Introduction

The aim of this course is to explore health systems, focusing on those in low- to middle-income countries. The course would be suitable for any health professional either working in or interested in health systems in developing countries.

The need to understand, and to improve, health systems is well encapsulated by this quote from U.S. President Obama who stated: “We will not be successful in our efforts to end deaths from AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis unless we do more to improve the health systems around the world” (5 May 2009).

The World Bank is also a key player in health systems: "In the era of sustainable development goals, the World Bank plays a pivotal role in promoting universal health coverage and strengthening health systems," from Universal health coverage, health systems strengthening, and the World Bank.

The course is designed to help you: 

1. Understand the attributes of health systems, the role of leadership and governance, and the potential of Health Systems Strengthening.
2. Understand the role of various forms of health financing and health insurance, with relevance for developing countries.
3. Identify what is needed for quality improvement in patient care and health care systems, and the importance of health information to measure process and outcome.
4. Explain the importance of the availability of essential drugs, procedures, vaccines and technology (using vaccines as a case study).
5. Understand the importance of an adequate, well-trained, and well-performing health workforce.

This course is an Open Online Course (OOC) and was created and has been adopted from Peoples-uni. It was further developed by NextGenU.org (NGU). 

There are five (5) modules to complete, which include:

Module 1: Health Systems - Their Attributes, Governance and Strengthening
Module 2: Health Care Financing
Module 3: Quality and Information
Module 4: Case Study: Availability of Essential Drugs, Procedures, Vaccines and Technology
Module 5: The Health Workforce

    
Approximate time for completion of this course is 7 hours at an average reading rate of 144 words/minute.

Engaging with this course

• To register for this course, complete the registration form. Begin the course with Module 1. For each lesson, read the description. 
• Each lesson comprises introductory remarks. You can click on the collections of resources in each module. 
• There is a forum on each module for reflection, and you will be able to add a new topic or respond to a previous one. You may want to share your learning from this and other readings, comment on the topics from your own experience, comment on others' posts, or provide feedback on how we can improve the content and/or presentation.
• There is a final quiz to assess your understanding of some important concepts. Click on the hyperlinks to take you to these items in each topic.

Requirements to obtain the certificate 

You may browse this course for free to learn for your personal enrichment. There are no requirements.

To PASS obtain a certificate, a learner must successfully complete:

• All reading requirements
• All discussion forums
• The final exam with a minimum of 80% and a maximum of 3 attempts and
• The self and course evaluation forms

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