Health systems experts Christopher Potter and Richard Brough have years of experience working in and analyzing organizations around the world. They shared their insights and the systems building tool they developed, the capacity pyramid, with Nepal’s Ministry of Health and Population staff and development partners earlier this year. Through a one-day seminar, supported by MLI and attended by more than 50 participants, the capacity pyramid was introduced as a way to help improve the health system’s functional capacity.

While health officials and donors in developing countries often focus on training and provision of equipment as ways to expand and improve services, Potter and Brough argued that other aspects of health systems management are equally or even more important. The basis of a health system, said Potter, who directs the global health module within Cardiff University’s Masters in Public Health program, are the “soft” aspects of capacity development and enhancement including local context, prevalent institutional culture and power dynamics. Understanding issues in those areas will make the entire system more efficient, he explained. Potter urged participants to consider an approach that encompasses the entire organization or thematic area. “In my experience in many countries, people were trained pretty well—they had skills, they had abilities, but the system they were working in often prevented them from using those skills effectively,” he said in an interview.

Momentous amendments to the Affordable Care Act were announced last week mandating all health insurance plans to provide women’s preventive services at no additional cost, including FDA approved contraceptive methods.

“The Affordable Care Act helps stop health problems before they start,” said US Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.  “These historic guidelines are based on science and existing literature and will help ensure women get the preventive health benefits they need.”

These new regulations are considered groundbreaking in the United States, however similar regulations have been enacted in the developing world, creating an opportunity for the US to learn from the global South.