Health systems strengthening needs 10 guiding principles

Despite the growing recognition of the importance of strengthening health systems around the world, there is a considerable lack of shared definitions and guiding principles that are threatening the ability to form strategic policy, practice and evaluations. In this week's PLoS Medicine, Robert Chad Swanson from Brigham Young University, USA and colleagues present a set of 10 guiding principles for health systems strengthening to address this problem, developed from a comprehensive review of the literature and consultation with experts.

"We invite global health leaders and planners to scrutinize and counter these principles," say the authors, "and we hope that such a discussion will establish a common set of principles that will serve as the foundation for future health systems strengthening discussions and strategies.

More information:
Swanson RC, Bongiovanni A, Bradley E, Murugan V, Sundewall J, et al. (2010) Toward a Consensus on Guiding Principles for Health Systems Strengthening. PLoS Med 7(12): e1000385. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1000385 www.plosmedicine.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.1000385

Provided by Public Library of Science