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Resilient & Sustainable Systems for Health

Robust health systems are not only essential to ending HIV, TB and malaria as epidemics, they yield broader health outcomes, delivering health services in a sustainable, equitable and effective way. Resilient and sustainable systems for health are necessary for accelerating progress toward universal health coverage, and they help countries fight new pandemics like COVID-19 and prepare for emerging threats to global health security.

The Global Fund is the largest multilateral investor in grants for health systems, investing US$1 billion a year to build resilient and sustainable systems for health. This includes: improving procurement and supply chains; strengthening data systems and data use; building an adequate health workforce; strengthening community responses and systems; and promoting more integrated service delivery so people can receive comprehensive care throughout their lives.

The Global Fund Strategy 2017-2022 reaffirms our commitment to invest vigorously in building resilient and sustainable systems for health. We are implementing our current strategy on health systems through country allocations as well as by supporting special initiatives as part of our catalytic investments. Global Fund investments in the treatment and prevention of HIV, TB and malaria improve the response to those diseases, while improving overall health systems by boosting the quality of care, data tracking and services; cross-cutting investments in the health system.

Healing the community

Ethiopia’s population of 85 million people lives, for the most part, in small rural communities widely dispersed, making access to health care a significant challenge. In the last decade, however, the Ethiopian government has built or upgraded 15,000 village-level health care facilities across the country. These facilities, called health posts, have brought health care closer to the people. Now more than 92% of Ethiopians live within 10 kilometers of a public health care facility. The health posts are supported by the Health Service Extension Program, through which over 40,000 women have been trained to serve communities as health extension workers.

Building health systems

A resilient and sustainable system for health relies on data. Quality health data is essential – data is what allows countries to design and deliver the right health services to the right people at the right time. Data allows resources to be spent in the most efficient and effective way. Data systems include everything from mobile phone applications to collect data on malaria cases to sophisticated national disease surveillance and reporting systems.

Another key element in ensuring health care is a reliable and dependable system for the procurement and delivery of drugs and supplies. Global Fund investments are helping countries improve their supply chain management, including commodity planning, logistics management, warehousing and information tracking.

On the march to end malaria

In Niger, everyday heroes like Hannatou Abdou have made the war against malaria their life mission. During the rainy season, when the disease strikes the most, she meets families to dispense seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC) – a preventive medicine to protect young children from the disease. And it has been incredibly successful in reducing the number of malaria cases across the country. SMC is easily administered by community health workers in remote areas, making it a sustainable solution in rural settings to control malaria. By bringing care closer to the people and expanding preventive treatment, community health workers are helping beat an old disease and save millions of children.

Investing in resilient and sustainable systems for health

Stronger systems provide more people with health care. Systems for health do not stop at a clinical facility but run deep into communities and can reach those who do not always go to health clinics, particularly the vulnerable and the marginalized. Systems for health involving the community will always be the first to identify, report and respond to emergency health threats. This is why we focus on supporting community-level solutions and community-level involvement wherever possible.

Our strategy for 2017-2022 focuses on the following priorities in terms of resilient health systems:

  • Support national health strategies and national strategic plans to control HIV, TB and malaria
  • Focus on a person, not just a disease: support integrated service delivery
  • Support specific aspects of a resilient health system central to the Global Fund’s mission and core competencies, such as procurement and supply chain management, quality assurance of programs through strong data management and human resources, and financial and risk management
  • Capture and catalyze innovation from across all sectors to drive greater impact and value for money
  • Promote and reinforce community responses and involve affected communities in national decision-making
  • Support countries to leverage domestic and international financing for their systems for health
  • Tailor investments to the unique stage a country is in along the development continuum, to its specific health system and to the unique constellation of partners in each nation

Achieving Sustainable Development Goal 3

Building resilient and sustainable systems for health is a pathway to ending the epidemics of HIV, TB and malaria and to achieving Sustainable Development Goal 3: health and well-being for all.

The Global Fund recognizes the centrality of strong health systems to achieve its mission. Global Fund investments significantly contribute to building resilient and sustainable systems for health, supporting countries in a wide range of areas.

Download our report to learn about that support, the challenges involved and more:

Focus on Building Resilient and Sustainable Systems for Health
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Learn more about sourcing and procurement in the response to HIV, TB and malaria.

Sourcing and Procurement

Published 07 September 2020

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