The Ministry of Health and Social Services gathered stakeholders at Midgard Country Estate to consult on standard operating procedures for social contracting. The goal:  reach consensus on implementation plans and outline the path ahead, encompassing regional dissemination, pilot planning, and early implementation phases scheduled for later in the year.

USAID | Timor-Leste and the Ministry of Health launched a groundbreaking initiative to bolster professional competence of health professionals to deliver and improve quality of health care services in Timor-Leste.

Explore how the Ministry of Health and Social Services in Namibia, with support from the LHSS Project, is transforming health care access through the revised Essential Health Services Package.

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. 

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.

To strengthen institutional capacities in the Mandatory Health Quality Assurance System of the Ministry of Health of Cúcuta, the Communidades Saludables of USAID and the Fundación Salutia delivered the Health Quality Management Model with its technological tool TGUÍA – IV.

Agencies that rarely communicated joined hands last year to make sure poor and vulnerable residents are identified for assistance programs.

The launch of the combined Health Accounts and National AIDS Spending Assessment exercise conducted by the Ministry of Health and Social Services in Namibia aims to improve the collective understanding of both health and HIV spending in the country.

The East African Community (EAC) Secretariat, the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA), and the Pan African Health Informatics Association (HELINA) have concluded a commitment by all three parties to foster stronger health data governance to drive digital transformation and innovations in the health sector of East Africa. 

The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), with support from LHSS, commenced the first Technical Workshop on strengthening domestication and implementation of regional Health cross–border policies, in Bishoftu, Ethiopia.

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 brief builds on the USAID Local Health System Sustainability Project (LHSS) Strengthening Governance report (2022) and global National Quality Policy and Strategy (NQPS) survey, aiming to provide practical examples and considerations for country practitioners to consider on their quality journeys. It includes case studies of three countries that have used NQPS to mobilize and align resources for quality.

This brief presents what LHSS has learned through applying a systems thinking approach to its support for HSCs’ advocacy efforts in expanding PHC services in urban Bangladesh.

This learning brief can be used as a resource for HRH managers, planners, program managers, and frontline practitioners to learn how other countries are approaching and successfully designing and implementing solutions to their HRH challenges. It can also be used as a reference for health policy makers, funders, and implementing partners to inform the design and implementation of HRH resource optimization initiatives covered in this brief.

U.S. Charge d’ Affaires Tom Daley and USAID Mission Director Zema Semunegus join the representative from local nongovernmental organizations and the Ministry of Health to launch the Heath Advocacy Network of Timor-Leste (REBAS- TL).