Focus areas

Programme management for health

Effective programme management aims to deliver health services that are safe, accessible, high quality, people-centred, and integrated, to ensure universal health coverage. Health service delivery systems should consider the whole spectrum of care from promotion and prevention to delivery of care in order to provide integrated health services. Resilient and sustainable systems for health focus on the need to support countries in moving towards universal health coverage, through improving the efficiency and effectiveness of their health service delivery systems.

This section focuses on:

• core elements of programme management and the need to start from the development of national health strategies
• the importance of human resources for health
• guidance on managing implementing partners

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Financial management for health

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Health information systems

Strengthening health information systems (HIS) is critical to establishing a more resilient and sustainable health system. Achieving national goals requires reliable data, in order to understand the scale of the work to be done, and to make good decisions about how to allocate resources for the most efficient and effective results. Having quality data also ensures that information is available on the vulnerable groups and key populations most affected by health issues, to ensure that services include activities are tailored to their specific needs.

This section focuses on:

• the importance of health information to achieve results
• key elements of strengthening health information systems
• data—its sources and its uses—and the increasing importance of ICT in sourcing and managing health data

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Health products procurement and supply chain management

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Innovation and technologies to strengthen systems for health

Seeking out innovations and using technologies is central to UNDP’s approach to supporting resilient and sustainable systems for health. Innovation and technologies for health have the potential to strengthen systems and their resilience to shocks, increase the speed of interventions, improve data quality and reporting, increase accountability and ensure continuity.

This section focuses on examples of UNDP working with national groups to implement innovative solutions to build capacity:

• digitizing the last mile of the vaccine supply chain using eVIN in India
• supporting countries to harness the use of solar power to strengthen the sustainable, climate-resilient delivery of essential services
• financial management technologies, such as the development of real-time public financial management in Zimbabwe
• innovative health information systems, outlining the collecting and reporting data from district health facilities using mobile technologies

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Solar for Health

UNDP’s Solar for Health initiative supports governments to increase access to quality health services through the installation of solar energy photovoltaic systems (PV), ensuring constant and cost-effective access to electricity, while also mitigating the impact of climate change and advancing multiple Sustainable Development Goals.

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Law, rights and policy support for health

Effective and sustainable health responses require law, rights and policy environments that reduce stigma, discrimination, inequality and violence against all affected populations, and that empower communities to access their health rights and participate in the governance of the national response. This section acts as a guide to strengthen the capacity of partners on how to promote and protect human rights and gender equality, remove barriers to accessing services and foster enabling legal environments for all key populations in national strategies, policies and programmes. It includes examples of successful activities.

This section focuses on:

• enabling legal environments, explaining what critical enablers are, why human rights and gender equality are important and how responses can be strengthened to reach everyone, including key populations
• how to identify and remove human rights- and gender-related barriers faced by key populations, foster enabling legal environments and develop effective plans and programmes to increase access

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Non-communicable diseases (NCDs)

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs), principally cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer and chronic respiratory disease, are the world’s leading source of premature death, illness and disability. NCDs are not confined to wealthier nations—nearly 75% of NCD deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), as do over 85% of premature NCD deaths.

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