Populations around the world are rapidly ageing. Ageing presents both challenges and opportunities. Ageing is the progressive accumulation of changes with time that are associated with or responsible for the ever-increasing susceptibility to disease and death which accompanies advancing age. These time-related changes are attributed to the ageing process. Societies that adapt to this changing demographic and invest in Healthy Ageing can enable individuals to live both longer and healthier lives and for societies to reap the dividends. Current public-health approaches to population ageing have clearly been ineffective. A new framework for global action is required. This review offers a framework for all sectors focus on common goals so that action can be coordinated and balanced. It also explores what health might mean to an older person and how public-health strategy might be framed to foster it. Throughout this review it is emphasized that all aspects of an older person’s environment need to work together in an integrated way if healthy ageing is to be achieved. Finally, the review identifies the key steps that need to be taken next.Read More

Today, there are nearly 70 million child brides worldwide. Every 2 seconds a young girl is forced into marriage. Be part of the generation that changes that. This review, recommendations and practice bulletin on child marriage are an introduction to various global projects and programs, for ending child marriage, for the healthcare providers. The silence on the plight of child brides must end. Tackling child marriage is a daunting but possible task, requiring political-will and proactive multi-faceted strategies at the international, national and community levels. Families, community leaders and the broader community are also essential in helping change norms and expectations about what is possible for girls and women. With international networks The Women’s Health and Education Center (WHEC) will continue its work to prevent child marriages worldwide. Ending child marriage is indeed a mandatory task if we are to make progress in global efforts to attain the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These standards also act as an accountability measure: governments have to report to the committee that oversee them about how they are implementing the standards. They can be used to hold governments accountable for failure to implement and enforce their obligations related to child marriage under these conventions. Setting the minimum age of marriage at 18 years provides an objective rather than subjective standard of maturity, which safeguards a child from being married when they are not physically, mentally or emotionally ready. Why allow children to marry at an age when for example, they do not have the right to vote or enter into other contracts recognized in law? The most widely accepted definition for a child is 18 years, in line with the Convention on the Rights of the Child. A minimum age of 18 years will also help to ensure that children are able to give their free and full consent to marry and have the minimum level of maturity needed before marrying.Read More

WHEC Global Health Line (WGHL) through its Learning and Innovation Network for Knowledge and Solutions aims to catalyze collaborative networks – cutting across disciplines, sectors, and borders – that seek science and technology-based solutions to development challenges. Preparing the next generation of healthcare providers in the international arena, deepening their knowledge and improving the skill set for a career in global health and global governance is urgently needed. Programs are needed for healthcare providers to provide them with academic training and practical knowledge to assist them in providing national and international health care. Join the efforts - we welcome everyone.Read More

Patient safety is a fundamental principle of health care. Understanding the causes of medical error and strategies to reduce harm is simple compared with the complexity of clinical practice. Communication breakdown remains a leading contributor to adverse events in the United States. Every point in the process of care-giving contains a certain degree of inherent unsafety. A number of countries have published studies showing that significant numbers of patients are harmed during health care, either resulting in permanent injury, increased length of stay in health care facilities, or even death. Clear policies, organizational leadership capacity, data to drive safety improvements, skilled health care professionals and effective involvement of patients in their care, are all needed to ensure sustainable and significant improvements in the safety of health care. The purpose of this document is to discuss strategic pathways to accelerate future improvement in patient safety. It includes fundamental changes in health care education, patient engagement, transparency, care coordination, and improving health care providers' morale. Transforming groups of individual experts into expert teams is central to this cultural transformation. This document aims to address the weakness in health systems that lead to medication errors and severe harm that results. It lays out ways to improve the way medicines are prescribed, distributed, and increase awareness among patients about the risks associated with the improper use of medications. Both health workers and patients can make mistakes that result in severe harm, such as prescribing, ordering, dispensing, preparing, administrating or consuming the wrong medication or the wrong dose at the wrong time. But all medication errors are potentially avoidable. Preventing errors and the harm that results requires putting systems and procedures in place to ensure the right patient receives the right medication at the right dose at the right time. Although much progress has been made, there is still much work to be done to reduce iatrogenic harm. Key to future improvement is engaged clinical and organizational leadership that must drive a shift in culture and help transform individual experts into expert teams.Read More

