Achieving universal health coverage (UHC) is a global priority and a keystone element of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. However, COVID-19 is causing serious impacts on tax revenue and many countries are facing constraints to new investment in health. To advance UHC progress, countries can also focus on improving health system technical efficiency to maximize the service outputs given the current health financing levels.

What do Lao PDR, Malaysia, and Kenya have in common? All three countries have strengthened their budget structures and processes to enable good health budget execution. Their experiences hold valuable lessons for others striving to increase budget execution and unlock significant resources for health.

This report offers recommendations to strengthen engagement mechanisms and increase CSOs’ and community awareness of health services and citizens’ rights.

In December 2021, more than 180 midwives from across Timor-Leste participated in an Activity-led event to identify areas for improvement in a set of draft standards. 

The USAID Health System Sustainability activity will work with Timorese officials to train health workers in rural communities on handling different vaccines, using cold chain equipment, and ensuring that community members have equal access to vaccines and essential health care. 

Poor budget execution results in inefficiencies that undermine the ability of health agencies to improve access to needed health services and improve population health. Yet billions of dollars in unexecuted health budgets are returned to treasuries every year. 

At the request of the Laos Ministry of Health, LHSS helped mobilize volunteer medical students to support a national hotline for COVID-19.  At the peak of the Pai Mai holiday, the hotline fielded 5,000 calls a day.

Representatives of USAID and the government of Timor-Leste celebrated the start of the four-year, $15.6 million activity at a ceremony in Dili, the Timor-Leste capital, on July 2, 2021.