UK government commits to new health systems strengthening framework

The British government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the development of strong, sustainable and equitable health systems in developing countries. This comes in response to the International Development Committee’s (IDC’s) inquiry into the effectiveness of the UK Department for International Development’s (DFID) aid for health system strengthening.

Agreeing with the majority of IDC’s recommendations in a document published last week, DFID most notably pledges to introduce a health systems strengthening framework that would align with the post-2015 development goals. Key aspects of the government’s response includes:

• A commitment to continue to prioritise health system strengthening and agreement with the recommendation to work with international institutions and other stakeholders to develop a framework with clear indicators to measure success
• A commitment to ensure DFID’s health targets are compatible with health system strengthening, and to work with international institutions to develop a robust system for measuring expenditure and impact as part of the post-2015 development goals
• A continued commitment to the inclusion of a universal health coverage target under an outcome-focused post-2015 goal
• An agreement on the importance of health system strengthening research. DFID’s Research and Evidence Division is currently undertaking a consultative investigation to determine future research priorities, including those related to health system strengthening
• An agreement that community health workers can play an important role in developing health systems, and a commitment to improve monitoring and build a larger evidence base to support this
• A commitment to include human resources for health within DFID’s health systems strengthening framework in order to share the National Health Service’s expertise with developing countries.

Malaria Consortium submitted evidence to the IDC health system strengthening inquiry and we are encouraged to see the acknowledgement of some of our comments in the IDC report and the government’s response.

“DFID’s commitment to develop a health system strengthening framework represent an important foundation for the UK’s support to people living in some of the poorest countries in the world,” said Malaria Consortium’s Chief Executive, Charles Nelson. “It is crucial that this framework recognises the challenge of ensuring the hardest to reach communities have access to health care, and that health systems are strengthened in a universal and equitable way.”

Malaria Consortium believes that a strong commitment to health system strengthening will be essential to achieving the health-related aspects of the next international development goals and that the UK Government is well-placed to play a leading role in this area.

Keywords: Advocacy and policy | Health system strengthening