Here we feature what JLN partners, policy makers and practitioners are learning â from changing dynamic of health systems globally and in the country and translating knowledge to action.
Every post advances a shared conversation
Lurking on a server somewhere in your primary care system right now is a dashboard. It likely took months to build, contains data with the potential to improve essential healthcare nationwide, and â unless youâre in a minority â you either hate it, only use it when you have to, or donât even know it exists.
With the donor funding reductions and challenging economic times, many countries have found themselves in a challenging situation on what gets funded and how to finance their health system. Mobilizing additional domestic funding for health in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs) is challenged by highly informal economies, narrow tax bases, which constrains revenue collection, increasing debt, and limited fiscal space. Almost all LMICs are strategizing how to close funding gaps caused by reduced funding for health and how strategic purchasing approaches such as government-led contracting with the private sector can play an important role by offsetting challenges and augmenting both service delivery and financing in LMICs. Contracting has the potential to make the health system more efficient through delivering better value (higher quality care at lower or more efficient costs) achieving more health for the money.
 Access to quality, affordable, and timely health products is fundamental to achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC). Yet across many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), pharmaceutical systems remain vulnerable to regulatory fragmentation, import dependency, supply chain disruptions and limited local manufacturing capacity - weaknesses that became even more visible during the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent global supply disruption.Â
The global health landscape is not merely shifting - it has fractured. The much anticipated â2026 Funding Cliffâ has arrived, bringing with it a sharp retrenchment in development assistance for health. Between 2024 and 2025 alone, global aid flows declined by 21 percent, driven largely by a dramatic contraction in major bilateral financing. A recent analysis published in The Lancet Global Health warns that such abrupt reductions risk millions of preventable deaths by 2030, threatening to undo two decades of hard-won progress in controlling infectious diseases.
As traditional development aid declines sharplyâwith cuts exceeding 70% from major donors between 2021 and 2025âAfrican and Asian countries are navigating an unprecedented transition that demands new approaches to achieving universal health coverage. This article examines how South-South collaboration and catalytic investment mechanisms are emerging as critical strategies for sustaining health system progress in the post-aid era. Drawing on global experiences, including from the Joint Learning Network for Universal Health Coverage (JLN) and its Joint Learning Fund (JLF), we share how countries are leveraging peer-to-peer learning to mobilize domestic resources, and innovative financing to build resilient, country-owned health systems that limit the dependence on unpredictable flows of external assistance.
The journey toward Universal Health Coverage (UHC) is rarely linearâitâs a shared path shaped by collaboration, resilience, and mutual learning. With the virtual launch of the Country Core Group (CCG) Community of Practice (CoP), the Joint Learning Network for Universal Health Coverage (JLN) introduced a dynamic new platform to unite countries in their collective pursuit of health for all.Global health leaders from across the JLN came together for the launch, driven by a common goal: to transform shared learning into stronger, more equitable health systems. The CCG CoP is not just a new initiative but the beginning of a vibrant movement, where we are attempting to redefine how we learn, collaborate, and take action for universal health coverage.â
Africa faces a persistent challenge in financing healthcare, often characterised by limited public spending, high out-of-pocket payments, low domestic funding, and fragmented donor and funding flows. To tackle these challenges, countries are turning to Strategic Health Purchasing (SHP)âa smarter approach to delivering better health outcomes for every dollar spent, ensuring more equitable and accountable use of both domestic and donor resources. "Strategic Health Purchasing can improve how a health system uses information on population health needs and provider performance to more effectively allocate resources to health providersâeven in fragile settings." - Boniface Mbuthia, Technical Director, Health Financing, Amref Health Africa
In an era of unprecedented global challengesâfrom climate-related disasters to pandemics and political conflictsâhealth systems worldwide are under immense strain. Sustainable and strategic financing arrangements are essential for building resilient, people-centered primary health care (PHC) systems that can maintain essential functions during these crises. Yet countries face persistent financing challenges: budgeting remains largely input-based, allocations are not made directly to PHC facilities, sub-national actors often lack flexibility to reallocate funds to respond to emergency needs, funds are unpredictable and usage rates are low given rigid public financial management processes
Author: R4D Technical Facilitation Team The...
Universal health coverage (UHC) remains one of the world's most consequential health goals, yet achieving it requires securing robust, sustainable financingâan increasingly complex challenge as many low- and middle-income countries are facing declining development assistance due to shifting geopolitical priorities. During the 78th World Health Assembly, we came together as part of the Joint Learning Network for Universal Health Coverage (JLN) to tackle this critical issue, sharing insights from domestic resource mob
ilization efforts.
JLN Strategic Communications Practical Guide & Planning Tool
was used in Nigeria to operationalize the BHCPF.
