National health planning & JANS

Many stakeholders need to be involved in developing a national health strategy, not just professional health planners. Different partners need to have confidence that a plan is robust and will meet health goals.

Everyone who signs up to IHP+, whether a national government, development agency or civil society organization, is committed to support a single national health strategy or plan. The way a strategy or plan is developed influences how sound, relevant and achievable it is. Many countries are developing more inclusive planning processes.

Joint Assessment of National Health Strategies, or JANS, is a shared approach to assess the strengths and weaknesses of a national health strategy or plan. Joint assessment is not a new idea. The reasons for renewed interest in the approach include the increased number of international health actors in recent years and efforts to get more partners to support a single national health strategy or plan.

Countries are using the approach for three main purposes:
   1. To improve the quality of the health strategy or plan
   2. To increase confidence in the strategy or plan and help inform decisions about funding from different donors and domestic sources
   3. To reduce transaction costs for governments dealing with multiple partners with separate assessments.

The way a JANS is conducted is important for the credibility of its findings. There are four key principles:
- A JANS should be country demand driven and country led
- A JANS should build on existing country processes
- A JANS should have a strong independent element that includes people who were not involved in developing the health plan
- A JANS should be inclusive: involving civil society and other stakeholders in the health sector.

The output is an analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the plan, not a pass or fail grading.

An IHP+ inter-agency working group has developed a JANS tool and guidelines.

There is increasing country JANS experience from which to learn. In addition to individual country reports and lessons learned, two reviews of experience are now available. Guidance on options for conducting a JANS is based on country experience. In early 2012, a meeting on JANS was held in Hammamet, Tunisia: Consultation on Lessons Learned and Future Directions. In follow up to the consultation, a JANS roadmap for 2012 was developed, which presents recommended actions with responsibilities and timing.

See also: Tools page and Results & Evidence page