News & Events


NEWS January 7, 2025

Shaping Resilient Health Systems: JLN’s Strategies for Tackling Health Challenges in a Changing World

JLN Network Manager

Author: Rahul S Reddy Kadarpeta, Mahlet Gizaw, Adwoa Twum, Jonty Roland Healthcare needs are rapidly evolving across the world, driven by a combination of emerging global health threats, shifting demographics, climate challenges and technological advancements. Countries must continuously adapt and prioritize the limited resources to meet the changing healthcare needs of their population.  COVID-19, and more recently, Mpox are defining moments in global public health, which have prompted investments of many nations in building resilient health systems including early warning systems, vaccine distribution networks, and pandemic preparedness. Despite the warning signs, the Global Health Security Index found that no country was fully prepared for a pandemic as of 2021.  Increasing life expectancy is also influencing a demographic shift in the population and in 2021, 727 million people were aged 65 or older globally. This estimate is projected to more than double by 2050 with 68% of the population expected to reside in an urban setting. These trends are likely to increase the risk for non-communicable diseases along with the global demand for primary healthcare and long-term care services, is expected to increase by 50% by 2030.  Further, climate change has been recognized as a major threat to global health and the Lancet Countdown Report 2023 revealed climate-sensitive diseases like malaria, dengue, and heat-related illnesses are on the rise, especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).  In addition, there is an observed surge in use of technology, telemedicine and digital health tools globally, including the recent emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) for early detection of diseases like cancer, improve diagnostic accuracy, and optimize treatment plans.   As healthcare systems across the globe grapple with these ever-evolving challenges, the Joint Learning Network for Universal Health Coverage (JLN) is working with policymakers and practitioners from across 40 member countries to collectively find solutions to address some of these. JLN’s technical focus has centered on tackling key challenges in these areas including climate and health, emergency preparedness, digital health and primary healthcare. This direction aligns with the recommendations from the ‘Summit of the Future’ held in September 2024, which served as a pivotal moment to accelerate progress towards the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, catalyzing focus on the “how” of global cooperation for addressing emerging opportunities and risks. Particularly for health-related goals, this has provided stakeholders valuable lessons to reimagine health systems, prioritize resilience, and invest in innovations that enable countries to work towards building more equitable, inclusive, and sustainable health systems. This journey is complex and multidimensional, and JLN supports member countries to work collectively to accelerate progress. In this blog we explore how JLN is amplifying its contributions to this discourse and supporting global efforts.  JLN’s recent technical offerings include learning collaboratives on climate and health, emergency preparedness, digital health and primary healthcare. These areas have been recognized as priority needs from member countries during the JLN’s 2022 annual Country Core Group surveys and these continue to be reflected in the recent surveys. As a part of the process for each learning collaborative, country practitioners and policymakers identify key priority areas where there are knowledge gaps or country priorities, share experiences of pragmatic solutions, and document them in knowledge products that can be adapted and implemented.   1. Climate and Health  A recent report on the cost of inaction for climate change estimates that the deaths caused by climate change in Low- and Middle-Income Countries could reach between 14.5 and 15.6 million by 2050. Nearly half of this burden is projected to be in Sub Saharan Africa with a quarter of it estimated to be in South Asia. The Climate-Smart Health Systems Collaborative  brings together mid- to senior-level government practitioners from 21 countries – Bahrain, Belize, Bhutan, Colombia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Mongolia, Morocco, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Saint Lucia, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, the United Arab Emirates, and Vietnam for peer-to-peer learning to address challenges related to climate and health. Facilitated by the World Bank in collaboration with Australia’s DFAT, USAID, Government of Japan and the Gates Foundation, the collaborative enables policymakers to learn from each other on building climate-smart health systems, climate change adaptation, resilience, and mitigation in the health sector, as an integral part of country efforts to achieve Universal Health Coverage (UHC). The knowledge products prioritized for co-production by the member countries for the first year of the collaborative focus on governance, financing, and data and accountability. Under governance, members are co-developing a how-to guide for implementing climate and health governance across multiple levels and within appropriate institutional structures. For financing, members are co-developing knowledge products on making the case for investment in climate and health, as well as a repository of costing, budgeting, and Public Financial Management (PFM). Regarding data and accountability, members are co-developing a toolkit to help analyze multiple data sources from various sectors and enable policy actions based on this integrated data and a repository of guides to support climate-smart health facilities. For the second year of the collaborative, member countries have expressed interest in co-developing knowledge products focusing on multisectoral action, engaging communities and service delivery models.   2. Health Emergency Preparedness  The COVID-19 pandemic has driven home the importance of health emergency preparedness. While that understanding is undisputed, countries face a myriad of challenges in turning it into reality. These challenges take many forms, ranging from the conceptual (e.g., what constitutes health emergency preparedness versus what constitutes more generalized health system strengthening) to the operational (e.g., how to build effective and well-prioritized health emergency preparedness components into broader health planning efforts and particularly into primary health care (PHC) systems). The Health Emergency Preparedness Collaborative brings together frontline practitioners and policymakers from 18 countries namely: Bhutan, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Ghana, Indonesia, Kenya, Lao PDR, Lebanon, Liberia, Malawi, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Solomon Islands, Tajikistan, Togo and Zambia, for peer-to-peer learning to address challenges in this space.  Facilitated by the World Bank with technical inputs from Resolve to Save Lives, the collaborative facilitates learning to improve the design and implementation

