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.

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.

LHSS partnered with colleagues working as part of the USAID MTaPS project to document a practical approach that countries can use to track pharmaceutical expenditure (PE) using the System of Health Accounts (SHA) 2011 framework. This resource contributes to efforts by the World Health Organization to develop global guidance on tracking of PE.

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 focuses on how pooling arrangements—the way countries combine funding from different sources to spread the financial risk of needing to pay for health services—can be improved to accelerate progress toward UHC.

This Spanish report presents the work of USAID's Healthy Communities Program (LHSS Colombia) in supporting the MSPS in characterizing the medical account audit process.

This Spanish summary document describes the interventions implemented by USAID's Healthy Communities Program (LHSS Colombia) to strengthen the capacity of the Minister of Health and Social Protection (MSPS) and territorial governments to audit medical accounts. 

This document describes the interventions implemented by LHSS Colombia to strengthen the capacity of the Ministry of Health and Social Protection (MSPS) and the territorial governments to audit medical bills.

This Spanish document systematizes the experiences of the planning and implementation process of projects financed with international cooperation resources for the provision of maternal and perinatal health care. The document also contains the methodology for the systematization of the experience and the lessons learned and recommendations derived from the systematization process. 

This Spanish document contains the experiences of various actors in planning and implementing projects funded by international cooperation resources that facilitate the provision of maternal and perinatal health care.

This document compiles and systematizes stakeholders’ experiences planning and implementing projects funded by international cooperation resources that facilitate the provision of maternal-perinatal health care.

This brief includes a global evidence review of DFS for health conducted by LHSS and an analysis of two programmatic case studies of DFS for health by Management Sciences for Health (MSH) through the Digital Square initiative.

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 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.