Maria Paola Bertone
Datos Biográficos
| ID | 1740478 |
|---|---|
| NOMBRE | Maria Paola Bertone |
| NOMBRES | Maria Paola |
| APELLIDO | Bertone |
| FIRMA | BERTONE M P |
| AFILIACIONES | Queen Margaret University |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-8890-583X |
| VERIFICADO | Sí |
| TOTAL DE OBRAS | 16 |
| TOTAL DE CITAS | 30 |
| TOTAL COMO AUTOR | 16 |
| TOTAL COMO EDITOR | 0 |
| PRIMER AÑO DE PUBLICACIÓN | 2011 |
| AÑO MÁS RECIENTE DE PUBLICACIÓN | 2026 |
| ÍNDICE H | 3 |
Getting unstuck
The concepts of health systems strengthening and health systems resilience are conceptually different but often used interchangeably in health policy and systems research and practice. Operationalising them can be difficult, but both are particularly relevant in contexts of conflict, violence and institutional fragility. In the current landscape of increasing complexity of humanitarian crises and constrained resources, understanding their meaning…
Understanding the political economy of reforming global health initiatives – insights from global and country levels
INTRODUCTION: Since 2000, the number and role of global health initiatives (GHIs) has been growing, with these platforms playing an increasingly important role in pooling and disbursing funds dedicated to specific global health priorities. While recognising their important contribution, there has also been a growth in concerns about distortions and inefficiencies linked to the GHIs and attempts to improve their alignment with country health syste…
Political economy analysis of health financing reforms in times of crisis
The lessons from these case studies include that technical teams can and should engage in Political Economy Analysis (PEA) thinking and strategizing, including being aware of and adaptable to the changing PEA landscape and prepared to take advantage of windows of opportunity, including, but not limited to, those emerging from crisis. There is a need for more empirical studies in this area and sharing of lessons to support future reforms to increa…
Integrating healthcare financing for refugees into national health systems
Refugee integration in national health systems of low- and middle-income countries (LMICs)
This paper reviews evidence on healthcare responses for refugees, documenting the different approaches and their effectiveness and impact in particular in relation to supporting integrating refugees into national health systems. The review adopted a purposeful, iterative approach, utilizing electronic databases, grey literature, and reference lists from relevant studies. A total of 167 studies, primarily from low- and middle-income countries (LMI…
Assessing the role of non-state actors in health service delivery and health system resilience in Myanmar
The study highlights the role of NSAs during crises, and provides insights on how the resilience capacities built over time by NSAs to provide services in adverse circumstances have informed the response to the latest crisis. While strategies of absorption and adaptation are noted in the study, we did not identify any transformation strategy - which might indicate the difficulty of NSAs to introduce radical changes when subjected to multiple shoc…
The genesis of the PM-JAY health insurance scheme in India
Many countries are using health insurance to advance progress towards universal health coverage (UHC). India launched the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY) health insurance scheme in 2018. We examine the political economy context around PM-JAY policy formulation, by examining the perspectives of policy stakeholders shaping decisions around the reform. More specifically, we focus on early policy design at the central (national) level. We u…
Health financing in fragile and conflict-affected settings
The bumpy trajectory of performance-based financing for healthcare in Sierra Leone
BACKGROUND: As performance-based financing (PBF) has been increasingly implemented in low-income countries, a growing literature has developed, assessing its effectiveness and, more recently, focussing on the political dynamics of PBF introduction and implementation. This study contributes to the latter body of literature by exploring decision-making processes on PBF in Sierra Leone during the 2010-2017 period. Sierra Leone presents an interestin…
Performance-based financing in three humanitarian settings
Our study points to the importance of pragmatic adaptation in PBF design and implementation to reflect the contextual specificities, and identifies elements (such as, organisational flexibility, local staff and knowledge, and embedded long-term partners) that could facilitate adaptations and innovations. These findings and framework are useful to spark a reflection among PBF donors and implementers on the relevance of incorporating, reinforcing a…
Evolution of policies on human resources for health
Windows of opportunity for change and reform can occur but are by no means guaranteed by a crisis - rather they depend on a constellation of leadership, financing, and capacity. Recognition of urgency is certainly a facilitator but not sufficient alone. Post-conflict environments face particularly severe challenges to evidence-based policy making and policy implementation, which also constrain their ability to effectively use the windows which ar…
The free health care initiative
There is an acknowledged gap in the literature on the impact of fee exemption policies on health staff, and, conversely, the implications of staffing for fee exemption. This article draws from five research tools used to analyse changing health worker policies and incentives in post-war Sierra Leone to document the effects of the Free Health Care Initiative (FHCI) of 2010 on health workers.Data were collected through document review (57 documents…
An exploration of the political economy dynamics shaping health worker incentives in three districts in Sierra Leone
