Health and poverty

Background
Since 2000, many countries have been searching to develop their health systems, often embarking on a process of health reform: redefining priorities and policies, reforming the institutions implementing these policies, and developing new partnerships for health. The goal is equitable health systems that perform better in terms of productivity and quality of care, and that are affordable at both country and household levels.

Approach
KIT supports countries in strengthening their capacity for health systems development. The goal is to coordinate health systems and priority programmes; integrate global, central and operational level initiatives; and bring together the public and private sectors, donors and receiving countries.

KIT provides information that enables informed choices for health systems development. It builds evidence through policy research, operational health systems research, and the development of monitoring and evaluation systems. It further reviews national health plans and supports donors in implementing sector-wide approaches, reviewing their partnerships and their ODA policies.

Information for Health Action (I4HA)
KIT has the lead in the Information for Health Action (I4HA) project. I4HA is an action-oriented project focused on generating, sharing and translating health information by and for country stakeholders.

I4HA started in 2009 at the invitation of the World Health Organization (WHO), as a follow-up to its Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers database which aimed to monitor how health concerns are reflected in PRSPs. See the WHO Database on Health in PRSPs.

The I4HA project is currently led by KIT in partnership with a number of Dutch organizations, including Wemos, Cordaid and Radboud University Nijmegen. At global level, I4HA works with WHO and COHRED, the Council on Health Research for Development. The latter advises on strengthening the capacity of researchers and national systems for health research in low income countries and links I4HA to Health Research Web.

For more information on I4HA, visit: www.kit.nl/I4HA