Working to enhance health systems’ effectiveness to improve people’s well-being

Achievement of the health-related Millennium Development Goals (objectives 4, 5 and 6) remains challenging. This is, in good measure, due to problems involved in facilitating efficient and timely access to life-saving drugs and treatment for all people, especially those in vulnerable population groups. Where widespread and urgent health needs cannot be met due to a lack of adequate implementing capabilities in the health sector, the effectiveness of even heightened private and official development assistance efforts will be seriously compromised. The acknowledgement that successful healthcare delivery requires, not only adequate funds and technologies, but also effective institutions and management, has led government officials, academics and international donors alike to emphasize governance as a key element in the quest for practical solutions for strengthening health systems.

With a proven track record of engagement in crucial health sector debates as well as proximity to major pharmaceutical industry headquarters and key international health organizations, the Basel Institute on Governance is ideally suited to work in conjunction with major international stakeholders in building research and information sharing networks to advance knowledge and impact-oriented work in health governance. Furthermore, the Institute’s links to the University of Basel and to the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute add to the strength of the interdisciplinary resources and expertise that go into our work in the health sector.

The Institute’s approach to health governance is grounded on the notion that in order to improve health systems’ performance, especially in low-income countries, it is crucial to address not just the formal factors governing the sector but also the informal elements which underpin the motivation and actions of important stakeholders. Our work is guided by the belief that governance-enhancing reforms in the health sector should be designed and implemented taking into account the social, economic and political factors that permeate local context. The ultimate goal is to work towards more efficient and transparent health service delivery through rules and procedures that actually make sense and appeal to the stakeholders involved in order to generate improvements that are sustainable in the long run.

The Institute’s work in this area is based on rigorous academic research, which can generate robust analytical methods and tools to be put to use for high impact consultancy studies and services to the development community and other interested stakeholders. We are also committed to the exploration of innovative approaches to conceptualize and advance health governance that have the potential for high empirical applicability. For this reason, the Basel Institute on Governance health sector team works continuously on the development of cutting edge health sector research programmes informed by the most recent academic literature as well as the actual experiences of implementers on the field.