The need for evidence-based practice calls for research focussing not only on the effectiveness of interventions and their translation into policies, but also on implementation processes and the factors influencing them, in particular for complex health system policies. In this paper, we use the lens of one of the health system's 'building blocks', human resources for health (HRH), to examine the implementation of official policies on HRH incenti…
A window of opportunity for reform in post-conflict settings? The case of Human Resources for Health policies in Sierra Leone, 2002–2012
OUR STUDY IDENTIFIES THE KEY DRIVERS OF HRH POLICY TRAJECTORY IN SIERRA LEONE: (i) the political situation, at first uncertain and later on more defined; (ii) the availability of funding and the stances of agencies providing such funds; (iii) the sense of need for radical change - which is perhaps the only element related to the post-conflict setting. It also emerges that a 'windows of opportunity' for reform did not open in the immediate post-co…
Studying the link between institutions and health system performance
Institutional arrangements of health systems and the incentives they set are increasingly recognized as critical to promote or hinder performance in the health sector. Looking at complex health system interventions from an institutional perspective may contribute to better understanding what are the paths and processes that lead to the results of such interventions. In this article, we propose an analytical framework drawing from new institutiona…
The sudden removal of user fees
In May 2006, the President of Burundi announced the removal of user fees in all health centres and hospitals for children under 5 and women giving birth. As other studies also point out, the policy was adopted extremely suddenly, without much reflection on its ultimate aims and on the operational dimension of its implementation. From the perspective of a frontline manager, this paper provides a descriptive case study of the abolition of user fees…
Studying the link between institutions and health system performance
Institutional arrangements of health systems and the incentives they set are increasingly recognized as critical to promote or hinder performance in the health sector. Looking at complex health system interventions from an institutional perspective may contribute to better understanding what are the paths and processes that lead to the results of such interventions. In this article, we propose an analytical framework drawing from new institutiona…
The sudden removal of user fees
In May 2006, the President of Burundi announced the removal of user fees in all health centres and hospitals for children under 5 and women giving birth. As other studies also point out, the policy was adopted extremely suddenly, without much reflection on its ultimate aims and on the operational dimension of its implementation. From the perspective of a frontline manager, this paper provides a descriptive case study of the abolition of user fees…
Health financing in fragile and conflict-affected settings
The free health care initiative
There is an acknowledged gap in the literature on the impact of fee exemption policies on health staff, and, conversely, the implications of staffing for fee exemption. This article draws from five research tools used to analyse changing health worker policies and incentives in post-war Sierra Leone to document the effects of the Free Health Care Initiative (FHCI) of 2010 on health workers.Data were collected through document review (57 documents…
An exploration of the political economy dynamics shaping health worker incentives in three districts in Sierra Leone
The need for evidence-based practice calls for research focussing not only on the effectiveness of interventions and their translation into policies, but also on implementation processes and the factors influencing them, in particular for complex health system policies. In this paper, we use the lens of one of the health system's 'building blocks', human resources for health (HRH), to examine the implementation of official policies on HRH incenti…
The sudden removal of user fees
In May 2006, the President of Burundi announced the removal of user fees in all health centres and hospitals for children under 5 and women giving birth. As other studies also point out, the policy was adopted extremely suddenly, without much reflection on its ultimate aims and on the operational dimension of its implementation. From the perspective of a frontline manager, this paper provides a descriptive case study of the abolition of user fees…
Studying the link between institutions and health system performance
Institutional arrangements of health systems and the incentives they set are increasingly recognized as critical to promote or hinder performance in the health sector. Looking at complex health system interventions from an institutional perspective may contribute to better understanding what are the paths and processes that lead to the results of such interventions. In this article, we propose an analytical framework drawing from new institutiona…
A window of opportunity for reform in post-conflict settings? The case of Human Resources for Health policies in Sierra Leone, 2002–2012
OUR STUDY IDENTIFIES THE KEY DRIVERS OF HRH POLICY TRAJECTORY IN SIERRA LEONE: (i) the political situation, at first uncertain and later on more defined; (ii) the availability of funding and the stances of agencies providing such funds; (iii) the sense of need for radical change - which is perhaps the only element related to the post-conflict setting. It also emerges that a 'windows of opportunity' for reform did not open in the immediate post-co…
An exploration of the political economy dynamics shaping health worker incentives in three districts in Sierra Leone
