Improving efficiency across health programmes
Often health programmes have been set up to operate largely autonomously from one another to optimize the achievement of a specific objective. This dynamic has implications for the efficiency with which these priority interventions are delivered and sustained, particularly as contexts change within the overall health system.
WHO has developed a diagnostic approach to identify key inefficiencies across health programmes to detect redundancies that compromise governments’ ability to improve or sustain the delivery of priority health services. This approach involves zooming out of specific health programmes and analysing efficiency across the entire health system. By understanding the bigger picture and how health system functions and sub-components interact with one another, inefficiencies can be identified and addressed to improve efficiency across the whole health system.
This approach has been implemented in several countries to date, and while context and selected programmes have differed, some examples of similar inefficiencies include:
- No clear health sector-wide plan to enable coordination across programmes in terms of budgeting, planning, and implementation;
- Fragmented funding flows by programme, which places constraints on integrated service delivery objectives;
- Separate information systems, which are not coordinated or shared across the sector;
- Separate procurement and supply chains.
