MoH and national government partners set forward-looking national health policies, strengthen health systems, roll-out national public health programs, and deliver on international health commitments. They aim to increase access to quality, affordable care and achieve Universal Health Coverage
Characteristics and Strengths
Set national health priorities and design large-scale national public health programs
Lead health sector reform agenda
Guide the production, recruitment, and deployment of human resource for health, including community health workforce
Regulate both public and private health service providers
Set development cooperation policies and priorities in the health sector
Provide financial resources to sub-national governments
Work closely with other ministries and sub-national governments to execute national health policies
Compete with other ministries and government line agencies for resources
Have access to large-scale funding from multilateral and bilateral international agencies
Have an appreciation for the role of digital technology in healthcare
May have developed and rolled-out national digital health strategy
Responsible for setting digital technology and data standards
Often have an institutional home to anchor national digital health programs
May have some in-house capacity to deploy and implement digital health tools
Are often looking to establish partnerships for leveraging digital health technologies
Are leveraging data and data science to innovate on new approaches to achieving desired health outcomes
Have access to health systems data from the deployment of a new model of care
May have already invested significantly in proprietary locked-in software
Values
Safeguarding the health rights of the citizens
International commitments in health, e.g. UHC, SDG, etc.
National ownership of public health programs
National capacities to govern and manage community health programs
Cost-effectiveness
Government adoption and sustainability
Needs
Health systems strengthening support to keep up with growing population needs and tackle emerging public health challenges, e.g. NCDs
Regular political commitments for increased spending in public health
Integration and interoperability of digital health technologies
Better data systems for evidence-based planning and monitoring
Capacity and resources to govern and manage digital health programs