CAPACITY BUILDING EVENTS WASHINGTON, DC. USA - 2007 
Health Systems Strengthening Conundrum
Feb. 27, 2007
National Press Club
Washington, D.C.
How do Essential Public Health Functions fit into the Puzzle?
Worldwide there is increasing recognition that weak health systems preclude the achievement of health goals. Health Sector Reform in the 1990s centered its efforts on improving health systems performance by focusing on alternative health financing mechanisms, promoting efficiency and sustainability, and improving quality of care.
Yet, results to-date fall short of expectations, especially as they relate to achieving the Millennium Declaration namely, reduction of infant/child mortality rates, improvement of maternal health, and tackling HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other infectious diseases.
At the same time, demand for responsive and socially equitable health systems continues to increase. To address these concerns, the World Health Organization (WHO), U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) have embarked on developing one of Health Reform’s most notoriously neglected areas: Public Health and the Essential Public Health Functions (EPHFs).
In order to provide a forum for discussion on the topic, PAHO/WHO, MSH, Global Health Council and the World Bank sponsored a panel session at the National Press Club. The panel brought together health systems experts for knowledge-sharing and debate over how the EPHF can function as an axis for health systems strengthening in the Region of the Americas.