The African Health Initiative's (AHI) second phase draws from lessons learned through AHI Phase 1 and responds to the continued need to strengthen health systems in sub-Saharan Africa with the more specific goal of improving maternal and neonatal survival and well-being. Given this objective, in AHI Phase 2, the foundation will support up to three large-scale health system strengthening partnerships that: 1) replicate, evaluate and scale up interventions that achieve measurable, significant health improvements, and 2) develop national, regional and/or district-level platforms that use existing health and implementation research to enable the entire health system to become more responsive to the population’s changing contexts and needs.
Unique to AHI Phase 2 is its structure of leadership uniting national ministries of health, U.S. and African universities and research centers, and global funders contributing to the same model and measures for success. Additionally, as was done in AHI Phase 1, grantees will convene regularly to share their progress and findings and coordinate with other learning networks to ensure broader progress across the region. (To learn about the first phase, please visit the Phase 1 page.)
Phase 2 Grantees
Read about the work of the Phase 2 grantees at the links below:
Phase 2: WHO Global Communications Platform
When the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (DDCF) embarked on the second phase of the African Health Initiative (AHI), we aimed to support a global communications and knowledge sharing network coined the “Learning, Engaging and Advocating for Policy and Systems research (LEAP) Forum for Health Systems Strengthening (HSS).” With funding from DDCF, the network LEAP Forum is led by a team from the World Health Organization, Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research (“The Alliance”). The network formally coined the “Learning, Engaging and Advocating for Policy and Systems research (LEAP) Forum for Health Systems Strengthening (HSS).” The LEAP Forum leadership assists DDCF AHI Phase 2 program partners in Ghana, Ethiopia and Mozambique with more effectively translating outcomes from health systems and implementation research to inform policy design and health service delivery. The goal of the LEAP Forum is to accelerate the movement towards more effective use of research to inform policy by bringing together those who seek, support and conduct research in health decision making to better coordinate efforts, approaches and advocacy for the field of HPSR health policy and systems research so as to improve the capacity of governments to make marked improvements in population health.
The foundation works closely with the LEAP HSS team to ensure that they contribute meaningful, useable products and valuable collaborative learning opportunities for AHI Phase 2 grantees and other leaders in the space implementing health system strengthening interventions.
