Addressing Governance Challenges and Capacities in Ministries of Health
A WHO Working Paper - developed by the Health Systems Governance Collaborative, the UHC-Partnership and the Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research
Authors
Veena Sriram, Kabir Sheikh, Agnes Soucat, Maryam Bigdeli
Executive summary
In addressing the big societal challenges of today – from containing communicable diseases to offering health services at all levels – how equipped is a Ministry of Health (MoH) to govern? Ministries or Departments of Health have a unique mandate over population health, charged with ensuring the health and wellness of millions. What kinds of capacities does an MoH require to govern responsibly and effectively? How can we better understand the terms “governance” and “capacity” as applied to an MoH? What are some strong country examples from which we can collectively learn? And how can we better assess the ways in which an MoH changes and adapts to very dynamic context?
In this WHO Working Paper, we seek to understand and illustrate this interplay between governance and capacity in Ministries of Health across the world, and offer a range of practical examples and recommendations.
Invited commentaries:
In reaction to the launch of the WHO Working Paper “Addressing Governance Challenges and Capacities in Ministries of Health”, the Health Systems Governance Collaborative asked some seasoned health governance and policy persons to provide feedback to the working paper.
Here are their commentaries:
Manuel M. Dayrit - Philippines
Comments: