Health systems strengthening (also health system strengthening, abbreviated HSS) is a term used in global health that roughly means to improve the health care system of a country.[1] Within this general definition, it can mean increasing funding for health infrastructure, improving health policy, trying to achieve universal healthcare,[2] or any number of other health measures.
There has been some effort to use a systems thinking approach to health systems strengthening.[3][4]
Various health organizations have claimed to use health systems strengthening (while not necessarily agreeing on the definition). Some of these are:
Both the idea of health systems strengthening and the term itself have received attention.
Even advocates of health systems strengthening admit that it can often seem like a "distant, even abstract aim".[4]
Marchal et al., writing in 2009, called the term "vague" and argued that "most current HSS strategies are selective (i.e., they target a specific disease), and their effects may undermine progress towards the long-term goal of effective, high-quality, and inclusive health systems."[5][7]
Peter Berman, who was the lead health economist at the World Bank, has pointed out that "Almost any support to health interventions can be considered HSS".[8]
