HIGHLIGHTS
- In communities worldwide, many people can’t pay for health care and quality is substandard.
- Abt is helping countries reform health financing, improve coverage for those most in need, and deliver quality services.
- Governments will be able to sustain equitable access to quality, affordable health services.
PROJECT
Local Health System Sustainability Project (LHSS)
The Challenge
Low- and middle-income countries are committed to universal health coverage (UHC) and better primary health care but they sometimes need targeted support to get there. Governments and health providers have to become more accountable. Health financing needs to be improved so people don’t risk financial crisis when they seek health care. Poor, underserved, and socially excluded groups must be ensured equitable access to health care. And more attention must be paid to quality, so that essential health services do what they’re meant to do: improve health and survival.
The Approach
The Abt-led, USAID-funded Local Health System Sustainability Project (LHSS) helps countries around the world transition to sustainable, self-financed health systems as a means to support access to UHC and improve population health and well-being. Activities focus on reducing financial barriers, improving access to essential health services, and making sure that the care patients receive meets minimum standards. To ensure sustained progress and prepare countries to transition away from donor support, the project teams with local organizations to understand local realities and jointly design and implement tailored solutions.
The Results
The $209 million, five-year project (2019-2024) is supported by USAID’s Office of Health Systems. Regional and country activities are underway across Latin America and the Caribbean, East and Southern Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. LHSS is also assisting countries with COVID-19 pandemic response needs while boosting the resilience of their health systems to future shocks.
At the global level, LHSS is generating evidence, resources, and insights that will help governments make progress on common challenges like institutionalizing transparent national priority-setting processes for health; fully executing health budgets; engaging with the private sector; addressing the social determinants of health; and operationalizing policies to improve the quality of health care.
Learn more:
- LHSS Project Website
- Year 4 Annual Report
- LHSS Project Fact Sheet (English)
- LHSS Project Fact Sheet (French)
- LHSS Project Fact Sheet (Spanish)
Header Photo: Valérie Baeriswyl for Communication for Development
Read More About the LHSS Project
Local Digital Innovation Improves Family Planning in Uganda
An LHSS grant helped a Ugandan pharmacy expand an e-Pharmacy platform to include more family planning (FP) products and train staff to provide FP counseling.
Funding Model Helps Bangladesh Expand Primary Health Care
Some municipalities fund primary health care services in urban areas of Bangladesh.
Collaboration Improves Health Insurance Coverage in Nigeria
Abt helped two Nigerian agencies collaborate to increase access to health insurance.
Abt Gives Kyrgyz Health Workers Tools to Fight Vaccine Misinformation
The USAID-funded, Abt-led Local Health System Sustainability Project gave Kyrgyz Republic health workers tools to fight COVID-19 vaccine misinformation.