This policy brief summarizes how participation of community representatives extended MCH service outreach and increased the responsiveness of facilities to health care quality issues in the Philippines. More...

Health Systems 20/20 is pleased to release the second in the Better Health Systems – Strategies that Work series. This issue focuses on fostering country ownership to strengthen health information systems. More...

Health Systems 20/20 Project Director Dr. Ann Lion has been appointed to serve on the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria’s Finance and Operational Performance Committee.

The World Bank has reissued the Health System 20/20 Health Insurance Handbook: How to Make it Work as part of the World Bank Working Paper series. Available in paper, widget, and e-book form, the reissue makes the handbook available to an even broader audience and furthers Health Systems 20/20 collaboration with the Bank.

At a recent launch of the 2009/10 National Health Accounts (NHA) report results, Kenyan Minister for Medical Services Hon Anyang’ Nyon’go encouraged stakeholders to utilize NHA findings to shape health financing reform in Kenya.

As we celebrate World AIDS Day, the project takes a moment to recognize achievements in HIV/AIDS work. Health Systems 20/20 is working at the country level to conduct comprehensive analysis of available and required human resources to scale up and sustain HIV/AIDS services and to facilitate solutions. The project's HIV/AIDS Program Sustainability Analysis Toolkit (HAPSAT) has been its premier tool for data collection and analysis.

August 4, 2008 — The USAID-funded Health Systems 20/20 project is pleased to announce that HIV/AIDS and health systems expert Ann Lion Coleman has assumed the position of Health Systems 20/20 Project Director, effective today. Health Systems 20/20 is the USAID Bureau of Global Health's flagship project working to strengthen health systems by using an integrated approach to address the financing, governance, operational, and capacity constraints to further the use of life-saving priority health services. The project is implemented by a consortium of partners led by Abt Associates Inc.

Sponsored by USAID, AUSAID, the Center for Global Development, Norad and the World Bank, this regional workshop welcomes 16 teams of three “stakeholders” from countries in Asia to learn about the Pay for Performance (P4P) approach to health system strengthening.

Leadership and management training is an essential ingredient in any strategy aimed at bringing about organizational change to strengthen health services. Health Systems 20/20, in collaboration with the Egyptian Ministry of Health (MOH), recently announced plans to establish a “Leadership Academy” as a sustainable Egyptian institution to build management capacities within the public health care system. Leading MOH officials and health experts gathered in Cairo in January for an orientation session to launch plans for the Academy.

As in most African countries, Cote d’Ivoire is facing a crisis in human resources for health (HRH) worsened by a high HIV-AIDS prevalence (4.7%) and a civil war from 2002 to 2007. Many health workers have fled from the northern regions to seek refuge in the capital city, Abidjan. At a World Bank event on January 14, 2009, Gilbert Kombe shared insights from Health Systems 20/20 work to develop innovative and sustainable interventions to address the health labor crisis.

Health Systems 20/20 launches National Health Accounts database, a platform for sharing policy impact stories from around the globe. Add your own policy impact story and win a trip to the 2009 NHA Symposium.

Working directly with the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Health Systems 20/20 has successfully launched National Health Accounts (NHA) in Liberia. NHA is a tool being used today in more than 50 low- and middle-income countries to measure total public and private national health expenditures. Click here to read more about our work in Liberia.

• Planning for Sustainable HIV/AIDS Services Using HAPSAT Software: A Hands-On Training
  (W4) 9:00 am - 12:00 pm
  Congressional Room B, Omni Shoreham Hotel, Washington, DC
• Demystifying Health Systems: How to Access the Strengths and Weaknesses of a Health Care System
  (W7) 2:00 pm - 5:00 pm
  Congressional Room B, Omni Shoreham Hotel, Washington, DC

His Excellency (HE), the Minister of Health, Prof. Dr. Hatem El Gabaly, defined NHA as a key tool in improving the effectiveness of health systems to achieve Egypt’s health reform objectives in opening a two-day NHA workshop in Cairo March 31-April 1.

Performance-based incentives (PBI), a strategy that links payment to results achieved, is a potentially powerful catalyst to strengthen health systems and achieve health targets. PBI contributes to an enhanced focus on results-oriented health systems strengthening activities and the objectives of demand creation, quality improvement, and making providers more accountable.

USAID's flagship health systems strengthening project, Health Systems 20/20, was invited to share their experience with the Office of the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator (OGAC) related to building health systems at the country level.

International Women's Day is March 8, 2008. To celebrate, Health Systems 20/20 is highlighting two projects in Yemen that showcase the efforts of women to improve health locally and nationally.

A new policy brief issued by Health Systems 20/20 on the threat that weak governance poses to the allocation of health resources in the developing world.