.JPG)
The Second IHP+ Country Health Sector Teams' Meeting took place on June 15 - 16 in Bamako, Mali. Meeting objectives were to review progress and share experience since the first meeting in Lusaka. and to get feedback from partner countries in four key areas: the development and added value of country compacts, joint assessment of national strategies; ways to track results and reduce the transaction costs of reporting, and the financing of national strategies. In the debate on joint assessment the need to support existing country processes was stressed. The discussion on financing was set in the context of the global economic environment and the work by the Taskforce for Innovative Financing for Health Systems was discussed with cautious optimism . The session concluded that urgent evidence of progress in terms of improved results is needed in order to make the case for additional funding for health. In the final session, country teams identified priorities for their own action over the coming year and priorities on which they would like to see action by the global development community. The Harmonizing for Health in Africa initiative (HHA) continued the meeting for 2 more days to discuss the way forward to improve coordination and quality of technical support to countries related to their national health strategies.