NEWS July 9, 2024

JLN Showcase – Sidelines of 77 World Health Assembly, Geneva

JLN Network Manager

South-South Collaboration: Harnessing Cross-Country Learning for Sustainable Health Policy Reforms, 27th May 2024 at the International Geneva, Welcome Centre On May 27th, the Joint Learning Network (JLN) took centre stage at a special showcase held on the sidelines of the 77th World Health Assembly in Geneva. Jointly hosted by JLN, UHC Delivery Lab and Amref Health Africa, with the support of UHC2030, the session was a vibrant platform for sharing impactful stories and discussing future collaborations. The event, attended by over 75 participants in person and 24 virtually, brought together policymakers, representatives from civil society organizations, pharmaceutical companies, UHC advocacy organizations, WHO, the Global Fund, Cochrane, and other stakeholders. The focus of the session was on the transformative impact of JLN in countries like Malaysia and Ghana. A representative from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation highlighted the critical value of investing in collaborative platforms like JLN. “South-South collaboration is a powerful tool for driving sustainable health reforms,” said Dr. Jean Kagubare, Deputy Director of PHC at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. “Our investments show that cross-country learning not only accelerates innovation but also builds stronger, more resilient health systems. The real win is seeing these collaborations translate into tangible improvements in healthcare delivery and outcomes.” Dr. Anthony Ofosu, Deputy Director General of the Ghana Health Service, shared his experience: “Being part of the Joint Learning Network has been transformative for Ghana’s health system. The cross-country collaboration and knowledge sharing have significantly strengthened our policies, driving us closer to achieving universal health coverage.” Dr. Mercy Mwangangi, Senior Director of Health Systems Strengthening at Amref Health Africa, emphasized the importance of peer-to-peer learning facilitated by JLN, SPARC, and the UHC Lab. “Country pairing and coaching have been instrumental in fostering peer-to-peer learning, enabling countries to adopt best practices and tailor them to their unique contexts,” she noted. “Through our innovative learning platforms, we’ve seen firsthand how adaptive and participatory approaches can effectively address evolving health system challenges, driving sustainable reforms in LMICs.” Dinash Aravind from Malaysia’s Ministry of Health also shared insights on JLN’s impact. “JLN has been pivotal for Malaysia’s health system transformation, enhancing our policies and driving progress towards universal health coverage.” Dr. Ganda Gregory, County CEC, Health – Kisumu County noted that the Ethiopia-Kenya country pairing engagement facilitated by the UHC Delivery Lab had strengthened our Primary Care Networks, ensuring better health outcomes for our community through shared experiences and emerging lessons. The session highlighted the power of South-South collaboration in building resilient health systems and accelerating innovation, ultimately contributing to sustainable health reforms and improved healthcare delivery in low- and middle-income countries.

NEWS February 15, 2024

JLN’s Collaborative Learning Approach Highlighted: Health Systems Strengthening Practice Spotlight

JLN Network Manager

Authors: Folsom, A. and Ewald, L. JLN’s collaborative learning approach highlighted in this Health Strengthning Systems Practice Spotlight. Over the past 15 years, multiple collaborative learning networks have launched to support health systems strengthening. This brief introduces collaborative learning as an effective approach to support sustainable health system strengthening. Collaborative learning brings together local leaders and experts to learn from one another, problem-solve, co-create new knowledge, and adapt and apply their learning. Collaborative learning can be incorporated within HSS programs as an alternative or complementary model of technical assistance. With strong participant engagement and effective facilitation, it has the potential to strengthen health systems and accelerate progress towards improved health outcomes in low- and middle-income countries. Reference: Read Full Brief Here!