British Medical Journal: Unite For Sight Conference

Better delivery, not more funding, is crucial to improving health care

Hugh Ip

Source: http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/336/7649/855-c

1 BMJ

The key to tackling major health problems around the world is not generating new funds but implementing available solutions, said speakers at a conference last weekend.

An "implementation bottleneck" currently exists, said Jim Yong Kim, co-founder of the healthcare charity Partners in Health and the World Health Organization's former HIV and AIDS director, at a conference organised by the a non-profit organisation Unite for Sight and held at Yale University in Connecticut. The benefits of technological development will remain limited if this bottleneck is not removed, he said.

Unite for Sight was set up to improve eye health by working with partner eye clinics to provide care in communities without previous access. The group's fifth annual conference aimed to provide a forum for interested parties to exchange ideas on improving public health.

The conference heard that the resources and knowledge for tackling inequalities in health between developed and developing countries already exist, but the question is whether these are actually put to use.

Currently the evidence base for implementing health solutions is limited to disparate studies in the form of independent projects, said Dr Kim. Their results need to be drawn together to create general principles, establishing the science of healthcare delivery as a genuine academic discipline. Healthcare delivery science bridges the gap between clinical science and healthcare evaluation science, which are much more developed.

Dr Kim called for better education for doctors about healthcare delivery as an urgent priority and for more research in the field. He expressed concern that, to his knowledge, no courses currently exist that provide the skills needed for healthcare delivery. To help fill this gap he is developing suitable modules at Harvard University.

Jeffrey Sachs, professor of sustainable development at Columbia University, New York, highlighted the importance of networking to create a global social movement. Similarly, Dr Kim described the innovative potential of "communities of practice" with a common interest in solving a specific problem.

Healthcare problems cannot be tackled in a vacuum, delegates agreed; the larger context of policy and health systems need to be taken into account. An example of good practice would be for higher priority to be given to international development when governments allocate resources.

About Unite For Sight

Unite For Sight® is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that empowers communities worldwide to improve eye health and eliminate preventable blindness. Local and visiting volunteers work with partner eye clinics to provide eye care in communities without previous access, with the goal of creating eye disease-free communities. Additionally, vision screening and education programs are implemented worldwide by volunteers working in ninety chapters established at universities in North America, Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

For further information:

Unite For Sight
www.uniteforsight.org
Email: JStaple@uniteforsight.org