Accountability mechanisms
Securing greater accountability is increasingly seen as an essential element in improving health system performance. However, there are different forms of accountability, which depend on different types (administrative, financial, political) and directions (horizontal, downwards, upwards) of accountability relations. These, in turn, imply specific configurations of power and particular roles for different stakeholders.
In the health sector, accountability relations between central and local/decentralised administrative units and among health professionals, service users and managers are particularly important. Strategies for reform therefore need to incorporate a clear vision of who they are seeking to make more accountable, for what and how.
- Scaling-up the HIV/AIDS response: from alignment and harmonisation to mutual accountability
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This briefing paper, from the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), argues that scaling-up towards universal access to treatment for HIV and AIDS depends on strengthening underlying processes upon which results are delivered. The paper discusses the relationship between the Three Ones and scaling up.
Recommended readings
- Accountability and health systems: overview, framework and strategies
- ( D. Brinkerhoff / Partners for Health Reformplus , 2003)
- What does ‘accountability’ mean? Recognition of failed accountability can prompt calls for reform, but what actions are needed to strengthen the accountability of health systems? This report from th...
- Accountability in health services: transforming relationships and contexts
- ( A. George / , 2003)
- Recommended reading
- Accountability mechanisms are increasingly being used in health programmes around the world – to what effect? In this working paper from the Harvard Centre for Population and Development Studies, the...
Latest Additions
- Priority setting in a Ugandan hospital: identifying good practices and opportunities for improvements
- ( L. Kapiriri; D. K. Martin / Health Services Research [journal] , 2006)
- This article, published by Health Services Research in BioMed Central, describes how priorities are set in a teaching hospital in Uganda and uses an ethical framework to evaluate whether this process ...
- Scaling up to universal access requires increased accountability
- ( K. Buse; M. Sidibe; D. Whyms / Overseas Development Institute, London , 2006)
- This briefing paper, from the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), argues that scaling-up towards universal access to treatment for HIV and AIDS depends on strengthening underlying processes upon whi...
- The need for genuine accountability in sexual and reproductive health services
- ( R.K. Murthy / Initiative for Sexual & Reproductive Rights in Health Reforms [School of Public Health, University of the Witwatersrand] , 2005)
- Recommended reading
- This policy brief, published by the Initiative for Sexual & Reproductive Rights in Health Reforms, examines the ways in which community participation and accountability have been implemented in develo...
