Accelerator Health Systems Strengthening Open House
The Health Systems Strengthening Open House, hosted by the Health Systems Strengthening Accelerator, featured informative and interactive sessions, including posters, plenary discussions, and concurrent sessions. Participants explored the latest innovations and progress in health systems strengthening, focusing on critical topics like:
- Enhancing primary health care through provider networks
- Reducing maternal mortality with safe blood systems
- Institutionalizing community health
Date: Wednesday, July 17, 2024
Time: 8:30 AM – 3:00 PM EST
Location:
- In-person: Results for Development (R4D) Office, 1111 19th Street, NW, Suite 700, Washington, DC 20036
- Virtual: Via Zoom
Agenda, Resources, and Recordings:
Time
Session Title and Description
Speakers
8:30 – 9:30 AM
Registration, Coffee, and Poster Session
Welcome and Reflections
Following a welcome from Results for Development’s CEO, Gina Lagomarsino, Mai Hijazi and Jodi Charles of USAID/Office of Health Systems shared opening remarks followed by reflections from Accelerator leadership.
Gina Lagomarsino (President/CEO, R4D)
Mai Hijazi (Director, USAID Office of Health Systems, Global Health Bureau)
Jodi Charles (Sr. Health Systems Advisor, USAID Office of Health Systems, Global Health Bureau)
Dr. Nathan Blanchet (Accelerator Project Director, R4D)
Dr. Laurel Hatt (Accelerator Technical Director, R4D)
Plenary 1: Making Integrated Health Systems Work for Priority Services
This session examined how health systems could integrate a select set of programs and services historically funded and delivered separately. Panelists shared insights on strengthening health systems for rehabilitation services, COVID-19 immunization, and safe blood systems.
Panelists
Dr. Linda Thumba (Technical Advisor, Rehabilitation & Assistive Technology, USAID)
Cheickna Toure (Program Director, R4D)
Dr. Mohammed Farouk (Managing Director, Africa Society for Blood Transfusion)
Lauren Rosapep (Associate Director, R4D)
Moderator
Adeel Istiaq (Program Director, Health Financing Reform & Health Systems Strengthening, R4D)
Plenary 2: Transformative Approaches to Strengthening Community-based Primary Health Care Services to Achieve UHC
Primary health care is essential to achieving universal health coverage. This session delved into recent reforms in Ghana, Nigeria, Guinea, and Togo to examine reimagining primary care service delivery, integrating and strengthening community-level PHC, and promoting engagement with non-state actors for advocacy and social accountability.
Panelists
Elizabeth Hammah (Associate Director, R4D)
Umar Kabo-Idris (Senior Program Officer, R4D)
Dr. Lior Miller (Program Director, R4D)
Gwladys Hermionne Agbofoun (Program Manager, Accelerator Togo)
Amy Nye (Senior Program Officer, R4D)
Moderator:
Dr. Linda Vanotoo (Senior Program Director, R4D)
12:00 – 1:15 PM
Lunch and Poster Walk Around. Lunch will be provided.
1:15 – 2:15 PM
Concurrent Breakout Sessions
Breakout 1: Benefits Policy Design to Align Financing with Essential Services
This session examined recent benefits policy reforms in Ethiopia, Ghana, and Georgia, focusing on aligning these policies with health financing realities. We also explored key considerations such as analytical approaches, political dynamics, and the fragmentation in financing that must be navigated to integrate benefits policy and financing mechanisms effectively, ensuring the provision of a high-quality package of services and commodities.
Panelists
Elizabeth Hammah (Associate Director, R4D)
Yodi Tesfaye (Program Director, R4D)
Dr. Akaki Zoidze (Health Policy & Systems Expert, Curatio International Foundation)
Moderator:
Dr. Cheryl Cashin (Managing Director, R4D)
Breakout 2: Next-Generation Approaches to Implementing Technical Assistance for Health Systems Strengthening
Moving beyond traditional, top-down technical assistance approaches is crucial for strengthening health systems’ ability to meet local needs effectively, support country change agents, and advance localization. In this session, panelists shared experiences using next-generation approaches to technical assistance, such as collaborative peer learning, co-creation, and coaching. Participants also brainstormed how health systems strengthening (HSS) can build on these approaches in the future.
Speakers
Julie Wieland (Manager, Health Strategy and Delivery Foundation)
Adwoa Twum (Senior Program Officer, R4D)
Leah List (Program Officer, R4D)
Co-facilitators
Amanda Folsom (Senior Program Director, R4D)
Lauren Rosapep (Associate Director, R4D)
Breakout 3: Incorporating Cross-Cutting Concepts into Health Systems Strengthening Work
Increasingly, within health systems strengthening (HSS) work, donors and implementers are incorporating social and behavior change (SBC), youth and resilience, and equity as crosscutting concepts. This panel explored how incorporating these crosscutting concepts works and provided key lessons learned and implementation considerations.
Panelists
Dr. Susan Pietrzyk (HSS/SBC Advisor, ICF)
Molly Lauria (Senior Research Specialist, ICF)
Dr. Athena Pantazis (Global Health Research and Evaluation Specialist, ICF)
Melanie Morrow (Senior Manager, ICF)
Neetu Hariharan (Outbreak Response Advisor, USAID Global Health Bureau)
2:15 – 3:00 PM
Open Walk Around & Poster Session
Posters
- Communication Plan of The National Strategic Plan for Community Health of Côte D’Ivoire 2022 – 2025
- Building Better Systems for Health Equity Using Social and Behavior Change (SBC)
- Multi-country analysis of Social Capital and Health
- Co-creation: An innovative approach for improving multi-sectoral collaboration and coordination for accelerating progress toward Universal Health Coverage (UHC) in Togo
- Costing and Integration of Priority Services in support of UHC (Cote d’Ivoire)
- Reimagining Health Care Delivery Models for Equity in Ghana: Implementation Research on Primary Care Provider Networks
- A Diagnosis of Governance and Coordination of the CHIPS Program in Nigeria
- Systems Thinking and Co-creation for Addressing Community Health Challenges in Guinea
- Leveraging Social and Behavior Change (SBC) Approaches for Stronger Health Systems: A Review of Case Competition Entries
- Learning visits to explore private sector models as a mechanism for sustainable financing of Community Health Workers in Tanzania
- Learning from Country Plans for Reaching Priority Populations with and Integrating COVID-19 Vaccination
- Analysis of the effectiveness of the Accelerator coaching approach to strengthen Universal Health Coverage in Togo
- Assessing the Contribution of Civil Society in Advocacy and Social Accountability for Sustainable Community Health Programs: Learnings from Guinea
- Strengthening Civil Society Capacity for Universal Health Coverage: Lessons Learned from Togo
- Rapid Learning on Strengthening Community Health Governance in Côte d’Ivoire
- Using Digital Tools for COVID-19 Vaccines Perspectives from inside Ghana’s Health System
- Insights from a Budget Advocacy Tool Enhancing Citizen Dialogue for Domestic Community Health Financing in Guinea
- Strengthening Guinea’s Routine Immunization System
- 2022 USAID Health Systems Strengthening Case Competition
- 2023 USAID Health Systems Strengthening Case Competition
- 2024 USAID Health Systems Strengthening Case Competition
