• Responsive health systems

Responsive health systems

This report provides an overview of the key findings from research undertaken by the health systems development programme, which investigates the reasons behind the failure of health systems to address the needs of people living in poverty. The research covers areas including access, quality and choice in health care provision; human resources; decentralisation; maternal health and poverty. The report identifies common themes which emerged from the research: it finds that existing approaches to addressing weaknesses in health systems often overlook the human factor in both health service access and delivery.

The report concludes that improving health outcomes depends on the ability of health policy and research to address people’s dynamic responses- the responses of people who both use and provide health care services - within a health system and its environment. By specifically targeting the human interactions that enable, or disable the system, policy can be better designed to address weaknesses and produce better health outcomes.

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