Strengthening Public Sector Health Systems & Health Workforce

We advocate for equipping public sector health systems with the people, facilities, equipment, and systems they need to provide high quality, primary health care.

Health systems include “building blocks” such as a health workforce, health facilities where services are delivered, drugs and technologies needed to provide care, information management systems, and the financing, leadership and governance structures needed to fund and manage the whole system. Underlying all of this are the people who use the health system, whose needs should drive the system to continually improve and evolve.

Governments with underresourced and, as a result, poorly functioning health systems are not only ill-equipped to respond to health emergencies (such as an Ebola outbreak or the COVID-19 pandemic), they often struggle to provide basic primary health care on a daily basis.

In response, big donors and wealthy governments often channel money to the private and social sectors, including to international NGOs (like HAI). In the quest to see progress, international donors often fund disease-specific and time-limited services. These programs may deliver results in the short-term, but when they circumvent the public sector, they can lead to fragmented and inefficient health care and leave the primary health care system used by the poorest and most vulnerable populations wanting for critical resources.

At HAI, we believe that governments are best positioned to provide high-quality, comprehensive health care to all citizens. That’s why we advocate for NGO programs that operate in close collaboration with ministries of health and support their efforts to improve care for all. 

SPOTLIGHT: Pillar I

 

The NGO Code of Conduct

The NGO Code of Conduct was created for service organizations, funders and host governments as an accountability tool to encourage NGO practices that contribute to building public health systems and discourage those that are harmful.

The Code was drafted in 2007 by a coalition of activist and service delivery organizations, led by Health Alliance International.

Health systems are a country’s mechanism for taking care of its people.  If you want to help: strengthen the National Health Service.

Dr. Paulo Ivo Garrido, Former Minister of Health, Mozambique

During the 2018 Stephen S. Gloyd Lecture at the UW Department of Global Health, co-sponsored by Health Alliance International

Sign ons & Resolutions

Statements & Publications

Op-Eds, News & Events

who we fight alongside

People's Health Movement

HAI served on the PHM steering council, helping to organize a global movement for grassroots health activism

Learn More

Health Workers for All Coalition

HAI sat on the HWAC steering commitee, helping to confront the global health workforce crisis

Learn More

Community of Practitioners on Accountability & Social Action in Health

COPASAH promotes accountability by engaging communities in health system transformation 

Learn More

Explore the rest of HAI’s Advocacy Pillars

MACROECONOMIC JUSTICE FOR HEALTHY COMMUNITIES

USING PUBLIC HEALTH SOLUTIONS TO MEASURE THE HEALTH EFFECTS OF CONFLICT AND END WAR

MOVEMENT BUILDING FOR RACIAL, SOCIAL AND HEALTH JUSTICE

Stand with HAI

Stand with HAI

Our Mission

Our mission is to promote policies and support programs that strengthen government primary health care and foster social, economic, and health equity for all. Our vision is a just world that promotes health and well-being, including universal access to quality health care.

Our History

Health Alliance International began in 1987 as a US-based international solidarity organization committed to supporting the public sector provision of health care for all.  Over 35 years, HAI conducted programs in 17 countries, with flagship programs in Mozambique, Côte d'Ivoire, and Timor-Leste.

Our Evolution

In line with HAI’s commitment to support and strengthen local public health leadership, as of October 2021, HAI fully transitioned global operations and active programs to locally-based, locally-led NGOs. Learn more about this shift toward local autonomy and equity in global health.

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