Road map for leadership and management in public health: a case study on noncommunicable diseases program managers' training in Rwanda

Ministries of Health (MoHs) and health organizations are compelled to work across sectors and build coalitions, strengthening health systems to abate the rise of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). A critical element of NCD prevention and control involves significant and difficult changes in attitudes, policies and protective behavior at the population level. The population-level impact of NCD interventions depends on the strength of the health system that delivers them. In particular, low-resource settings are exploring efficiencies and linkages to existing systems or partnerships in ways that may alleviate redundancies and high delivery costs. These entail complex operational challenges, and can only be spearheaded by a competent and passionate workforce. There is a critical need to develop and strengthen the management and leadership skills of public health professionals so that they can take on the unique challenges of NCD prevention and control. An added component must include a shift from the traditional clinical approach to a community-based effort, focusing heavily on health education and community norm change. Strengthening the work-force capacity of program managers at MoHs and other implementing institutions is key to capturing, analyzing, advocating and communicating information and will, in turn, reinforce the scale-up of interventions fostering a robust health system. This paper summarizes the best practices and lessons learned from the NCD Program Managers short course conducted by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in December, 2016 in Rwanda.

System level approaches for mainstreaming tobacco control into existing health programs in India: Perspectives from the field

Introduction:

India is the second largest consumer of tobacco in the world, and varieties of both smoked and smokeless tobacco products are widely available. The national program for tobacco control is run like a vertical stand-alone program. There is a lack of understanding of existing opportunities and barriers within the health programs that influence the integration of tobacco control messages into them. The present formative research identifies such opportunities and barriers.

Methods:

We conducted a multi-step, mixed methodological study of primary care personnel and policy-makers in two Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat. The primary purpose of our study was to investigate health worker and policy-maker perceptions on the integration of tobacco control intervention. We systematically collected data in three steps: In Step I, we conducted in-depth interviews (IDIs) and focus group discussions with primary care health personnel, Step II consists of a quantitative survey among health care providers (n = 1457) to test knowledge, attitudes and practices in tobacco control and Step III we conducted 75 IDIs with program heads and policy-makers to evaluate the relative congruence of their views on integration of the tobacco control program.

Results:

Majority of the health care providers recognized tobacco use as a major health problem. There was a general consensus for the need of training for effective dissemination of information from health care providers to patients. Almost 92% of the respondents opined that integration of tobacco control with other health programs will be highly effective to downscale the tobacco epidemic.

Conclusions:

Our findings suggest the need for integration of tobacco control program into existing health programs. Integration of tobacco control strategies into the health care system within primary and secondary care will be more effective and counseling for tobacco cessation should be available for population at large.