THEORY OF HEALTH PLANNING: CASE STUDY FOR DEVELOPMENT OF NATIONAL HEALTH PLAN IN ASEAN COUNTRIES

Abstract

ABSTRACT

Background: Health Planning is the process of determining national health problems, identifying needs and resources, planning goals and setting administrative actions needed to achieve the goal. Health planning is essential in ensuring the health program runs well either for the short or long-term duration. Health planning has a variety of theories, the main planning strategy theories are used in the public sector is rational, incremental, and mixed-scanning.

Materials and Methods: The objective of the study is to describe and discuss the health planning theories using health planning cycle. The practice development of national health planning in five ASEAN countries has been selected as a case study based on the National Health Planning documents. The literature review carried out through online databases and national health planning document and this case study have followed health planning cycle component such as situation analysis, formulation, implementation of the programme and evaluation. The lessons were based on literature review and national health planning documents.

Result: In developing of the national health planning (NHP), various health planning theory are used by the ASEAN countries. To classify the NHP according to the type planning theory used, some characteristics of the NHP development must be identify. Most of the developing ASEAN countries like Myanmar and Philippines that have a high political influence in their national decision making, the incremental theory is used in developing their NHP. As for Malaysia, their NHP based on analysis of problem in achieving previous NHP and cause-effect theory in formulating new plan with clear objectives therefore, the health planning theory used by Malaysia is the rational theory. In Indonesia and Thailand, the country developed the NHP based on comprehensive methods of decision making in view of tackling both the current national health problem and global health problem where there is a mixture of rational and incremental theory, therefore the theory applied by Indonesia and Thailand are mixed scanning theory.

Conclusion: Five ASEAN countries was selected to be discussed whereby all of them were applied by any one of these three health planning theories. Myanmar and Philippines adapted incremental theory, while Indonesia and Thailand applied mixed-scanning theory. Lastly Malaysia applied rational theory in forming its national health plan.

Keywords: Planning theories, health planning, national health plan year 2015 and above, ASEAN developing countries