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The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development highlighted the growing attention to the adequacy of health planning models to sustainable development. A re-reading of the results of a round table debate on "sustainable planning", which took place at the 5th National Congress of Tropical Medicine (Portugal, 2019) under a participant observation strategy, framed by the findings of a “synthesis of better evidence” literature review and cross-referenced with the reflections of different authors and experts about the momentum created by the COVID-19 pandemic, underlined the challenges to sustainable health planning that have emerged and are projected beyond the current pandemic context. Variable perceptions of the term “sustainable health development”, leading to the potential loss of their relevance in guiding the elaboration of policies and strategic plans, and the potential higher effectiveness of the participatory approaches of health planning in achieving sustainable health were highlighted in the debate and literature, in general and in public health emergency contexts. Those results gained new relevance during the current COVID-19 pandemic, bringing back to the forefront a reflection of the inadequate planning framework that has usually been used to understand and respond to global health challenges, despite the already existing experience, evidence and support instruments. Highlights: - The path to sustainable development needs appropriate health planning models; - COVID-19 pandemic exposed the fragilities of the strategic planning frameworks; - Sustainable health planning approaches demand social and community mobilisation; - Equity in health must integrate the planning models for sustainable development. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

The weaknesses of Guinea-Bissau's health system have long been highlighted. The purpose of this study is to contribute with evidence for decision-making on the reform of the country's healthcare map, by analyzing the availability and readiness of services at the facilities that may become part of a Hospital Complex in Bissau, proposed in the National Health Development Plan.We analyzed 13 public and private facilities with inpatient capacity, located in Bissau and Biombo. Service Availability and Readiness Assessment (SARA) tools were used for data collection, treatment and analysis.A comprehensive overview of these facilities has been provided, describing their general capacity to provide care and their readiness to implement it, along with the availability and readiness of specific services: diagnosis, family planning, mother and child health, obstetrics, communicable and non communicable diseases, blood transfusion and surgery. We observed a greater concentration of beds and professionals in the facilities of public sector, the only that provides all the specific services analyzed. Private sector services with agreements to supply the public sector have higher readiness levels and the private sector has the lowest operating capacity.Findings reflect the lack of equipment, infrastructure and resources, the predominance of the public sector and the growth of the private for-profit and non-profit sectors, as well as inadequacies in planning and regulation. Similarities and differences between our findings and those described in the literature for other African countries are identified.This study reinforces the relevance of developing integrated and rational responses of health services and provides evidence for this.Introdução: As debilidades do sistema de saúde da Guiné-Bissau estão há muito sinalizadas. O objetivo deste estudo é contribuir com evidência para tomada de decisão sobre a reforma do mapa sanitário do país, pela análise à disponibilidade e prontidão de serviços das estruturas sanitárias que poderiam vir a integrar um complexo hospitalar em Bissau, como proposto no Plano Nacional de Desenvolvimento Sanitário (2018-2022). Material e Métodos: Analisámos 13 estruturas sanitárias (públicas e privadas) com internamento, situadas nas regiões de Bissau e Biombo. Para recolha, tratamento e análise de dados foram utilizadas ferramentas do Service Availability and Readiness Assessment (SARA). Resultados: Obtivemos uma visão abrangente destas estruturas, descrevendo a sua capacidade genérica para disponibilizarem cuidados e a prontidão para operacionalizarem serviços de diagnóstico, planeamento familiar, saúde materna, infantil e adolescente, obstetrícia, doenças transmissíveis e não transmissíveis, cirurgia e transfusão de sangue. Observou-se maior concentração de camas e meios humanos nas estruturas do setor público, o único que disponibiliza todos os serviços específicos analisados. Os serviços do setor convencionado apresentam maiores níveis de prontidão e os do setor privado lucrativo uma menor capacidade operacional. Discussão: Os resultados refletem a carência de equipamentos, infraestruturas e recursos, predominância do setor público e crescimento dos setores privado lucrativo e convencionado, bem como insuficiências no planeamento e regulação. Identificámos semelhanças e diferenças entre os nossos achados e os descritos na literatura para outros países africanos. Conclusão: Este estudo reforça a pertinência de desenvolver respostas integradas e racionais dos serviços de saúde e fornece evidência para tal.

Background New developments and technologies require skilled professionals to manage and use public health information in most efficient ways. However, currently training in specific fields is lacking and large inequalities exist in Europe in terms of the availability and training of qualified professionals. Methods In order to set up a sustainable EU HI training program for HI professionals, core modules need to be selected to provide adequate training across Europe. This study a scoping review and is doing a survey on current existing HI programmes and aimes to identify the main educational components needed to train HI professionals. The databases of Pubmed and Ebsco were searched for the scoping review. The survey is being circulated to representatives of InfAct in 28 countries. Based on the results a baseline HI training programme for practicing public health professionals will be proposed. Results Initial search identified 249 papers. After the exclusion of duplicates and unavailable documents, 53 papers were selected for review. Only 5 papers were found related to the European context. However the results from other papers could be extrapolated. The results were organised in 3 domains: organisation, people and technology dimensions. The development of HI capacities is often done through multiple and sequential interventions, which are adapted to the needs, conditions and resources available within each HIS. Thus, the importance of aligning training with working processes and usability in professional practice is key. This can be challenging, as HI functions are diverse across Europe. The results of the survey will be presented when processed by the time of the workshop. Conclusions There is a need for qualified skilled professionals in HI taking into account a changing global environment. Most of HI capacity building programmes are yet to reach maturity, and this review and survey identify a set of important areas for further development of the HI training programme.

