Health Systems Strengthening (HSS)

Health systems strengthening (HSS) is EngenderHealth´s core strategic approach to supporting sustainable sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services and ensuring people can realize their rights. We work with local partners—particularly public-sector health systems—to ensure that primary care, SRH services, and maternal and obstetric care are available, accessible, acceptable, and high quality, whether people access those services through community-based health workers, local health facilities, or regional health centers providing specialized care.

A male healthcare worker wearing a white lab coat stands with arms crossed.

EngenderHealth supports governments in their efforts to build resilient health systems and achieve universal health coverage, and we help community partners realize their goal of providing people-centered primary healthcare. Our HSS work helps ensure that frontline health providers have the most up-to-date medical guidelines, along with the training, mentoring, and coaching needed to deliver high-quality services. We also help identify and address barriers that prevent people from accessing high-quality health services, including ensuring adequate supplies of contraceptives and other commodities, and organizing health services to be efficient and client-focused.

At the facility level, we conduct needs assessments; renovate and equip health facilities with critical supplies and medicines; provide clinical training, monitoring, and coaching; and enhance management practices. Other key components of our HSS strategy include task shifting and sharing, supporting self-care in reproductive health, service integration, supportive supervision, and strengthening use of data for decision-making.

In communities, we work with local partners to inform people, especially women and young people, about SRH and related healthcare, and to support community members’ engagement with the health sector.

“Instead of treating patients one by one as a family physician, I chose to improve the lives of women and men in hundreds and thousands, by building the capacities of the health systems to train and supervise healthcare providers.”

–Levent Cagatay

Regional Clinical Quality Advisor, Turkey