Table 9 Various components of health systems (adapted from Lavis et al [35])

• To whom care is provided and the efforts made to reach them (such as interventions to ensure culturally appropriate care)

• Financing - e.g. how revenue is raised for programmes and services (such as through community-based insurance schemes)

• Policy authority - who makes policy decisions (such as whether such decisions are centralised or decentralised)?

• By whom care is provided (such as providers working autonomously versus those who work as part of multidisciplinary teams)

• Funding - e.g. how clinics are paid for the programmes and services they provide (such as through global budgets)

• Organisational authority - e.g. who owns and manages clinics (such as whether private for-profit clinics exist)

• Where care is provided - e.g. whether care is delivered in the home or community health facilities

• Remuneration - e.g. how providers are remunerated (such as via capitation)

• Commercial authority - e.g. who can sell and dispense drugs and how they are regulated

• With what information and communication technology is care provided - e.g. whether record systems are conducive to providing continuity of care

• Financial incentives - e.g. whether patients are paid to adhere to care plans

• Professional authority - e.g. who is licensed to deliver services, how their scope of practice is determined, and how they are accredited

• How the quality and safety of care is monitored - e.g. whether quality-monitoring systems are in place

• Resource allocation - e.g. whether drug formularies are used to decide which medications patients receive for free

• Consumer and stakeholder involvement - who is invited to participate in policymaking processes from outside government and how their views are taken into consideration