The Southeast Asia One Health University Network (SEAOHUN) 2024 International Conference takes place on September 18-19, 2024, at the Shangri-La Hotel in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

With a small grant and technical support from LHSS, a Ugandan pharmacy and logistics company, MM Partners Logistics Ltd., expanded its e-Pharmacy platform to include more family planning products and increased the capacity of its dispensing staff to provide better counsel to clients on reproductive health and family planning. 

.A validated, streamlined set of metrics can help the HIV community drive toward such a “people-centered” orientation and advance the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS’ 2025 target of linking at least 90% of people living with HIV and people at risk to people-centered and context-specific integrated services.

Russia’s full-scale military invasion of Ukraine has created unprecedented challenges for the country’s health care system. Significant destruction of health care infrastructure has limited access to health services, and massive displacements of people have significantly complicated the process of providing and receiving health services. This context has given rise to an urgent need to provide health services, especially in remote and frontline areas where traditional in-person access to health services is severely limited or impossible.

This report analyzes the experience of introducing telemedicine solutions with the technical assistance of LHSS in Ukraine. It highlights the results, analyzes the experience, and presents best practices, challenges, and lessons learned. Additionally, this report provides recommendations for further utilization of extant and future telemedicine solutions both during martial law and after its repeal. The information presented in the report is intended to be useful for central and local authorities, health facilities, and telemedicine solution providers. It will also be of interest to those who wish to start using telemedicine solutions in the delivery of health services.

Russia’s full-scale military invasion of Ukraine has created unprecedented challenges for the country’s health care system. Significant destruction of health care infrastructure has limited access to health services, and massive displacements of people have significantly complicated the process of providing and receiving health services. This context has given rise to an urgent need to provide health services, especially in remote and frontline areas where traditional in-person access to health services is severely limited or impossible.

This report analyzes the experience of introducing telemedicine solutions with the technical assistance of LHSS in Ukraine. It highlights the results, analyzes the experience, and presents best practices, challenges, and lessons learned. Additionally, this report provides recommendations for further utilization of extant and future telemedicine solutions both during martial law and after its repeal. The information presented in the report is intended to be useful for central and local authorities, health facilities, and telemedicine solution providers. It will also be of interest to those who wish to start using telemedicine solutions in the delivery of health services.

While health systems practitioners aren’t going out to sea with men named Ishmael, we chase our own white whale: evidence. Evidence that health systems interventions impact the availability, affordability, and accessibility of healthcare.

At the end of 2022, the Local Health System Sustainability project (LHSS) analyzed the development of telemedicine in Ukraine and found a significant increase in the demand for telemedicine services in the previous few years. This was due to a combination of the COVID-19 epidemic and full-scale war initiated by Russia against Ukraine. LHSS supported the Government in drafting and ultimately approving a national Strategy for the Development of Telemedicine in Ukraine. In this strategy, one of the priority tasks was to define and further develop priority telemedicine services. This includes the development of technical models, algorithms, and business processes for interaction during the provision of medical assistance using telemedicine, as well as expansion of the functionality of the central database of the electronic health record system (EHRS) and medical information systems (MIS) in the field of telemedicine. 

With investment of nearly $60 million, LHSS supported USAID's COVID-19 response in 11 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East, Central Asia, and Southeast Asia, between March 2020 and September 2023. 

LHSS Nigeria recently held a peer learning workshop in Abuja. The primary goal of the workshop was to evaluate and identify areas for improving health system performance influenced by LHSS initiatives. Participants collaborated in thematic groups, focusing on key performance determinants and sharing valuable lessons learned. This collaborative effort aimed to enhance the effectiveness and sustainability of health system interventions in Nigeria.

In this webinar, from the academic perspective, the strengthening of global health with a One Health approach was presented. The National Institute of Health of Colombia also presented community-based surveillance.

This brief describes opportunities to improve financial protection programs using behavior change approaches. The Practice Spotlights Social and Behavior Change series supports USAID’s Vision for Health System Strengthening 2030 by exploring how social and behavior change approaches can contribute to countries’ health system strengthening efforts.

With LHSS support, the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan hosted an Interagency Technical Working Group Coordination Meeting in Astana. Ministries of Health, Veterinary Services, Agriculture, and Ecology, alongside international organizations, discussed collaborative preparedness, human resource capacity for One Health, and joint disease investigation. 

With support from USAID’s LHSS Project, the Ministry of Health and Social Protection of the Population (MOHSPP) in Tajikistan strengthened Tajikistan’s national laboratory system and supported the country’s COVID-19 Country Preparedness and Response Plan.

This brief introduces the social determinants of health (SDOH) concept and terminology, and discusses approaches to addressing SDOH. Understanding these root causes of health inequities and their impact on health care access, quality, and equity is crucial to strengthening health systems.

The 8th Global Symposium on Health Systems Research (HSR 2024) will be held in Nagasaki, Japan, from November 18 to 22, 2024.