Health Systems Strengthening
Primary Text“When we strengthen health systems in far regions of the world, we reduce the risk of future pandemics that can threaten our people and our economy.”
Secondary Text—President Joseph R. Biden
What is Health Systems Strengthening?
A health system consists of all people, institutions, resources, and activities whose primary purpose is to promote, restore, and maintain health. Health systems strengthening (HSS) includes the strategies, responses, and activities that are designed to sustainably improve the performance of a country’s health system. Strong health systems can flexibly adjust resources and priorities to address emerging health needs while maintaining essential services - everything from routine checkups, prenatal care, and immunizations, to referrals for more specialized or urgent medical needs. When health systems are strong, they are resilient under pressure and lead to greater health security.
Health Systems Strengthening Learning
USAID's HSS Learning Agenda aims to improve HSS approaches by generating, synthesizing, and sharing evidence related to specific research questions. This evidence is used for the design and management of USAID’s HSS programs. As part of our Learning Agenda, USAID organizes a HSS Learning Series to convene people working in health from around the world to exchange evidence and lessons learned.
USAID's HSS Learning Series aims to share, learn, and use HSS evidence for more effective and sustainable health system strengthening. The field of HSS, and USAID’s work, continues to evolve, making this a much-needed opportunity to reflect on emerging evidence, gaps in evidence, current priorities, and strategic directions.
USAID's HSS Case Competition enables us to better understand and share the work our programs and partners are accomplishing and its impact on health systems and health outcomes. Using real-life examples, the Case Competition allows us to learn what does and does not work when implementing and scaling up health system programs and approaches.
Priority Areas
Health Finance & Governance
Pharmaceutical & Supply Chain Systems
Primary Health Care & Community Health Systems
Resilience & Sustainability
Strategic Communications, Analytics, Learning & Evidence
Projects
Featured Stories of Impact
