R Anju, R Sadanandan, K Vijayakumar, V Raman Kutty, B Soman, R M Ravindran, R P Varma
{"title":"Decentralisation, health and Sustainable Development Goal 3.","authors":"R Anju, R Sadanandan, K Vijayakumar, V Raman Kutty, B Soman, R M Ravindran, R P Varma","doi":"10.5588/pha.22.0034","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Setting: </strong>Kerala State, India, implemented decentralising reforms of healthcare institutions 25 years ago through transfer of administrative control and a sizeable share of the financial allocation.</p><p><strong>Objective: </strong>To describe the main impacts of decentralisation in Kerala on local policy formulation, programme implementation and service delivery for sustainable health systems.</p><p><strong>Design: </strong>This was part of a broader qualitative study on decentralisation and health in Kerala. We conducted 25 in-depth interviews and reviewed 31 government orders or policy documents, five related transcripts and five thematic reports from the main study.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Liaising between health system and local governments has improved over time. A shift from welfare-centric projects to infrastructure, human resources and services was evident. Considerable heterogeneity existed due to varying degrees of involvement, capacity, resources and needs of the community. State-level discourse and recent augmentation efforts for moving towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) strongly uphold the role of local governments in planning, financing and implementation.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>The 25-year history of decentralised healthcare administration in Kerala indicates both successes and failures. Central support without disempowering the local governments can be a viable option to allow flexible decision-making consistent with broader system goals.</p>","PeriodicalId":46239,"journal":{"name":"Public Health Action","volume":"13 Suppl 1","pages":"51-56"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3000,"publicationDate":"2023-03-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9983807/pdf/i2220-8372-13-s1-51.pdf","citationCount":"1","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Public Health Action","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.5588/pha.22.0034","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q4","JCRName":"RESPIRATORY SYSTEM","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 1
Abstract
Setting: Kerala State, India, implemented decentralising reforms of healthcare institutions 25 years ago through transfer of administrative control and a sizeable share of the financial allocation.
Objective: To describe the main impacts of decentralisation in Kerala on local policy formulation, programme implementation and service delivery for sustainable health systems.
Design: This was part of a broader qualitative study on decentralisation and health in Kerala. We conducted 25 in-depth interviews and reviewed 31 government orders or policy documents, five related transcripts and five thematic reports from the main study.
Results: Liaising between health system and local governments has improved over time. A shift from welfare-centric projects to infrastructure, human resources and services was evident. Considerable heterogeneity existed due to varying degrees of involvement, capacity, resources and needs of the community. State-level discourse and recent augmentation efforts for moving towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) strongly uphold the role of local governments in planning, financing and implementation.
Conclusion: The 25-year history of decentralised healthcare administration in Kerala indicates both successes and failures. Central support without disempowering the local governments can be a viable option to allow flexible decision-making consistent with broader system goals.
期刊介绍:
Launched on 1 May 2011, Public Health Action (PHA) is an official publication of the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union). It is an open access, online journal available world-wide to physicians, health workers, researchers, professors, students and decision-makers, including public health centres, medical, university and pharmaceutical libraries, hospitals, clinics, foundations and institutions. PHA is a peer-reviewed scholarly journal that actively encourages, communicates and reports new knowledge, dialogue and controversy in health systems and services for people in vulnerable and resource-limited communities — all topics that reflect the mission of The Union, Health solutions for the poor.