Health Systems Strengthening
The Health Systems Strengthening Unit (HSSU) is led by Dr Krishna Hort. The overall aim is to generate knowledge and learning, linking development practice and evidence based policy to strengthen health systems in low and middle income countries. The Centre takes a multidisciplinary approach to generating high quality evidence and tools to assist countries and donors in strengthening health systems structures and policies within Asia, S.E.Asia and the Pacific region. Areas of focus are
- Governance and Reform in the Health Sector
- Equity, Access and Quality of Services
- Management And Planning of Service Delivery
- Health Finance
- Programme Evaluation
- Building leadership and research capacity in partner country institutions
New Initiatives/Projects
Located within the Unit is the technical Health Finance and Policy Hub. This new initiative funded by AUSAID aims to,
- Develop specialist knowledge, convening specialists in the area of health economics and finance that can inform international health policy in low and middle income countries,
- Generate knowledge by identifying important research gaps and conducting research in both public and private sectors
- Develop networks and partnership with specialists in health economics and health finance within Australia and act as a channel that can transfer technical capacity to countries undergoing health finance and policy reform in AUSAID’s target countries
The hub is in the very early stages of development and will scale operational and technical capacity over the next 6 months as recruitment is completed
Health Systems Research
Pilot project on District Health System Performance: How do dynamic and behavioural responses to health financing decision making affect performance. This pilot research aims to build on research conducted by London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, World Bank Decentralisation research and may inform, planners and policy makers on the importance of organisational management and inclusion and empowerment of health workers in the design, implementation of reform packages.
Through partnerships/networks, technical assistance and project implementation the Health Systems Strengthening Unit provides in country support to national governments, regional level international agencies (WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA) and donors. Recent examples of technical assistance, research and projects,
- GAVI/HSS applications for Cambodia
- National Human Resources Planning, DPRK
- Programme Evaluation, Maternal and Child Health in DPRK
- Draft strategy for Health Equity Funds, Cambodia
- Global Fund Proposal, Cambodia
- Health Sector Analysis, Myanmar
- Evaluation of GAVI Coordination
- Project Management of Health Systems Recovery and District Hospital Reform in post disaster environment. (Indonesia)
- Designing AUSAID Health systems Strengthening Project Indonesia
- Designing AUSAID, Maternal and Neonatal Health in East Indonesia
- Health Financing Study, Costing Model for Primary Care Services in Indonesia,( a scale up of the study is underway)
- Appraisal of health system support proposal, Bangladesh (AUSAID)
- Appraisal of health system support proposal, Nepal (AUSAID)