The need for evidence-based practice calls for research focussing not only on the effectiveness of interventions and their translation into policies, but also on implementation processes and the factors influencing them, in particular for complex health system policies. In this paper, we use the lens of one of the health system's 'building blocks', human resources for health (HRH), to examine the implementation of official policies on HRH incenti…
Evolution of policies on human resources for health
Windows of opportunity for change and reform can occur but are by no means guaranteed by a crisis - rather they depend on a constellation of leadership, financing, and capacity. Recognition of urgency is certainly a facilitator but not sufficient alone. Post-conflict environments face particularly severe challenges to evidence-based policy making and policy implementation, which also constrain their ability to effectively use the windows which ar…
The free health care initiative
There is an acknowledged gap in the literature on the impact of fee exemption policies on health staff, and, conversely, the implications of staffing for fee exemption. This article draws from five research tools used to analyse changing health worker policies and incentives in post-war Sierra Leone to document the effects of the Free Health Care Initiative (FHCI) of 2010 on health workers.Data were collected through document review (57 documents…
The bumpy trajectory of performance-based financing for healthcare in Sierra Leone
BACKGROUND: As performance-based financing (PBF) has been increasingly implemented in low-income countries, a growing literature has developed, assessing its effectiveness and, more recently, focussing on the political dynamics of PBF introduction and implementation. This study contributes to the latter body of literature by exploring decision-making processes on PBF in Sierra Leone during the 2010-2017 period. Sierra Leone presents an interestin…
Performance-based financing in three humanitarian settings
Our study points to the importance of pragmatic adaptation in PBF design and implementation to reflect the contextual specificities, and identifies elements (such as, organisational flexibility, local staff and knowledge, and embedded long-term partners) that could facilitate adaptations and innovations. These findings and framework are useful to spark a reflection among PBF donors and implementers on the relevance of incorporating, reinforcing a…
Health financing in fragile and conflict-affected settings
The genesis of the PM-JAY health insurance scheme in India
Many countries are using health insurance to advance progress towards universal health coverage (UHC). India launched the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY) health insurance scheme in 2018. We examine the political economy context around PM-JAY policy formulation, by examining the perspectives of policy stakeholders shaping decisions around the reform. More specifically, we focus on early policy design at the central (national) level. We u…
Assessing the role of non-state actors in health service delivery and health system resilience in Myanmar
The study highlights the role of NSAs during crises, and provides insights on how the resilience capacities built over time by NSAs to provide services in adverse circumstances have informed the response to the latest crisis. While strategies of absorption and adaptation are noted in the study, we did not identify any transformation strategy - which might indicate the difficulty of NSAs to introduce radical changes when subjected to multiple shoc…
Understanding the political economy of reforming global health initiatives – insights from global and country levels
INTRODUCTION: Since 2000, the number and role of global health initiatives (GHIs) has been growing, with these platforms playing an increasingly important role in pooling and disbursing funds dedicated to specific global health priorities. While recognising their important contribution, there has also been a growth in concerns about distortions and inefficiencies linked to the GHIs and attempts to improve their alignment with country health syste…
Political economy analysis of health financing reforms in times of crisis
The lessons from these case studies include that technical teams can and should engage in Political Economy Analysis (PEA) thinking and strategizing, including being aware of and adaptable to the changing PEA landscape and prepared to take advantage of windows of opportunity, including, but not limited to, those emerging from crisis. There is a need for more empirical studies in this area and sharing of lessons to support future reforms to increa…
Integrating healthcare financing for refugees into national health systems
Refugee integration in national health systems of low- and middle-income countries (LMICs)
This paper reviews evidence on healthcare responses for refugees, documenting the different approaches and their effectiveness and impact in particular in relation to supporting integrating refugees into national health systems. The review adopted a purposeful, iterative approach, utilizing electronic databases, grey literature, and reference lists from relevant studies. A total of 167 studies, primarily from low- and middle-income countries (LMI…
Getting unstuck
The concepts of health systems strengthening and health systems resilience are conceptually different but often used interchangeably in health policy and systems research and practice. Operationalising them can be difficult, but both are particularly relevant in contexts of conflict, violence and institutional fragility. In the current landscape of increasing complexity of humanitarian crises and constrained resources, understanding their meaning…
Global Maternal and Child Health (13 obras) · Economics (12 obras) · Political science (12 obras) · Healthcare Systems and Reforms (11 obras) · Economic growth (8 obras) · Health care (8 obras) · Medicine (8 obras) · Public relations (8 obras) · Politics (7 obras) · Health Policy (6 obras)