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The Role of Faith-inspired Health Care Providers in Sub-Saharan Africa and Public-Private Partnerships : Strengthening the Evidence for Faith-inspired Health Engagement in Africa, Volume 1This role of faith-inspired health care
 providers in sub-saharan Africa and public-private
 partnerships is comprised of a three volume series on
 strengthening the evidence for faith inspired engagement in
 health in sub-Saharan Africa. An increasing level of
 interest in the role of faith in development has generated
 much debate and dialogue at the international and national
 levels over the last decade. Despite difficulties in
 communication and differences in cultures within such
 debates, there has been a continued reaffirmation of the
 potential benefits that faith-inspired communities can bring
 towards efforts to achieve the millennium development goals
 (MDGs), especially in the areas of health. This series
 focuses on assessing the role and market share of
 faith-inspired providers and on assessing the extent to
 which they are involved in and benefit from public-private
 partnerships. The purpose of this series of three HNP
 discussion papers is to round up various analytical
 perspectives and emerging research on faith engagement in
 health in Africa from a range of researchers and
 practitioners from the north as well as the south. The
 series is structured into three volumes: a first volume on
 the role and market share of faith-inspired providers and
 public-private partnerships, a second on satisfaction and
 the comparative nature of faith-inspired health provision,
 and the third on mapping of faith inspired provision and the
 extent to which faith-inspired providers reach to the poor.
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Evidence-based Implementation Efficiency Analysis of the HIV/AIDS National Response in ColombiaThis study on the implementation
 efficiency of the HIV/AIDS national response in Colombia
 seeks to examine how it has been implemented -- whether it
 has been done according to the available evidence about the
 epidemic and as the response was originally planned. The
 study approaches three specific dimensions of implementation
 efficiency: (i) programmatic; (ii) budgetary; and (iii)
 service delivery. The study uses a range of research
 techniques, including: (i) documentary analysis of key
 policies, official publications and reports; (ii)
 semi-structured interviews with representatives of the
 central government and territorial entities, international
 and community-based organizations, insurers, care providers,
 etc.; and (iii) case-study analysis to visualize the ways in
 which people are cared for in practice. The available data
 suggest that the HIV/AIDS response is succeeding in keeping
 the prevalence low and the epidemic concentrated. In recent
 years, the level of health coverage has increased and the
 quality of care services has improved. The identified
 problems in service delivery (mostly related to coverage and
 access) are linked to system fragmentation and integration,
 and to the nature of the coordination mechanisms, both at
 the national and the territorial level. The effectiveness of
 the response would benefit from re-energized leadership at
 both the national and local levels -- articulated through
 the existing programmatic framework and coordinating
 mechanisms. The complexity of the system and the lack of
 budgetary and expenditure information have impeded the
 evaluation of the budgetary efficiency of the HIV/AIDS response.
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The Contribution of Traditional Herbal Medicine Practitioners to Kenyan Health Care Delivery : Results from Community Health-seeking Behavior Vignettes and a Traditional Herbal Medicine Practitioner SurveyThis study examines the role that
 Traditional Herbal Medicine Practitioners (THMPs) play in
 Kenya in the context of its human resources for health
 crisis. Two surveys were carried out to obtain evidence. The
 first documented the choices and perceptions of households
 in 36 communities on seeking medical assistance for eight
 common illnesses. The second survey asked 258 THMPs in five
 provinces to identify their knowledge sources, training,
 common illnesses treated, forms of payment, challenges, and
 concerns. Community-derived data show that households make
 reasonable decisions when faced with difficult
 circumstances: they prefer hospitals when these are
 affordable and seek care at clinics and health centers when
 hospitals are too far away. There is significant self-care
 and use of pharmacies, although THMPs are preferred for
 worms and lower respiratory problems. In general, THMPs
 provide an important though diminishing role in the
 provision of health care; they are not sought out in
 situations when inadequate care is dangerous, specifically
 infant diarrhoea and potential TB. Whilst Human Resources
 for Health (HRH) policies are urgently required to
 strengthen the conventional health workforce and increase
 their accessibility for the poor, policies should not ignore
 the findings from this study: many of the rural poor
 currently receive services from a traditional health
 workforce not linked to, or regulated by, the national
 government. This paper argues that formal recognition of
 their role by the government and by the conventional medical
 associations, and a targeted strategy to strengthen and
 build on the positive qualities evident in many traditional
 medicine practices may be beneficial to safeguarding the
 well-being of the poor.