July 2020 Message

What is Covid-19 Teaching Us?

Who would have thought, as this year dawned, that mid-way through we would be reeling from the devastating effects of COVID-19 and making significant pivots in our work to adapt?

SPARC has had to adjust to this new reality. This has seen us move from physical to online engagements, providing a virtual platform for countries (consistent mix of policymakers, our technical partners and network of regional experts) to share lessons and experiences, with the goal of increasing awareness of strategic health purchasing (SHP), facilitating cross-country learning, supporting countries as they navigate their individual learning curves and providing reflections for future planning processes.

One lesson that stands out is that strategic purchasing is critical to the pandemic response in the face of previously existing health system challenges that still need to be addressed and limited funds. Governments are learning that they have to spend better. We have documented key messages from these engagements with panelists from Kenya, Rwanda, Nigeria, Benin, Ghana and Uganda. We continue to explore emerging issues and recently launched a monthly blog, ‘Reflections’ as an opportunity to pause and reflect on the themes of these virtual engagements

As I conclude, I am pleased to announce that we welcomed the first cohort of students to the UHC-SHP course, jointly provided by SPARC, Amref International University and Amref’s Institute of Capacity Development. Delivery was 100% virtual with faculty drawn from the three institutions, our technical partners and a regional network of experts.

As always, the conversation continues. Join our virtual engagements and drop us a note. We like hearing from you.

Stay safe and healthy,

Dr. Nkechi Olalere
Executive Director, SPARC

July 2020 Message

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A message from the partners of the Strategic Purchasing Africa Resource Center (SPARC)

Since 2018, The Strategic Purchasing Africa Resource Center (SPARC) has been a unique and significant force in supporting countries within Sub-Sahara Africa (SSA) in crucial areas of strategic health purchasing (SHP), Healthcare Financing as they make progress towards the realization of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) goals. This initiative, a collaboration between Amref Health Africa and Results for Development (R4D), has made expertise in these areas more accessible and has been instrumental in the progress of the target countries. The initiative was designed to advance policy discussions and actions that strengthen the application of strategic health purchasing to strengthen African health systems and support countries as they address foundational reforms…