Applying the
Strategic Health Purchasing
Progress Tracking Framework

A Toolkit

This toolkit provides step-by-step guidance on how to conduct a system-wide assessment of health purchasing by applying the Strategic Health Purchasing Progress Tracking Framework. It is designed to support policymakers, researchers and anyone interested in improving health purchasing in their country to identify entry points and steps toward building more strategic approaches. The toolkit also documents resources and lessons learned from applying the Framework in more than 20 countries in Africa and Asia.

Strategic purchasing is deliberately directing health funds to priority populations, interventions, and services, and actively creating incentives so funds are used by providers equitably and aligned with a population’s health needs. It is one way for governments to get more for the money they spend on health and make faster progress toward Universal Health Coverage.

Learning Topics

Click on a learning topic to access the curriculum.

What is the Strategic Health Purchasing Progress Tracking Framework?

Introduction to the toolkit

Step 1: Planning and preparing

Step 2: Data collection

Step 3: Data analysis and validation

Step 4: Sharing findings for decisions and actions

Collaborative Learning

Additional resources on strategic purchasing

Video Series: Watch an overview of the toolkit

Download the Data Collection Tool (Word File) Download the Data Synthesis & Analysis Tool (Excel File)

The Strategic Purchasing Africa Resource Center (SPARC) is a resource hub incubated by Results for Development (R4D) and hosted by Amref Health Africa. SPARC aims to generate evidence and strengthen strategic health purchasing in Africa to enable better use of health resources. As the core technical partner, R4D facilitated eleven technical partners affiliated with SPARC to create a framework to understand strategic purchasing, and track progress in strategic health purchasing.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This toolkit came about as a response to the growing interest in applying the Strategic Health Purchasing Progress Tracking Framework co-created by 11 African academic and research institutions through the Strategic Purchasing Africa Resource Center (SPARC). It is the product of many people’s efforts, experiences and talents. We acknowledge the leadership of Cheryl Cashin, Managing Director, Results for Development (R4D), who led the design of the Framework and Benchmarks, and provided technical oversight in the development of this toolkit. Catherine Connor, R4D Senior Fellow, was the lead author. Agnes Gatome-Munyua, program director, R4D, was the technical lead and co-author. Seyni Mbaye, senior program officer, R4D, led the online survey. Rachel Gates Gessel, program associate, R4D, managed the entire process. The Toolkit is greatly enhanced by all the videos and animations produced by Training Resource Group, Inc. Graphic and web design support was provided by the R4D Communications team (Katie Fly, digital communications manager and Leif Redmond, senior manager, strategic communications).

The team is indebted to the many experts in the field of health financing and strategic purchasing who were so generous with their time and insights applying the framework in their countries:

Stella Matutina Umuhoza, University of Rwanda, College of Health Sciences, School of Public
Health Rwanda
Sven Engles and Nida Hameed, ThinkWell, Pakistan
Tseday Zerayacob, Ethiopia
Isidore Sieleunou, Research for Development International, Cameroon
Ryan Rachmand Nugraha, PhD Fellow at the University of Antwerp, Indonesia
Capucine Barcellona, Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University of Singapore,
Singapore
Otieno Osoro, University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Suzan Makawia, Ifakara Health Institute, Tanzania
Uchenna Ezenwaka, University of Nigeria, Nssuka Campus, Nigeria
Eugenia Amporfu, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana