Helping countries access donor support for health system development in a less complicated manner that is more aligned to their own national processes
The Health Systems Funding Platform (the Platform) was established in 2009, at the recommendation of the High Level Taskforce on Innovative International Financing for Health Systems, as one way to accelerate progress towards the health Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5 on reducing child and maternal mortality.
The Platform brings together GAVI, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (The Global Fund), and the World Bank, with facilitation from the WHO, linking their support behind developing countries' national health plans.
We are supportive of efforts by the World Bank, the Global Fund and GAVI to establish, in close coordination with the WHO, a joint platform for health systems strengthening.
The G8 Muskoka Declaration: Recovery and New Beginnings |
Its aim: to streamline health system strengthening (HSS) support and align with country budgetary and programmatic cycles by supporting:
- One comprehensive health plan, that integrates both domestic funding and international aid;
- One joint assessment of the national health strategy;
- One budget;
- One tracking system for funds.
Making health dollars go further
The Platform is not a global pool of health funds: funds will still flow from the participating financiers. However, integrating support from the largest providers of support for health system development does have the potential to make health dollars go further in developing countries:
- administrative costs will fall thanks to better coordination among funders, both around existing funding and new requests for funding, reporting, financial management, monitoring and technical support;
- there will be fewer duplicative initiatives in any single country;
- fiduciary risk will be reduced;
- countries will be able to leverage additional funding for HSS.
The Platform and GAVI
In 2011, the Board decided to channel all GAVI’s cash support via a single funding window, to be delivered through the Health Systems Funding Platform. Support will be performance-based, feed directly into national strategies, and be linked to improvements in immunisation coverage and equity of access.
In the first year, countries will receive a fixed amount of funding from GAVI to invest in their national health systems. In subsequent years, they will receive both fixed and performance-related annual payments, provided they meet set targets for immunisation coverage and equity.
This approach will be gradually rolled out to countries as their existing GAVI cash support lapses. GAVI will tailor the support to country circumstances, and develop alternative funding mechanisms to support countries
that are fragile, underperforming or very large.
Principles
The Platform is in line with the principles of the Paris Declaration of Aid Effectiveness on national ownership, alignment with national systems, harmonisation between agencies, managing for results, and mutual accountability.
The Platform is open to other agencies and partners, both at the global and central level.
