Abstract:
Background: Health planning in developing countries differs from developed countries.
They have more limited resources for health development. Therefore efficient health planning
and resource allocation is critical to ensure optimal health outcome of the nation. Due to the
nature of heterogeneity among the developing countries, the health approach may differ
contextually among developing countries. This paper aims to compare practices of health
planning development among selected developing countries.
Materials and Methods: This review encompasses relevant scientific articles and most
recent official country report related to health planning. Searches only include articles or
reports published in English. Based on the six WHO regions. Selection of countries based on
availability of manuscript (article and report) fulfilling the criteria. The countries selected
were Bangladesh, Belize, Jordan, Kenya, Malaysia and Turkey.
Result: A five or ten years of strategic plan for health is the most practiced among the studied
developing country. It usually involves multi-sectorial within the country and international
agencies and consultants. The advancement of technology helps in improving the
administrative data utilisation to allow informed-decision making, deeper root cause analysis
and timely monitoring and evaluation. Other than that, engagement with various stakeholders
from different level – at all phase of plan development, together with political will is the key
factor of the successful implementation. Despite that, these developing countries often suffer
from limited resources in term of workforce, financing and technical expertise.
Conclusion: Although the health planning process is similar across countries studies, where
the cycles start with situational analysis, prioritisation, options appraisal, implementation,
monitoring and lastly evaluation. Each country may have slightly different approaches,
depending on their context, resources and technology capacity.
