With increased migration around the world posing unique challenges and opportunities for health systems, efforts to better integrate and include migrants and host communities in national health systems are an integral part of the global health equity agenda. 

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.

LHSS conducted a study of 37 countries to provide a better understanding of the strengths, opportunities, and gaps in the structures governing the provision of quality health services.

This report details case studies from Rwanda and Zambia which offer unique insights into the operationalization of National Quality Policies and Strategy (NQPS) within broader governance and quality of care reforms.

This brief highlights the recent shifts in health systems practice toward more explicitly incorporating an SBC lens in social accountability activities that aim to improve overall health system performance and address inequities. The brief synthesizes the growing body of evidence on the role social accountability plays in increasing accessibility to better-quality health care services and uses case studies and lessons learned to highlight how SBC approaches can be more explicitly integrated into this aspect of HSS programming.

This Catalog allows practitioners to consider which interventions have more robust evidence bases to support their practical application, such as: enhancing worker and supervisor competencies through training, offering nonfinancial incentives for high performers, practicing task sharing to promote cost savings, implementing digital solutions to expand access to services, and reducing costs of procuring and distributing pharmaceutical products.

This two-pager focuses on USAID’s Learning Question 5, “What are effective and sustainable mechanisms or processes that enable the participation of private sector, civil society, and public organizations in developing locally-led solutions to improve high-performing health care, especially for poor and vulnerable populations? What enables the effective participation or leadership of marginalized populations themselves in the development and implementation of these solutions? Under what conditions is this participation different?”

This primer is designed to help supply chain practitioners in governments, the private sector, donor agencies, and implementing partners understand the value of political economy analysis (PEA) and how it can help improve outcomes when implementing supply chain interventions and reforms. 

To advance progress toward universal health coverage, agreed-upon health priorities need to be reflected in national plans and budgets. This blog offers key lessons for ministries of health seeking to make that happen.

This learning resource presents key learning from the activity literature review, learning exchange meetings, and TA workshops. This resource focuses particularly on stakeholder engagement and institutionalizing stronger links between national health priorities, sector plans and national budgets, which learning partners identified as their most pressing issues.

​​​For countries wanting to strengthen health budget execution, learning about promising approaches used by others is one thing but putting them into practice is another. This blog reveals how two countries, Lao PDR and Peru, adapted promising practices and began to implement them.

This technical guidance document provides a summary of principal findings that highlight those complex factors including a literature review, surveys, resource mapping, case studies including key informant interviews, and the development of a theory of change.

The case study in Senegal focused on practical experiences and lessons learned when expanding financial protection to socially excluded and vulnerable groups.

The case study shows the literature and previous work on health equity to identify promising approaches and strategies from Senegal’s experience to ensure more equitable financial protection, particularly for underserved and socially excluded populations.