News & Events


NEWS September 6, 2021

Adaptation and Implementation Case Studies

JLN Network Manager

The use of JLN knowledge products is one clear example of the impact the JLN can have downstream in health systems; by enabling countries to use best-practices from JLN country experience as they work towards long-term health system goals, such as expanding and improving on UHC programs. These case studies profile the use of knowledge products in various settings.

NEWS August 31, 2021

Report on the Webinar on COVID-19 Preparedness and Response in Kenya; “Experience Sharing by the National Level and the Counties”

JLN Network Manager

Report on the Webinar on COVID-19 Preparedness and Response in Kenya; “Experience Sharing by the National Level and the Counties” Date: Friday, May 15th 2020 Background In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the world is facing an unprecedented economic and health crisis. Since its first confirmed COVID-19 case, Government has since given directives and instituted measures to contain the spread of the virus and prevent infections including restricted movement to and from places that have recorded significant numbers of infection; stay-at-home directive; 7pm to 5am curfew; and various public health measures such as mandatory wearing of masks in public, social distances, hand washing and sanitising campaigns. Majority (85.9%) of the confirmed 2% were asymptomatic. Currently all the infected are being isolated and managed from designated health facilities across the country with the suspected cases quarantined at designated locations with testing on day 14. Country Statistics as of May 14: First case: March 12, 2020 Counties affected: 22 Lab samples tested: 36,918 Confirmed cases: 758 Recoveries: 284 (33%) Deaths: 42 (CDR 5.5%) On 15th May 2020, the Joint Learning Network for Universal Health Coverage (JLN) Kenya partnered with the National AIDS and STI’s Control Programme (NASCOP) under the Ministry of Health to host its first virtual experience sharing forum “COVID-19 Preparedness and Response Experience Sharing from the National and Counties”. The participants were policy makers and practitioners drawn from the National Government, County Government, and partners working in health. Kenya has 47 county governments with devolved health function where service delivery is at the county level. This aim of this forum was to provide an opportunity to share how the counties are managing the COVID-19 response, receive an update from the National government on their efforts, and provide an opportunity to receive feedback from the counties. The session was Moderated by the JLN Country Core Group chair Dr Isabella Maina with two guest speakers. Dr Joel Gondi, Technical advisor at the Director General’s office shared the country profile, the status of COVID-19 Cases in the light of the global statistics, the distribution of the cases by county and by specific health facilities. He highlighted the Government’s efforts in the response in terms of testing and the strategies in place for control of the spread of the virus. Dr Gondi shared the strengths of the strategies in terms of preparedness and response, the challenges and lessons learnt this far. He concluded by sharing the best practices that have been instrumental in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr Anisa Omar, County Executive Committee Member for Health in Kilifi County shared her county’s response and the following key lessons: Defined a clear structure for managing the response within the county. Partnerships – e.g. with KEMRI and National Laboratory Services for testing; PPP for donation of PPE; KEMRI and Pwani University for health worker training. Mobilized resources – emergency fund, philanthropy and donations. Advocacy and social mobilization. Ensuring health systems resilience to guard against impact to other essential services. Use of technology to assist in monitoring of cases and tracking and tracing of contacts. Education and facilitation of public health prevention practices – mounting hand washing equipment, supply if home-made masks and fumigation of public places. Establishing of quarantine and isolation centres Active surveillance and contact tracing with the help of neighbour group initiatives Targeted mass testing for exposed groups -health workers, police, public service workers, journalists and truckers. Roadblocks and screening for containment. As the county mounts a coordinated response persistent challenges remain on adequacy of resources including finances, test kits and PPEs that will continue sustained efforts to keep up the momentum and push back the virus. Conclusion The issues of sustainability of the efforts was a great concern hence the proposal to consider the community health strategy and home-based care. There was emphasis on the need to embrace technology. The session concluded with an urgent appeal to the Ministry to focus on Universal Health Coverage even at this time so as to strengthen the health system to deliver all needed health services and cope with any upcoming challenges. Participants found the session very useful and expressed the need for more sessions. JLN Kenya plans to have fortnight experience sharing on different topics with updates from the Government. Annex: Presentation by Dr. Amoth Patrick, Director General of the Kenyan Ministry of Health

