HKS

Coordinator:

Dr Sharuna Verghis
sharuna.verghis@monash.edu

LEARNING OUTCOMES

After participating in this session, students should be able to:

1.Describe the key components of the Australian and Malaysian health systems

2.Explain the sources of health funding of the Australian and Malaysian health systems

3.Discuss the importance of ‘systems thinking’ in health systems

4.Give examples to illustrate the role of adverse patient outcomes in the improvement of healthcare delivery

5.Analyze complex relationships within the national health systems

RESOURCES

E-Book on Health Systems and the National Health System by Dr. Sharuna Verghis

Transcript of the videos.

E-Book on the National Health System by Dr. Maithri Goonetilleke (The Australian Health System)

Required reading: Pages 2 and 3 in

World Health Organization. Everybody business: strengthening health systems to improve health outcomes: WHO’s framework for action Geneva: WHO; 2007. Available from:

http://www.who.int/healthsystems/strategy/everybodys_business.pdf

Download all videos here

Resilient Health Systems, Healthy People

CONCEPTS

Health

System

“organizations, people and actions whose primary intent is to promote, restore or maintain health”

World Health Organization, 2007

Out of Pocket Payments (OOPs)

Direct payments made by individuals to health care providers at the time of service use. OOPs can be catastrophic and lead to impoverishment.

There is substantive evidence to show that health systems can play a critical role in delivering services equitably, meaning that no population group is unfairly disadvantaged in accessing care or enjoying good health.

However, as people live longer, societies age, countries face a dual burden of disease with increasing rates of non-communicable diseases and communicable diseases, and health budgets shrink, health systems are put under strain. Prominently, it has also been evidenced that outbreaks and pandemics, in significantly increasing morbidity and mortality can put great stress on health systems, as we are evidencing in the time of COVID-19.

Conflict and war also have the potential to breakdown health systems, as it has been repeatedly observed over time. Thus, it cannot be overstated that resilient health systems are very important for contributing to and sustaining improved health outcomes and improving the access of disadvantaged populations to health care.

A strong health system, thus, must raise adequate funds for health, ensure that regardless of people’s ‘ability to pay’ they have access to health care, safeguard people from financial catastrophe, and allocate resources efficiently and equitably.

ABOUT HEALTH SYSTEMS

In this segment, we will explore the definition of a health system and the building blocks or components of a health system. This framework can be applied to any country to analyze the health and functioning of the health system.

GET TO KNOW THE MALAYSIAN HEALTH SYSTEM

In this short video, you will get an overview of the sources of health financing of the Malaysian health system.

After you have watched the video, proceed to explore the data on health financing in Malaysia and see if your reading of the data aligns with the answers provided.

DROP YOUR QUESTION

We welcome you now to drop your questions in the google form below. We will either address your query during the tutorial or communicate via email.

TOGGLE TIME

If you would like to stay and see if you’ve got the key concepts, take this quiz. You can also come back to this space later and give it a shot. See you at the tutorials!

HKS