The stress resulting from a medical liability case can have a negative effect on physician’s personal and professional life, and their ability to defend themselves against the charge. The purpose of this document is to promote mental wellbeing of healthcare providers by the provision of productive and healthy workplaces. Wellness goes beyond merely the absence of distress and includes being challenged, thriving, and achieving success in various aspects of personal and professional life. When physicians are unwell, the performance of healthcare systems can be suboptimum. Physician wellness might not only benefit the individual physician, it could also be vital to the delivery of high-quality health care. This review discusses the work stresses faced by physicians, the barriers to attending to wellness, and the consequences of unwell physicians to the individual and to healthcare systems. There are many programs in the USA, Canada and UK that are designed to improve physician’s wellness by recognition of potential health problems and by the provision of education and support (e.g. from basics such as getting enough food at work, sleeping properly, and to how to deal with adverse events, complaints, and litigation). The endpoint is better care for patients and improved system outcomes. Individual physician wellness is a valid indicator for organizational health. Healthy physicians mean healthier patients, safer care, and a more sustainable workforce.Read More

The greatest ongoing challenge for health care reform in the United States is to provide better health care for less money. Both aspirations are possible, but only if the nation is willing to overhaul the unreliable system of medical justice. Containing costs requires changing the rules for all participants. A range of malpractice reform proposals have been suggested as part of the national debate, and it is useful to examine them and identify the advantages of each. All of these reforms have significant merit, but special health courts are by far the most important in reducing defensive medicine. Perhaps the most important reason for adopting administrative compensation models for adverse medical outcomes is the effect on patient safety and quality of care. Adverse outcomes, preventable or otherwise, are an uncomfortable reality of medical care. Disclosure and discussion of adverse events in health care is desired by patients and championed by safety experts and policy makers.Read More

Risk management in the healthcare profession refers to strategies designed to enhance patient safety, decrease the risk of malpractice claims, and minimize loss. The goal of this program is to improve patient safety, decrease patient injury, and decrease liability losses through an educational program that identifies and initiates specific risk-reduction clinical practices and creates a comprehensive culture of safety. This effective risk management program includes both proactive and reactive components. The proactive component consists of strategies to prevent adverse occurrences, and the reactive component includes strategies for responding to such occurrences (i.e. minimizing loss). Given that obstetrics is the number one cause of admission to hospitals and that the professional liability system, as it now exists, threatens both the ability of obstetric providers to continue care and women to access care, it is imperative to take a leading role in patient safety and work towards optimizing outcome for our patients. One of the major results of health reform is the development of health-insurance exchanges, which will expand quality measurement. Enhancing safety of women in the hospitals and minimizing errors is not only an ethical and moral obligation, but also an essential component of liability reform.Read More

Accusations of negligence and the harm they do can be greatly reduced by a no-fault compensation, more realistic expectations, and an appropriate continuing education system for health professionals. In recent years, a science of patient safety has developed. Harm to patients is not inevitable and can be avoided. To achieve this, clinicians and institutions must learn from past errors, and learn how to prevent future errors. We need to adapt our ways of working to make safe health care a robust and achievable goal. Clinicians, managers, healthcare organizations, governments (worldwide) and consumers must become familiar with patient safety concepts and principles. Though medical curricula are continually changing to accommodate the latest discoveries and new knowledge, patient safety knowledge is different from other because it applies to all areas of practice. It is therefore fitting that the Women's Health and Education Center (WHEC) with its partners in health, has developed this curriculum which will enable and encourage medical schools and healthcare facilities to include patient safety in their courses. Reducing harm caused by health care is a global priority. These skills are fundamental to patient safety.Read More

Literacy is a human right and can be considered a tool of personal empowerment: a means for social and human development. Health literacy and e-Health are valuable tools in empowering women and communities to improve their health status and achieve sustainable development by reaching the indicators of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). In today's world, the local and global are inextricably linked. Action on one cannot ignore the influence of or impact on the other. e-Health is a global phenomenon. The Women's Health and Education Center's (WHEC's) strategy on e-Health focuses on strengthening health systems in countries; fostering public-private partnerships in information and communication technologies (ICT) research and development for health; supporting capacity building for e-Health application worldwide; and the development and use of norms and standards. Long-term government commitment, based on a strategic plan, is a prerequisite for the successful implementation of e-Health activities. Health is both a fundamental human right and a sound social investment.Read More

Human rights are used by international organizations, governments, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), civil society groups and individuals in their work with respect to health in many different ways. The right to life is a fundamental human right, implying not only the right to protection against arbitrary execution by the state but also the obligations of governments to foster the conditions essential for life and survival. Human rights are universal and must be applied without discrimination on any grounds whatsoever, including sex. For women, human rights include access to services that will ensure safe pregnancy and childbirth. The right of access to appropriate health-care services that will enable women to go safely through pregnancy and childbirth and provide couples with the best chance of having a healthy infant is essential. This has been the focus of an initiative developed by the Women's Health and Education Center (WHEC) with various partners, to provide all those working for Safe Motherhood, with a way of analyzing the impact in an understanding of both health and human rights.Read More