R4D’s Top 10 Most Popular Blogs in 2022
Hot topics in global development in 2022 included localization and locally-led development, COVID, and nutrition. R4D’s most popular blogs reflected this interest and delved more deeply into topics such as strategic health purchasing, improving child nutrition and evaluation & adaptive learning, among others.
See which stories generated the most traffic, and leave a comment on the topics you’d like to see R4D explore in the coming months.
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1. How COVID-19 affected vaccine procurement processes in Ghana
Daniel Asare Adin-Darko, Ahmed Papa Asefua Duker, Ama Fenny, Danielle Bloom
Since 2020, we’ve learned a lot about how to mount a pandemic response, including how to quickly vaccinate millions of people. COVID necessitated many changes to the way countries procure and deliver vaccines. In this blog, a team of health systems experts examined Ghana’s COVID vaccine program and how the government reformed public procurement practices. Read now.
2. 5 lessons in mobilizing domestic financing for NTDs
Maria Francisco, Jose Luis Gonzalez, Alemu Chekole
Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are a group of disabling and debilitating conditions that affect over 1 billion people every year — primarily the world’s poorest and most marginalized communities. However, NTD programs remain largely underfunded in many countries. To address this, R4D is supporting government officials and communities to take on greater programmatic and financial responsibility for their NTDs programs. In this blog, we share lessons learned from countries that have achieved key elimination milestones and mobilized domestic resources for NTD interventions. Read now.
3. African experts co-author largest body of evidence on strategic health purchasing to support UHC
Agnes Gatome-Munyua, Cheryl Cashin
To achieve universal health coverage (UHC), countries need to commit more public resources to health — and use those resources more effectively. But, in many countries, public funding for health has not kept pace with UHC commitments. That’s why 40 authors from across the African continent came together to share how their countries are working to improve functions and policies of strategic health purchasing — a special issue of the Health Systems & Reform journal. R4D’s Cheryl Cashin and Agnes Munyua (just two of the many contributors) provide an overview of the largest body of strategic health purchasing evidence from matters. Read now.
4. Supporting local organizations and leaders to learn and adapt to achieve greater impact
Daniel Plaut, Sonaly Patel
Locally-led development requires country leaders to assess what works and what doesn’t — and to adapt and adjust solutions along the way. Adaptive learning is a monitoring and evaluation approach that encourages frequent testing, learning and iteration from the beginning to end of a project. But how do you apply these approaches in organizations with limited resources? This post outlines three things we’ve learned from supporting smaller organizations to lead these processes. Read now.
5. Improving access to malnutrition treatment within primary health care
Mary D’Alimonte, Lexi Farina, Chia-Ying Lin, Minh Tram Le
Last year, donors pledged a historic $577 million to tackle severe wasting (low weight-for-height) and improve child nutrition, most of which will fund humanitarian efforts. But will more funding for nutrition translate to more lives saved? In an ongoing blog series, R4D and UNICEF experts tackle this question and share how this investment can be used strategically to improve primary health care performance and the early identification and treatment of wasting in children to save more lives in the long term. Read now.
6. Collaborative learning amid a pandemic
Agnes Gatome-Munyua, Nivetha Kannan, Henok Yemane, Kamaliah Noh, Tsolmongerel Tsilaajav, Cheryl Cashin
R4D has facilitated collaborative learning exchanges — both in-person and virtual —among countries working to achieve UHC. In this blog, we share how we adapted these collaborative learning processes to be exclusively virtual (but still engaging and impactful!) amid COVID restrictions. These lessons continue to be important as the world returns to “normal,” since bringing large groups of people together in person can be expensive, time intensive for travelers, logistically challenging (or impossible where visa restrictions are a factor) and environmentally irresponsible when alternatives exist. Read now.
7. Achieving health for all by making better use of existing government budgets
Agnes Gatome-Munyua, Nnenna Kalu-Umeh, Aliyi Walimbwa, Raymond Kiwesa, Pierre Yameogo, Edwine Barasa
Sometimes the most innovative financing solution is making the most of existing funds — at least, when it comes to UHC. The most effective way to achieve health for all is using public funds that flow through government budgets more effectively. However, because much attention is paid to innovative sources of financing for health, the government budget is often overlooked. In this blog, we share how various African countries are working to advance strategic health purchasing through government budgets. Read now.
8. Corruption in oil revenue in the Niger Delta
Audu Liberty Oseni, MAWA-Foundation
In Nigeria’s oil-rich Niger Delta region, anti-corruption initiatives have failed to meaningfully reduce corruption. Public transparency organizations need to build local trust and citizen engagement to address corruption, use of funds and governance issues. But how can this be achieved? In this post, we learn about new research and three approaches residents in the region proposed to curb corruption. Read now.
9. Improving health regulation in Ghana
Isaac Amenga-Etego
Health facility regulation is key to ensuring patient safety, quality care and equity. But in countries where multiple agencies are involved in the oversight of health regulatory functions, there are often challenges with duplicative efforts, increased financial burden and operational inefficiencies. In this blog, we share how the R4D-led Health Systems Strengthening Accelerator supported government stakeholders in Ghana to improve the regulatory environment for health facilities in the country. Read now.
10. 5 years later: Does R4D’s education strategy pass the test of time?
Mark Roland, Molly Jamieson Eberhardt
The current global learning crisis, exacerbated by COVID-19 related disruptions to schooling, has put R4D’s education strategy to the test. In this blog, the co-leads of R4D’s education practice, share the foundations of R4D’s education strategy, its effectiveness so far and where we still have room to grow. Read now.
What are some of the blog topics that received the most engagement in 2022?
– Strategic health purchasing
– Improving child nutrition
– Evaluation and adaptive learningExplore them now. https://t.co/ni7V9lw85q
— R4D (@results4dev) January 20, 2023
