primarily through strengthening research skills of scientists and developing strong in-country networks. Further success of FIC and similar initiatives could be stimulated by investing more in the training of policy-makers, seeking to better align …
The future of health markets
This editorial introduces a new open collection in Globalization and Health on the topic of the future of health markets. In 2012, we undertook work for the Rockefeller Foundation that sought to inform their future investments in health markets. Whereas health markets are sometimes viewed solely through the lens of private health care providers, our approach was broader, viewing such providers as one of many inter-connected actors who work within…
Private sector, for-profit health providers in low and middle income countries
BACKGROUND: The bottom of the pyramid concept suggests that profit can be made in providing goods and services to poor people, when high volume is combined with low margins. To-date there has been very limited empirical evidence from the health sector concerning the scope and potential for such bottom of the pyramid models. This paper analyzes private for-profit (PFP) providers currently offering services to the poor on a large scale, and assesse…
Accelerating learning for pro-poor health markets
BACKGROUND: Given the rapid evolution of health markets, learning is key to promoting the identification and uptake of health market policies and practices that better serve the needs of the poor. However there are significant challenges to learning about health markets. We discuss the different forms that learning takes, from the development of codified scientific knowledge, through to experience-based learning, all in relationship to health mar…
Corporate social responsibility in global health
BACKGROUND: As pharmaceutical firms experience increasing civil society pressure to act responsibly in a changing globalized world, many are expanding and/or reforming their corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies. We sought to understand how multinational pharmaceutical companies currently engage in CSR activities in the developing world aimed at global health impact, their motivations for doing so and how their CSR strategies are evolv…
Altogether now…understanding the role of international organizations in iCCM policy transfer
INTRODUCTION: Policy transfer theories explain how policy ideas move across time and geography and offer an approach to understanding waves of policy change, a common phenomenon in global health. Four primary mechanisms for the transfer of policies from global to national levels are posited: learning, coercion, socialization and competition. METHODS: We used six concurrent country case studies of policy change for child survival followed by a glo…
Empower Integrated health care delivery
Introduction: (Background and Problem Statement) Provision of high quality health care services is a global challenge.The dominance of a curative, hospital based, fragmented and diseasecentric delivery model often impedes access to comprehensive and quality care.WHO aims to support countries in their shift from a curative, disease-centric, and practitioner-driven model to a people-centered and integrated services approach (PCIS).(World Health Org…
Power and pro-poor policies
Analyses of health policy in low- and middle-income countries frequently mention but rarely adequately explore power dynamics, whether or not the policy in question targets the poor. We present a case study in Niger of integrated community case management (iCCM), a policy to provide basic care for poor rural children sick with malaria, diarrhoea and pneumonia, which has contributed to measurable reductions in child mortality. We focus on the thre…
Political science (50 obras) · Global Maternal and Child Health (42 obras) · Medicine (41 obras) · Economic growth (36 obras) · Economics (36 obras) · Business (34 obras) · Public relations (34 obras) · Health care (29 obras) · Nursing (27 obras) · Healthcare Systems and Reforms (22 obras)