NEWS July 11, 2021

Rethinking Pandemic Prevention, Surveillance and Management

JLN Network Manager

The Joint Learning Network’s Innovations to Prepare for the Next Pandemic   Authored by the Patient Pathways During Pandemics: COVID-19 and Beyond learning exchange team at Aceso Global.   The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed and exacerbated many of the vulnerabilities and weaknesses that have existed in healthcare systems for decades. As of June 2021, the world is approaching an astonishing four million deaths, and the effects of COVID-19 have been felt in virtually every country — without discrimination by geography, economic status, or system of government. Many emerging market healthcare systems are nearing collapse, while global infections are continuing to climb. As the world continues to grapple with the pandemic’s consequences, Aceso Global is working with numerous agents of innovation who are demonstrating that there are opportunities for health systems to grow, adapt, and become more resilient. Understanding and treating the sources of health system weaknesses — coupled with identifying areas associated with positive outcomes — can provide a basis for countries to rethink pandemic prevention, surveillance, and management for today and for future crises.   The Joint Learning Network for Universal Health Coverage (JLN) offers a unique platform for countries to interact, jointly consider both acute and structural problems, share partner country successes and failures, and build a body of lessons. As a network of 34 countries, JLN includes health leaders throughout government, non-profit, and private sectors, who co-develop knowledge products and implement systems-based improvement projects in consultation with one another. Through a process of shared learning, countries can find solutions faster than they would individually and provide feedback to learn from each other’s mistakes and avoid unnecessary pitfalls. In facilitating the JLN’s Learning Exchange on “Patient Pathways and Pandemics: Covid-19 and Beyond,”, Aceso Global convened 22 countries in order to identify key approaches during the COVID-19 pandemic to restructuring resources within fragmented healthcare systems to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery. Within the JLN network, Aceso Global has worked directly with over a dozen countries to identify specific gaps and develop corresponding solutions. Over the past year of remote gatherings and workshops, several innovative country-based initiatives have surfaced, and participating countries have identified, developed and shared numerous cost-effective methods to deploy and strengthen the utility of healthcare resources in low- to middle- income countries.   Emerging from the Learning Exchange, this work continues through two Communities of Practice (COPs) focused on the implementation of lessons learned in accelerating the transition to telemedicine in spite of longstanding resistance across the global healthcare community. Specifically, one COP is supporting the Malaysian Ministry of Health’s Primary Healthcare Team expand E-consultation services for both Covid and non-Covid patients. The second COP will work with three Sub-Saharan African nations to re-establish essential care by pivoting the use of digital tools for Covid-19 patients. Several providers have been identified to showcase the steps they have taken throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, as each participant showcases diverse contexts, lessons, demographics and socioeconomic conditions. We outline here a selection of highlights from our work with the JLN.   Cambridge Health Alliance (CHA) is an Accountable Care Organization located in the Boston metropolitan area that provides comprehensive services to 140,000 patients who are predominantly low income, non-U.S. residents, and non-English speakers. Even prior to COVID-19, CHA used a population approach and focused on primary care and behavioral health. With the onset of COVID-19, CHA was forced to shift its delivery model almost entirely to telemedicine within two weeks. In lieu of in-person visits, CHA utilized a number of pre-existing, under-utilized digital platforms including teleconsultation between providers, electronic specialist referrals, electronic pharmaceutical prescriptions and texting with patients. CHA’s existing partnerships with digital platforms allowed them to quickly scale up services while pivoting to online teleconsults. The rapid development and deployment of clinical telehealth guidelines and standards ensured not just continuity of care for patients, but also improved the responsiveness of the local health system as the pandemic progressed. Leveraging their expertise through the JLN platform. Together with COP country participants, CHA has been assisting the Malaysian Ministry of Health in the development of telemedicine guidelines for both patients and providers as Malaysia traverses its own transition and scale-up of online and remote care.   Praava Health is a healthcare provider operating out of Dhaka, Bangladesh, with more than 5 million patients. Though the majority of their patients are in urban centers, Praava Health has been expanding their services to patients with limited access to healthcare in rural areas. Through the JLN, Praava Health is showcasing their rapid scale-up and roll-out of a technology-enabled platform for tracking, monitoring, and managing COVID-19 cases, in order to assist the Malaysian Ministry of Health in the development of their own digital application. Their webtool, Praanno, provides both patients and doctors with the latest clinical guidance for effective clinical pathways, and also uses a personalized AI-enabled bot that is integrated into Facebook Messenger for Praava Health patients. Praanno’s algorithms can categorize patients’ risk level and match them with appropriate physicians according to risk. As Praava Health continues to expand their roll-out, they stay centered on their main objectives: to reduce the burden of COVID-19 cases on Bangladeshi hospitals, while providing clear medical advice to patients and family members. Along with the COP country participants, Praava is working with Malaysian counterparts to incorporate video-based personalized clinical advice into Malaysia’s e-health platform, MySejathera, and to expand the platform to support a broader set of diseases.   A team from Aceso Global is supporting the Malaysian Ministry of Health and the National Institute of Health to monitor and evaluate the E-consultation extension. The teams are co-producing an analytical framework, indicators, data collection instruments and a plan to monitor the E-consultation scale-up and set up a sell-defined evaluation to measure impact. The vision is that the monitoring and evaluation (M&E) system will provide decision-makers with timely information on the effectiveness of E-consultations to allow for inflight adjustments. Specific areas of interest include patient uptake and satisfaction, acceptance by providers and the quality of E-consultations.  

NEWS May 28, 2021

Country Pairings: A new collaborative learning modality deepening engagement with country practitioners

JLN Network Manager

In 2020, the JLN Primary Healthcare (PHC) Financing and Payment collaborative pushed the boundaries of traditional webinar group-based learning and tested a more intimate and in-depth collaborative learning modality: country pairings. This modality pairs two or three countries with a specific interest in a topic – one that may not be a widely shared interest across the collaborative – to probe deeper into the implementation experience of the resource country and discuss details that are relevant to their countries. In this blog, we highlight three country pairings and share overarching lessons implementing this modality.

NEWS April 21, 2021

Webinar: Coordinating Multi-sectoral, Multi-level Pandemic Responses

JLN Network Manager

Join us on April 27, 2021 to learn about some of the ways countries are coordinating their national COVID-19 responses.