PLoS Medicine
(Accessed 2 January 2011)
http://medicine.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=browse&issn=1549-1676&method=pubdate&search_fulltext=1&order=online_date&row_start=1&limit=10&document_count=1533&ct=1&SESSID=aac96924d41874935d8e1c2a2501181c#results

Toward a Consensus on Guiding Principles for Health Systems Strengthening
Robert C. Swanson, Annette Bongiovanni, Elizabeth Bradley, Varnee Murugan, Jesper Sundewall, Arvind Betigeri, Frank Nyonator, Adriano Cattaneo, Brandi Harless, Andrey Ostrovsky, Ronald Labonté Policy Forum, published 21 Dec 2010
doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1000385

Summary Points
– Despite the expanding consensus about the need for health systems strengthening (HSS), there is a lack of a common definition and set of guiding principles that can inform strategic frameworks used to develop policy, practice and evaluations.

– Without a set of agreed-upon principles, these frameworks may be unclear and inconsistent, limiting the ability for collective learning, innovation, and improvement.

– A set of ten guiding principles for HSS is proposed in this paper that is based upon a systematic review and consultation with experts in three countries.

– They are: holism, context, social mobilization, collaboration, capacity enhancement, efficiency, evidence-informed action, equity, financial protection, and satisfaction.

– The authors welcome and encourage further discussion of these findings at all levels so that a broad consensus on HSS principles is obtained.