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Health Systems Funding Platform

The Health System Funding Platform (the Platform) is a way for development partners, including the GAVI Alliance, the Global Fund and the World Bank, with facilitation from WHO, to improve how they work together in countries.


It will enable countries to use new and existing funds more effectively for health systems development, and help them access donor funds in a less complicated manner that is more aligned to their own national processes.

The Platform is not a global pool of funds: funds will still flow from the participating financers – currently the GAVI Alliance, the Global Fund and the World Bank.

The Platform is part of the broad international effort in strengthening health systems to accelerate progress towards the targets for the health related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) - particularly to reduce child mortality ( MDG 4 ), improve maternal health ( MDG 5 ) and combat HIV / AIDS, malaria and other diseases ( MDG 6 ) - and it will help deliver vaccines and other commodities.

The overall goal is to make health dollars go further in countries, to build stronger health systems that deliver immunisation and other health services, equitably and sustainably for better health outcomes.

One way the Platform will contribute to this is to reduce transaction costs for countries by improving co-ordination amongst funders around existing funding and new requests for funding, reporting, financial management, monitoring and technical support.

More harmonized support for country-owned and led national health strategies/plans should, in turn, enhance aid-effectiveness and bring better results. The Platform is also intended to leverage additional funding for countries in need.

Unique opportunity

GAVI Alliance, GFATM, and the WB are the largest providers of support for health system development. Harmonising and eventually providing support through a joint system funding platform has the potential to significantly strengthen and improve health systems by:

  • Lowering transaction costs for countries by harmonising proposal development and reporting;
  • Increasing efficiency at country level through strengthened and more harmonised planning;
  • Reducing fiduciary risk by employing joint funding mechanisms.

The Platform was established in 2009, at the recommendation of the High Level Taskforce on Innovative International Financing for Health Systems, as one way to accelerate progress towards MDG targets and achieve better national health results by coordinating, mobilizing, and channeling health resources – from both domestic budgets and international aid - to comprehensive, integrated, country-driven health plans and strategies.

Download answers to FAQs about the Health Systems Funding Platform.

To learn more about the Platform, visit the Health Systems Funding Platform page on the World Bank website.