Pathways to Accelerate Health Equity: A Health Systems Podcast

Pathways to Accelerate Health Equity is a podcast from the Health Systems Strengthening Accelerator (Accelerator), a project that partners with countries to translate, adapt, and build more effective, equitable, and sustainable health systems.

When the Accelerator began six years ago, the goal was to partner with countries to build more resilient, high-performing health systems that benefit vulnerable populations. Since then, the Accelerator has worked in 17 countries in Asia and Africa.

On this podcast, host Nathan Blanchet talks with health systems experts, implementers, and researchers from partner countries who share what they’ve learned about fostering more equitable health systems and successes they’ve found through this work.

The Accelerator is a global initiative funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) with co-funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. It is led by Results for Development (R4D) with core partners Health Strategy and Delivery Foundation (HSDF) and ICF. You can learn more about the Accelerator and its work here.

Episode 1: To Improve Health Equity, Listen Better and Address the Costs of Healthcare

Dive into the first episode of our podcast series as we explore pathways to accelerate health equity. When The Health Systems Strengthening Accelerator began six years ago, the goal was to partner with countries to build more resilient, high-performing health systems that benefit vulnerable populations. Join us for an insightful discussion with a health systems expert at USAID and a physician-scientist in Benin, as they discuss challenges to health equity, including the cost of healthcare.

Episode 2: Implementation Research Is A Tool For Enhancing Health Equity

It’s one thing to develop policies and programs for improving health equity, but how do we determine if things are working as intended? That’s where implementation research comes in. In our work with the Health Systems Strengthening Accelerator, we saw firsthand how implementation research leads to important course corrections and progress. Join Nathan as he talks with two researchers in Ghana and Guinea about how implementation research helped them learn what was and wasn’t working in their efforts.

Episode 3: For More Equitable Health Systems, Involve Civil Society

To make health systems more equitable, you have to understand people’s needs. To do that, it’s important to include civil society organizations and communities, especially those representing vulnerable populations when designing new strategies. In the final episode of Pathways to Accelerate Health Equity, Nathan talks with partners in Togo and Benin about ways they have engaged with civil society organizations (CSOs) to improve progress toward universal health coverage. We also hear about a tool used to support advocacy for community health budgets in Guinea.