Through an LHSS-Joint Learning Network learning exchange, health practitioners from seven countries are sharing successful experiences and promising practices to institutionalize explicit national priority-setting processes for health. The goal? To help countries set equitable national health priorities and ensure that these priorities are reflected in national health plans and budgets.

Both Ghana and Bangladesh have implemented health budget accountability mechanisms. Their experiences offer practical lessons that other countries can adapt to their own budget execution needs. 

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.

Late last year, health sector practitioners from eight countries met to tackle the issue head-on as participants in the Joint Learning Network Health Budget Execution Learning Exchange. They made meaningful progress.

By now, much has been written about the egregious global inequities in COVID-19 vaccine distribution. But less has been said about another inequity that holds serious implications for global health: the disparities in genomic sequencing capacities and capabilities worldwide.

She’s a big thinker, with an illustrious background. Midori de Habich was Peru’s minister of health and chair of the South American Council of Health from 2012-2014. She has served on various WHO working groups and missions and led USAID-funded projects in Peru. Now, she is applying her expertise in financial protection and population coverage to LHSS as the project’s technical director.

This Year 3 Quarter 1 Report (Oct-Dec 2021) was prepared for USAID and provides a progress update for all annual work plan activities. 

In Year 2, LHSS supported the work of USAID missions in 17 countries, with new activities launched in Bangladesh, Madagascar, Peru, and Timor-Leste. We also began work with the USAID Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean and we continued to expand our work with USAID Washington to enrich the global knowledge base on health system sustainability.

It is easy to fall back on the habit of using catchall terms like “vulnerable groups” to refer to many different people, but relying on these terms can have a harmful unintended consequence.  

The Year 2 Annual Report provides a look into the geographic and technical scope of LHSS during October 2020-September 2021. The report includes stories of impact within five themes: Building Resilience, Supporting Local Capacity and Sustainability, Advancing Equitable Access to Essential Health Services, Promoting Quality Health Care, and Optimizing the Use of Health Resources. 

Population movement of this magnitude places huge stress on health systems in receptor countries. How can health care for migrants be financed? How can health system capacity be expanded? And how can health sector policies and national migration policies be harmonized? 

The events of the past 18 months underscore the importance of generally strong, equitable, and accessible health systems. COVID-19 is not the only threat we face, and as we prepare for the future it is critical that we begin to sufficiently invest in the foundational health system strengthening required to develop lasting resilience. 

This Year 2 Quarter 3 Report (April-June 2021) was prepared for USAID and provides a progress update for all annual work plan activities. 

This Year 2 Quarter 2 Report (Jan-Mar 2021) was prepared for USAID and provides a progress update for all annual work plan activities. 

This Year 2 Quarter 1 Report (Oct - Dec 2020) was prepared for USAID and provides a progress update for all annual work plan activities.