Person:
Zhao, Feng
Author Name Variants
Fields of Specialization
HEALTH
Degrees
Departments
Health, Nutrition and Population Global Practice
Externally Hosted Work
Contact Information
Last updated
January 31, 2023
Biography
Dr. Feng Zhao, Practice Manager, Strategy, Operations and Global Engagement, World Bank, has more than 20 years of experience in public health, medicine, economics and demography at global, regional and country levels. He has extensively worked on health policy dialogues, technical work and operations particularly in Africa and Europe and Central Asia. As the World Bank Practice Manager, he oversees the Bank global health engagement program and is leading a strategy refreshing exercise for Bank’s Health, Population and Nutrition program. He holds a Ph.D in population and health economics from the Johns Hopkins University, a Master of Public Health from University of California at Berkeley, a Medical Degree from China. He serves as a faculty member for a number of universities including as a faculty member for Harvard Finance Minister Executive Leadership Program.
Publication Search Results
1 - 5 of 5
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Publication
Zambia Health Sector Public : Accounting for Resources to Improve Effective Service Coverage
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2009)Over the past few years, three nagging problems have bedeviled Zambia's health sector: the country is falling off-track from reaching the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), it is facing severe financing constraints on the government front, and the health and HIV/AIDS sector is increasingly being fragmented by the reemergence of global disease initiatives. This health sector pubic expenditure review (PER) seeks to assist the Government of the Republic of Zambia (GRZ) and its development partners take stock of the resources in the health sector and how these resources can be better used to produce better health services. The results of the PER are expected to be the used for a variety of purposes, including the preparation of the health sector strategic plan, and succeeding rounds of the global fund request for proposals. Policy dialogue between the Bank and GRZ, both at the macro and sector levels, can also be enriched by the PER. The PER also provides critical inputs into the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) process, and in the assessment of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP). Likewise, the PER can provide inputs to fine-tune the process of the pooled basket funding mechanism under the sector-wide approach (SWAp). -
Publication
Investing in Human Resources for Health: The Need for a Paradigm Shift
(World Health Organization, 2013-11)Development partner strategies and support in the area of human resources for health (HRH) have been shaped by key reports and events over the past decade. Since 2004, when The Lancet published the Joint Learning Initiative’s call to overcome the HRH crisis, the global health community has been trying to address the critical issues surrounding HRH. The 10-year action plan on HRH proposed in The world health report 20062 and the establishment in the same year of the Global Health Workforce Alliance have drawn unprecedented attention to HRH. Thanks to a growing body of evidence,2 HRH issues have gradually made their way into the global health arena. Consensus has emerged on the “power of health workers”1 and their critical importance to health system strengthening and disease control programs. -
Publication
Walking the Talk: Reimagining Primary Health Care After COVID-19
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-06-28)Almost half a century ago, policy leaders issued the Declaration of Alma Ata and embraced the promise of health for all through primary health care (PHC). That vision has inspired generations. Countries throughout the world—rich and poor—have struggled to build health systems anchored in strong PHC where they were needed most. The world has waited long enough for high-performing PHC to become more than an aspiration; it is now time to deliver. The COVID-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic has facilitated the reckoning for that shared failure—but it has also created a once-in-a-generation opportunity for transformational health system changes. The pandemic has shown policy makers and ordinary citizens why health systems matter and what happens when they fail. Bold reforms now can prepare health systems for future crises and bring goals such as universal health coverage within reach. PHC holds the key to these transformations. To fulfill that promise, however, the walk has to finally match the talk. Walking the Talk: Reimagining Primary Health Care after COVID-19 outlines how to get there. It charts an agenda to reimagined, fit-for-purpose PHC. It asks three questions about health systems reform built around PHC: Why? What? How? The characteristics of high-performing PHC are precisely those that are most critical for managing the pressures coming to bear on health systems in the post-COVID world. The challenges include future outbreaks and other emergent threats, as well as long-term structural trends that are reshaping the environments in which systems operate in noncrisis times. Walking the Talk highlights three sets of megatrends that will increasingly affect health systems in the coming decades: • Demographic and epidemiological shifts • Changes in technology • Citizens’ evolving expectations for health care. Reimagined PHC systems will be equipped through optimized system design, financing, and delivery to ensure high-quality services, care to address patients’ needs, fairness and accountability, and resilient systems. -
Publication
Tackling the World's Fastest-Growing HIV Epidemic: More Efficient HIV Responses in Eastern Europe and Central Asia
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2020-06-22)The Eastern Europe and Central Asia region has the world’s fastest growing HIV epidemic. Although still concentrated, the epidemic has diversified, affecting several key populations in many countries. This change has increased the number of people in need, the ways the epidemic can spread, and the complexity of formulating an effective strategy to combat it. At the same time, international funding is insufficient to cover the growing need, and domestic plans to cover the funding gaps, in many cases, fall short. In this environment, the need to use data to make the best possible decisions about using available funds is essential. Tackling the World’s Fastest-Growing HIV Epidemic tells the story of how, in 11 countries across Eastern Europe and Central Asia, small groups of decision-makers and experts came together to carry out innovative, groundbreaking analyses for each country. It details the steps these nations have taken to strengthen their HIV programs based on the findings while highlighting critical issues for the road ahead. In so doing, the book also shows the potential of what can be done with a mathematical model and how it can support real-life improvements in policy and more efficacious budget allocations. It is the record of a unique undertaking to improve public health investments that offers lessons for many communities. -
Publication
NCD Care Continuum and Opportunities for Action within Health Reform in Ukraine
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-12)Ukraine is amid a comprehensive health sector reform to transform the current unaffordable and inefficient system into a modern, more efficient, and affordable one. The country’s health system is not addressing non-communicable diseases (NCD) and chronic conditions effectively, and NCD-related health outcomes compare relatively poorly to countries with a similar level of health financing. The paper analyzed the continuum of care for four conditions (hypertension, diabetes, breast, and cervical cancer) using the cascade framework as an analytical tool and programmatic data from two regions of Ukraine (Lviv and Poltava). It draws on global evidence of good and cost-efficient practices and includes the findings from guided discussions with Ukrainian health care planners, administrators, and providers. The analysis found significant gaps in detection, treatment monitoring, and treatment adherence in hypertension care (the largest breakpoints were blood pressure monitoring and achieving treatment targets) and similarly in diabetes care (underdiagnosis, inappropriate or incomplete treatment monitoring, sub-optimal treatment success). In breast cancer care, there was inadequate screening coverage among eligible women, post-screening losses, and a lack of documentation regarding treatment outcomes. In cervical cancer care, the screening intervals for covered women were short, creating inefficiencies, while many women were not screened despite program eligibility, and there was also a lack of long-term monitoring of women who had undergone treatment. The authors discuss the methodological approach of analyzing routine medical records and cancer registry data and triangulating data across multiple data sources. Important lessons and policy implications include the need to revise sequence of services, focus on follow up and retention in care, develop systems for managing risk factors, and strengthen the monitoring and data recording of NCD cases. Improved NCD care would save lives, reduce disability, save resources in health care, and reduce the impact of NCDs on individuals and society.