Background Sound and reliable information is fundamental to decision-making across all health system. New information technologies can contribute to a more accurate and efficient public health action, requiring new and more sophisticated skills to support this change. Considering the European context, where public health professionals vary by country and cover different areas, and the need for a skilled workforce, the objective of this study is to identify the basic educational components required for a public health information specialist. This study is part of the ongoing research under INFACT Joint Action. Methods A scope review (Pubmed/Ebsco, free access texts, no time restrictions) was carried out in order to answer the following question: Considering the set of activities of public health, what are the main topics and trends of the literature on both Human Resources and Health Information Systems (HIS) training? Abstracts were read by two reviewers and the select texts analyzed using HOT-FIT framework for HIS. Results Among the 53 records, it was possible to identify different study designs and elements related to different contexts and HIS. There is a trend for new publications, with a significant increase since 2014. The content analysis showed more frequent themes in three main categories - Human, Organization and Technology, allowing identifying a wide range of public health professionals and their educational needs. Conclusions Results reinforce the link between information systems and public health, showing the importance of regular HIS as data source for monitoring population health, specific events and determinants, management and research activities and during the stages of the planning cycle of public health activities. The proper workforce capacitation emerges as a success factor for HIS implementation, as well as several professional profiles that carry out public health activities and the areas where it is necessary to strengthen their training. Key messages There’s growing interest in the use of technologies for the development of public health information systems. Workforce needs to develop specific skills for the technological challenges in Public Health.

RESUMO - Introdução: Considerada pela OMS como epidemia global e um dos maiores desafios da saúde pública do século XXI, a obesidade é uma doença crónica com múltiplas causas, com destaque para as comportamentais, nomeadamente alterações ao padrão alimentar e sedentarismo. Constitui fator de risco de várias patologias, como diabetes tipo 2 ou cardiovascular, contribuindo para diminuição da qualidade de vida dos indivíduos e aumento dos custos com a saúde. O excesso de peso tem efeitos negativos imediatos na saúde individual de crianças e jovens, aumentando o risco de apresentarem obesidade e suas comorbilidades na idade adulta. O crescimento do problema em idades infantojuvenis e a maior facilidade na introdução de mudança nos seus comportamentos sustentam recomendações para uma intervenção prioritária junto destas faixas etárias. Diversos estudos evidenciam agravamento do problema na população portuguesa, sendo a prevalência entre crianças e jovens das mais elevadas na Europa. Este facto, associado aos custos individuais, sociais e económicos da doença, constitui foco de interesse para quem estuda os sistemas de saúde, tendo-se procurado, com esta investigação, compreender a evolução das políticas e estratégias de prevenção e combate à obesidade infantil e dos jovens ao nível do planeamento estratégico em Portugal. Método: Recorrendo a uma metodologia qualitativa, fez-se a análise dos conteúdos e estrutura de um Corpus Documental, que incluiu, entre outros, a Estratégia de Saúde para o Virar do Século (1998-2002), Plano Nacional de Saúde 2004-2010 e a versão preliminar do PNS 2012-2016, complementando-a com consulta pontual a informadores-chave. Resultados e discussão: Os resultados permitem uma visão sequencial do planeamento estratégico em Portugal e mostram que ao aumento de prevalência de excesso de peso na população correspondeu um ganho de importância do problema nas preocupações das autoridades de saúde. Verifica-se ainda que a preocupação com o aumento da prevalência em crianças e jovens se refletiu mais tardiamente nos documentos estratégicos. Conclui-se também que o assumir do problema enquanto prioridade política surge após a aprovação da Carta Europeia de Luta Contra a Obesidade, de que Portugal é signatário, sendo possível estabelecer correspondência entre os princípios deste documento e as orientações estratégicas do PNS 2012-2016. ABSTRACT - Introduction: Considered by WHO as a global epidemic and one of the greatest public health challenges of the twenty-first century, Obesity is a chronic disease with multiple causes, especially behavioural changes like dietary changes and sedentary lifestyle. It is a risk factor for other conditions, such as diabetes or cardiovascular diseases, associated with the decrease of life quality of individual and the increase of health costs. Overweight has immediate negative effects on individual health of young people, increasing the risk of Obesity and its co-morbidities in their adult age. The fact of being a growing problem among children and youth, coupled with a relatively high permeability of members of these age groups to behavioral changes is at the basis of recommendations to a priority intervention with these groups. Several studies show that the problem is growing among the Portuguese population, being the prevalence among children and youth one of the highest in Europe. This fact, together with the individual, social and economic burden of the disease, is of interest to those who study the evolution of health systems. With this investigation, we tried to understand the evolution of policies and strategies for preventing and combating Obesity among children and young people at strategic management level in Portugal. Method: With a qualitative methodology, we analyzed the semantic and content of a set of documents, including the Health Strategy (1998-2002), the National Health Plan 2004-2010 and the draft of the National Health Plan 2012-2016, complementing it with ad hoc query with key informants. Results and discussion: Our results permit one overview of strategic planning in Portugal and show that the increasing concern of Portuguese health authorities with the growing impact of Obesity in the population. However the concern with its increase among children and young people risen later in the strategic documents. We established that the problem became a political priority after the approval of the European Charter on Counteracting Obesity, of which Portugal is a signatory member, and it’s possible to find a correspondence between the principles of the European Charter and the strategic guidelines of the National Health Plan 2012-2016. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion