More than 7000 women die every year in Kenya during pregnancy, delivery or shortly after giving birth. With German support, the county health department in Kisumu now conducts a detailed audit of every maternal and perinatal death to find out what went wrong and how to prevent it from happening again. Read more - Learning from tragedy in a ‘no blame’ environment

Following a comprehensive assessment of Indonesia’s pharmaceutical policy and medicines management systems, this report presents suggestions how financial deficits of the country’s social health insurance and out-of-pocket payments for medicines could be addressed. A good read for anyone involved in building the institutional and legal frameworks required for UHC. Read more - Why pharmaceutical policy matters for Indonesia’s social health insurance

What do investment, trade, intellectual property, health financing, R&D, industrial and medicines regulation policy have in common? They are all important building blocks for the successful promotion of local pharmaceutical manufacturing. As more and more countries are looking into building their own pharmaceutical production capacities, they need to ensure strong policy coherence to be successful. Read more - Policy toolbox for local production and access to medicines

In spring 2017, India launched a new national health policy which re-emphasizes the importance of women’s health and the need for gender mainstreaming. At the same time, the country is in the process of changing its public health insurance landscape for poor and vulnerable population groups. But are these measures sufficient to improve women’s access to healthcare? Read more - Has RSBY made a difference for India’s women and girls?

Improving the quality of health services has emerged as a top priority for the Government of Nepal. With German support, the Ministry of Health has recently assessed the existing framework conditions for quality improvement approaches and identified options for a system-wide approach to performance measurement. Read more - Quality Improvement Structures in Nepal: Options for Reform

In Sub-Sahara Africa, poor access to medicines weakens health systems although local pharmaceutical manufacturing is long established. Preliminary findings of a forthcoming Evidence Brief highlight health and development benefits from creating stronger local and global linkages between industrial and health agendas, and outline how this can be done. Read more - Preliminary insights: Local production of pharmaceuticals and health system strengthening in Africa

In Togo and Benin, recent outbreaks of Lassa fever were detected and effectively halted before they could spread and turn into epidemics. The national laboratories in the two countries played a vital role in these responses – due, in part, to the support they had received from the German Epidemic Preparedness Team (SEEG). Read more - Early detection halts outbreaks in Togo and Benin

Although, at the global level, women’s incomes and their control over their assets are on the increase, it is more difficult for them than for men to protect themselves against financial risks. For this to change, women need better access to insurance – but how can this be achieved? Read more - Increasing Women’s Financial Protection – What Can Insurance Do?

In Cambodia a recent study shows that the integrated Social Health Protection Scheme (iSHPH) has enhanced HEF beneficiaries’ utilisation of public health services and reduced their out-of-pocket payments by opening Health Equity Fund (HEF) membership to the near-poor and by complementing it with other interventions that reduce access barriers. Read more - Cambodia’s Integrated Social Health Protection Scheme

45 experts working for German development cooperation, NGOs, universities and research institutions met in Königswinter on 12 -14 December 2016 to discuss how to jointly support countries with weak health systems during health crises. The overall aim: tackling disease outbreaks and preventing epidemics. Read more - It takes more than one discipline to tackle epidemics

In February/March 2016, three national Open Space Conferences took place in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. 463 stakeholders from government, civil society, religious, traditional and development organisations used this unique format to discuss how their countries’ health systems could be improved.   Read more - How can Guinea’s, Liberia’s and Sierra Leone’s health systems be improved?

At the Asian Development Bank’s Social Protection Week from 1-5 August 2016 in Manila, Germany’s sector initiative social protection presented linking climate risk insurance and social protection schemes, and the G7 InsuResilience Initiative, as promising ways forward. Read more - Adaptive social protection at ADB Social Protection Week

Based on the lessons learned from the Ebola outbreak German Development Minister Gerd Müller decided to set up an Epidemic Preparedness Team. It is part of Germany`s efforts to contribute to the international response to infectious disease outbreaks. Read more - Epidemic Preparedness: Ready ToGo

The joint Side Event “Universal Access to SRHR is Integral to Achieving the SDGs” took place on July 15th, 2016 during the UN High Level Political Forum in New York. Read more - Why do Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights matter?

Kenya is the first African country to officially launch a roadmap to improve and harmonise its health information systems with support from the Health Data Collaborative. Through this initiative, more than 30 global health partners including BMZ and GIZ align to strengthen health data systems worldwide. Read more - What does it mean for my sister or daughter?

The newly established Guttmacher-Lancet Commission on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) will begin its work to articulate a forward-looking and evidence-based vision for SRHR in the next 15 years. Read more - Guttmacher-Lancet Commission: Identifying priorities for the agenda on sexual and reproductive health and rights

Jointly with GIZ, the AOK forum for health politics, practice and research just released this special issue. It provides an overview of the framework conditions for social health protection in Asia, Africa and Latin America and proposes ways in which countries in these regions could learn from experiences gained in Germany. Read more - What makes the world healthy?

Universal Health Coverage has been described by the Director-General of the WHO as “the single most powerful concept that public health has to offer”. For the international UHC Day on 12 December 2015, our UHC experts present you with a selection of the most interesting reads on the topic. Read more - Health for All

Over recent years, the HIV incidence in the Caribbean – the second most affected region in the world - has dropped by 40%, a considerable achievement to which the German-supported social marketing approach has made a significant contribution. At World AIDS Day 2015, this article takes a closer look at this KfW-supported regional programme. Read more - A successful HIV response in the Caribbean

GIZ’s new database provides an overview of all relevant capacity building opportunities for expert or policy makers in the field of Social Protection and Universal Health Coverage (UHC). Through detailed filter options it allows its users to find the training that corresponds to their specific interests and level of expertise. Read more - Learn globally, succeed locally!

On 26 September, Germany, Ghana and Norway hosted a high-level global health event on the margins of the UN Summit for the Adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in New York. Jointly with other leaders Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel launched a road map for further discussion among key stakeholders to enhance global cooperation for strengthening health systems. Read more - What users think of the Healthy Developments web portal

On 26 September, Germany, Ghana and Norway hosted a high-level global health event on the margins of the UN Summit for the Adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in New York. Jointly with other leaders Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel launched a road map for further discussion among key stakeholders to enhance global cooperation for strengthening health systems. Read more - Securing a Healthy Future

With support from Germany, South Africa’s largest youth development NGO has launched a new cellphone-based platform to incentivize behavior change and prevent HIV infections. At ‘iloveLife.mobi’ young people can earn points, and ultimately attractive rewards, while learning how to navigate love and life. Read more - iloveLife.mobi

Today, July 24 2015 marks one year since the last reported case of wild polio in Nigeria, and on the African continent.  What a turnaround after the country had reached the peak of 1.122 wild polio cases in 2006. This is a significant milestone and could lead to the end of polio in Africa pending final laboratory classification from all samples expected by September. This progress is due to the coordinated efforts of donors, African governments, health workers, partners, religious and community leaders. Read more - Nigeria wins the battle against polio

"We need to improve health systems in many countries", said Chancellor Angela Merkel at the end of the G7 Summit, which took place under the German G7 Presidency in Elmau on 7-8 June 2015. Development policy in general, and health in particular, had figured prominently in the discussions. In their final declaration the G7 leaders expressed their support to a number of specific initiatives which mainly aim to address Ebola, antimicrobial resistances and neglected tropical diseases. Read more - G7 Summit outcomes on health in developing countries

On 18 May 2015, Angela Merkel gave an opening speech at the 68th World Health Assembly in Geneva. She highlighted why Germany has set health as a major issue for its G7 presidency and outlined three main priorities: drawing the lessons from Ebola, fighting neglected tropical diseases and containing antimicrobial resistance. Read more - Chancellor Merkel’s key note speech at the World Health Assembly