Skip to content. | Skip to navigation

Personal tools
Sharing knowhow and joining forces towards Health for All
 

Health systems strengthening: Starting points

Health systems strengthening: Starting points

There is no proper "health systems strengthening" topic page in the MMI ePlatform. We rather invite you to have a look at the WHO's framework for action for strengthening health systems and at a very inspiring collection of resources by the Antwerp Institute for Tropical Medicine and some of their partners. The WHO framework for action itself is an open invitation - for us and others, as its main title reads as follows: “Strengthening Health Systems to improve health outcome: Everybody’s business”.

The framework(s)

  • Everybody business: strengthening health systems to improve health outcomes. WHO’s framework for action.
    "The world has never possessed such a sophisticated arsenal of interventions and technologies for curing disease and prolonging life. Yet the gaps in health outcomes continue to widen. Much of the ill health, disease, premature death, and suffering we see on such a large scale is needless, as effective and affordable interventions are available for prevention and treatment. The reality is straightforward. The power of existing interventions is not matched by the power of health systems to deliver them to those in greatest need, in a comprehensive way, and on an adequate scale. This Framework for Action addresses the urgent need to improve the performance of health systems." (WHO 2007, pdf)
    www.who.int
  • ITM Antwerp: Analysing health systems to make them stronger
    "The attention for Health Systems (HS) and Health Systems Strengthening (HSS) has re-emerged in the frontlines of global debate since several years. This document aims to clarify the authors’ ideas and visions on HS development by presenting a framework for description and analysis. The book outlines a framework that can be used by anybody wishing to analyze and strengthen HSs and it elaborates a vision for discussion." (Josefien van Olmen et al., ITM Antwerp, Studies in Health Services Organisation & Policy, 27, 2010, PDF)
    Full document www.strengtheninghealthsystems.be
    Executive Summary www.strengtheninghealthsystems.be
  • Health systems: improving performance. World health report 2000
    "This report examines and compares aspects of health systems around the world. It provides conceptual insights into the complex factors that explain how health systems perform, and offers practical advice on how to assess performance and achieve improvements with available resources."
    www.who.int/whr/2000

Strengthening or weakening health systems: The role of international NGOs

  • NGO Code of Conduct for Health Systems Strengthening
    The Code is a response to the growth in the number of international non-governmental organizations associated with increase in aid flows to the health sector. The purpose of the Code is to offer guidance on how international NGOs can work in host countries in a way that respects and supports the primacy of the government’s responsibility for organizing health system delivery.
    www.ngocodeofconduct.org/
  • INGO Accountability Charter
    The Charter is an initiative of International NGOs to demonstrate their commitment to accountability and transparency. The Charter´s founding Members developed the Charter as a response to increasing pressure from the media, businesses and governments for greater transparency. The Charter was designed to cover all major areas of work for NGOs and to be compatible with and complimentary to existing codes. The Charter text codifies practices for INGOs in the areas of respect for universal principles; independence; responsible advocacy; effective programmes; non-discrimination; transparency; good governance; ethical fundraising; and professional management.
    www.ingoaccountabilitycharter.org
  • The Broker: "Future Calling" blog
    "Our world is changing quickly and profoundly. Rich and poor – regardless of where they live – are faced with increasingly ‘thick’ problems and social change is more politicized and contested than ever before. And yet, most international development NGOs keep offering ‘thin’ solutions to these problems. Solutions geared to measurable material success. Solutions that are aimed at increasing participation in unsustainable economies and polities. The Broker is hosting a debate to discuss the future of INGOs in a changing global world."
    www.thebrokeronline.eu

Recent papers

  • Flexibility and time key to successful partnerships between NGOs and Ministries of Health
    Virtual Expert Panel discussion, December 2011
    http://globalhealthdelivery.org
  • An approach to addressing governance from a health system framework perspective
    Inez Mikkelsen-Lopez, Kaspar Wyss and Don de Savigny, December 2011
    www.biomedcentral.com
  • African Governments,  NGOs & Civil Society: A Crisis of Legitimacy? Arrianna Marie, Future Challenges, August 2011
    http://futurechallenges.org
  • "Good health at low cost" 25 years on. What makes a successful health system?
    Dina Balabanova et al. (ed.), LSHTM 2011
    http://nexusclients.co.uk/ghlc/
  • How can disease control programs contribute to health systems strengthening in Sub-Saharan Africa?
    Wim Van Damme et al., ITM June 2011 (pdf)
    www.itg.be/itg/Uploads
  • Giving substance to pretty words. NGO's role in bolstering public health systems.
    Interview with Wendy Johnson in: capacity.org (2011)
    http://bit.ly/k6Nktl
  • Health system strengthening: Current trends and challenges. Report by the WHO Secretariat.
    WHA document, agenda item 13.4 (2011)
  • Health system strengthening. Improving support to policy dialogue around national health policies.
    WHA document agenda item 13.4 (2011)
  • Health-systems strengthening: current and future activities
    Jesper Sundewall et al. in: Lancet 2011
    http://bit.ly/gB91TH
  • Toward a consensus on guiding principles for health systems strengthening
    Robert C. Swanson et al. in: PLoS Medicine 2010
    www.plosmedicine.org
  • Health services strengthening in Africa – research is a key component
    Shabbar Jaffar et al. in: TM&IH 2010
    onlinelibrary.wiley.com
  • Health systems strengthening: a common classification and framework for investment analysis
    George Shakarishvili et al. in: Health Policy and Planning 2010
    heapol.oxfordjournals.org
  • Health-systems strengthening: current and future activities
    Jesper Sundewall et al. in: The Lancet, 2010
    www.thelancet.com
  • Strengthening national health systems as the next step for global progress.
    Julio Frenk in: PLOs Medicine, 2010
    www.plosmedicine.org
  • What can global health institutions do to help strengthen health systems in low income countries?
    Dina Balabanova et al. in: Health Research Policy and Systems 2010
    www.health-policy-systems.com
  • Global health actors claim to support health system strengthening — is this reality or rhetoric?
    Bruno Marchal et al. in: PLoS Medicine 2009
    www.plosmedicine.org
  • A health systems development agenda for developing countries: Time to be clear and visionary
    "Health care systems in many low-income countries are in a state of collapse. Many others remain incapable of providing effective and equitable essential health care. In spite of the importance of adequately resourced and effectively governed, managed and organised health care systems, there is no coherent and long-term health systems development agenda amongst the international health community. Instead, uncoordinated, piecemeal and increasingly ‘vertical and selective’ interventions are being applied in the absence of a road map for the strengthening and long-term development of health care systems." (Discussion document for civil society and NGOs produced by the Global Health Watch 1, 2006)
    www.ghwatch.org

Key resources

Websites

Resource guides

Tools and toolkits

Newsletters

Online journal

Document Actions