TY - JOUR ID - 3779 TI - Governance Roles and Capacities of Ministries of Health: A Multidimensional Framework JO - International Journal of Health Policy and Management JA - IJHPM LA - en SN - AU - Sheikh, Kabir AU - Sriram, Veena AU - Rouffy, Benjamin AU - Lane, Benjamin AU - Soucat, Agnes AU - Bigdeli, Maryam AD - Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland AD - University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA AD - World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland Y1 - 2021 PY - 2021 VL - 10 IS - 5 SP - 237 EP - 243 KW - Ministries of Health KW - Health Governance KW - Public Sector Capacity KW - Health Systems DO - 10.34172/ijhpm.2020.39 N2 - The lack of capacity for governance of Ministries of Health (MoHs) is frequently advanced as an explanation for health systems failures in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). But do we understand what governance capacities MoHs should have? Existing frameworks have not fully captured the dynamic and contextually determined role of MoHs, and there are few frameworks that specifically define capacities for governance. We propose a multidimensional framework of capacities for governance by MoHs that encompasses both the “hard” (de jure, explicit and functional) and “soft” (de facto, tacit, and relational) dimensions of governance, and reflects the diversification of their mandates in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Four case studies illustrate different aspects of the framework. We hope that the framework will have multiple potential benefits including benchmarking MoH governance capacities, identifying and helping analyze capacity gaps, and guiding strategies to strengthen capacity. UR - https://www.ijhpm.com/article_3779.html L1 - https://www.ijhpm.com/article_3779_c045c8db5bce01f279a3b6dd374821b0.pdf ER -