Resources
23 February 2026
Turning health rights into reality: why it is crucial to strengthen health systems
Worldwide, 4.5 billion people still lack access to essential health services (WHO, 2023). Strengthening healthcare systems is critical to avoid escalating human suffering and systemic collapse, as global shocks, like the Covid-19 pandemic, intensify.
Resilient health systems can detect, prepare for and respond to health threats, while ensuring essential, high-quality services for all, even in fragile and conflict-affected contexts.
Scaling up health insurance in Senegal, improving the quality of care and digitising medical data in the DRC, Burundi, Mauritania, Tanzania and Guinea, combating malaria in Niger, improving access to sexual health services in Benin, rehabilitating victims of war in Ukraine… These initiatives cover a broad range of actions.
With its longstanding expertise in more than ten countries, Enabel is helping to set up and strengthen resilient healthcare systems. To achieve this, the agency acts on several levels: developing legal frameworks for equity, promoting health in all policies, allocating resources efficiently to achieve universal health coverage, strengthening collaboration between the public and private sectors and civil society, and supporting innovation and continuous learning.
