Policy
Developing policies based on equity-informed priority-setting and service delivery design
The Center for Integration Science policy team works closely with national NCDI Poverty Commissions – comprised of Ministry policymakers, clinicians, academic researchers, health planning and financing experts, implementing partners and donors, and people living with severe conditions – to develop policies that prioritize equitable, cost-effective interventions to address severe conditions that disproportionately affect children and young adults living in extreme poverty.
National NCDI Poverty Commissions are the backbone of the NCDI Poverty Network. The policy team supports new Commissions in countries that recently joined the Network in working through the first phase of the Network process and theory of change – Situation Analysis and Priority-Setting.
During this first phase of the Network process, National Commissions analyze the national burden of NCDs and injuries, disaggregated by age, sex, and socioeconomic status, and assess the availability and coverage of NCDI services at different levels of the health system, in order to understand disparities in prevalence, access to services, and outcomes for poor and marginalized populations. Based on findings from this situation analysis, Commissions then prioritize conditions and interventions to address the burden, taking into account both cost-effectiveness and equity, and estimate the cost and potential impact of prioritized interventions as well as the fiscal space required to implement them. Finally, they disseminate their key findings and recommendations to elevate equitable access to care and treatment for severe conditions that disproportionately impact the poorest children and young adults as a priority for national policies and financing.
The CIS policy team supports countries through this process by:
- sharing analytical frameworks, methods, and tools developed by the Lancet NCDI Poverty Commission, as well as a priority-setting tool developed in collaboration with the CIS research team and the Bergen Center for Ethics in Priority-Setting;
- facilitating exchanges of experience and lessons learned with more than a dozen countries that have successfully completed this phase; and
- assisting with preparation and dissemination of reports summarizing their key findings and recommendations.