In this third of five segments, John Donnelly interviewed photographer Dominic Chavez about the images below. What follows are his perspectives on his assignment in Mali, which focused in part on the Ministry of Health’s efforts, with MLI assistance, to expand a community-based health insurance plan called mutuelles:

"Mali was a trip like no other country in the sense there was such a push for the mutuelles, providing health insurance for people who really need it. It was interesting to see people in the Health Ministry all talk about the same trip they took to Rwanda to see what Rwanda had done in expanding health insurance to almost the whole population."

Welcome to our new blog, Leading Global Health. This week, we are featuring a series of stories rarely told, yet critical to the developing world: the growing importance of leaders in Ministries of Health.

When the Ministerial Leadership Initiative for Global Health (MLI) began three years ago, we thought about country leadership development mainly in terms of tailored approaches to training and capacity building for leaders in Ministries of Health – especially the Ministers themselves.