Implementing universal health coverage (UHC) is widely perceived to be central to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and is a work program priority of the World Health Organization (WHO). Much has already been written about how low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) can monitor progress towards UHC, with various UHC monitoring frameworks available in the literature. However, ...

OBJECTIVE To estimate the shortage of mental health professionals in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). METHODS We used data from the World Health Organization's Assessment Instrument for Mental Health Systems (WHO-AIMS) from 58 LMICs, country-specific information on the burden of various mental disorders and a hypothetical core service delivery package to estimate how many psychiatris...

Health insecurity has emerged as a major concern among health policy-makers particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). It includes the inability to secure adequate healthcare today and the risk of being unable to do so in the future as well as impoverishing healthcare expenditure. The increasing health insecurity among 150 million of the world’s poor has moved social protection i...

Over 90% of people living in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) do not have access to surgical care. In the absence of appropriate surgical care, there is high morbidity and mortality from surgically curable diseases, such as cervical cancer. Laparoscopic surgery for gynecologic cancer in LMICs is extremely limited. The benefits of laparoscopy over open surgery are even more pronounced in...

The global health agenda has been dominating the current global health policy debate. Furthermore, it has compelled countries to embrace strategies for tackling health inequalities in a wide range of public health areas. The article by Robert and colleagues highlights that although globalization has increased opportunities to share and spread ideas, there is still great asymmetry of power accor...

Global emphasis has shifted beyond reducing child survival rates to improving health and developmental trajectories in childhood. Optimum early childhood experience is believed to allow children to benefit fully from educational opportunities resulting in improved human capital. Investment in early childhood initiatives in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) is increasing. These init...

although globalization has created ample opportunities and spaces to share experiences and information, the diffusion of ideas, especially in global health, is primarily influenced by the unequal distribution of economic, political and scientific powers around the world. these ideas in global health are generally rooted in high-income countries (hics), and then reach low- and middle-income coun...