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Promoting human health and well-being - Our work and impact
Health is a fundamental right that is central to people’s well-being, dignity and autonomy, which is why it is essential to ensure access to comprehensive, fair and inclusive healthcare for all, at all stages of life.
As a public agency, Expertise France aims to contribute to fairer and healthier societies, in all contexts, by supporting integrated, cross-cutting and gender-sensitive approaches that place people at the centre of public policies. With this in mind, we promote a comprehensive vision of health and well-being, encompassing physical, mental, reproductive, nutritional and social health.
We work closely with national systems, community stakeholders, research institutions and international partners, and pay particular attention to vulnerable groups, such as women, children, teenagers, people living in poverty and minorities. Our ambition is to go beyond curative care and promote autonomy, access to information and healthy environments.
1,8 billion people
1.8 billion people (24% of the world’s population) live in fragile areas where it is difficult to provide high-quality essential healthcare services.
OECD, Report: States of Fragility 2022
Our strategic priorities
Our work on community health and well-being covers a number of key issues:
- Maternal and child health & sexual and reproductive rights: We support sexual and reproductive health (SRH) policies as well as policies aimed at reducing maternal mortality, providing access to prenatal/postnatal care, providing sex education, and fighting against violence and female genital mutilation. We also work to ensure that teenagers, young people and women have access to sexual and reproductive health information, products and care, while promoting gender equality.
- Mental health, violence and poverty: We promote the integration of mental health into public policies, particularly in vulnerable, unstable or post-crisis environments, using a holistic approach that includes support for facilities, training of healthcare workers, community support, and combating stigma.
- Prevention, nutrition and community involvement: We support prevention initiatives and promote health and integrated care pathways by fostering community involvement, addressing local needs, combating malnutrition and promoting access to water.
- Reducing inequalities in access to healthcare: We promote a gender-sensitive approach that takes account of social and geographical inequalities, while supporting public policies aimed at improving healthcare coverage and strengthening the capacity of healthcare workers to meet the needs of the most vulnerable.
- Supporting strategies to combat pandemics and communicable diseases (HIV, tuberculosis, malaria): We implement L’Initiative, a French mechanism that oversees part of France’s contribution to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. L’Initiative aims to accelerate the fight against major pandemics and improve access to high-quality health services.
- Promoting a “One Health” approach for integrated management of health risks: We support the One Health approach, which considers human, animal and environmental health as interconnected. It is used to combat antimicrobial resistance and manage communicable and non-communicable diseases. Our work in this area aims at improving quality of care and patient safety, preventing and controlling human and animal infections, and managing food- and environment-related risks. We also focus on strengthening health laboratories by improving access to diagnostics, the quality of laboratory services and epidemiological surveillance capacities in our partner countries.
Our framework for action
Our work aligns with France and Europe’s strategic priorities for community health and well-being, and in particular with those of the French Global Health Strategy 2023–2027, which emphasises universal health coverage (UHC), human rights advocacy and the One Health approach (human, animal and environmental health).
We are also working to achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in particular SDG 3, which aims to “empower people to live healthy lives and promote well-being at all ages”, as well as France’s international commitments to strengthening healthcare systems and combating major pandemics.
For further reading
Our services in this area
Our services in community health and well-being include:
- Advice and support
- Design and implementation of public health projects
- Deployment of technical experts
- Evaluation and leveraging of project impact
Resources for download
FAQs
For more about promoting community health and well-being
Global health is an approach that deals with health issues on a transnational, global scale. It aims to address all health issues that involve more than one country and that require international cooperation, usually under the coordination of the World Health Organization (WHO). This means supporting sustainable, accessible and equitable healthcare systems. It also means tackling economic, social and political inequalities and their effects on access to rights, prevention, care and healthcare products.
Global health requires cooperation between a wide range of stakeholders (governments, NGOs, researchers, the private sector and the general public), using a cross-cutting, integrated approach that encompasses prevention, curative and palliative care, and humanitarian action.
Community health is an approach to public health that directly involves local communities in needs identification and in the design, implementation and evaluation of health projects, by taking into account their specific needs and priorities.
The objectives of community health are to strengthen prevention and health promotion worldwide, improve access to healthcare, reduce inequalities and promote healthy environments. It is an essential springboard for global change in the development of fairer, more inclusive healthcare systems worldwide.
The EU4SUN project is an example of Expertise France’s work in the field of community health. It focuses on maternal and child nutrition and community strengthening, using local stakeholders to promote appropriate, long-term nutritional practices.
This project is a good illustration of Expertise France’s community-based approach, which focuses on prevention, health education and involving local people in the care pathway.
The French Global Health Strategy 2023–2027 is the French framework for international cooperation in health. It includes five priorities:
- Promote fair, resilient, people-centred health systems
- Strengthen the health and well-being of populations, by preventing and combating disease at all stages of life
- Improve preparedness and response to health emergencies, including climate emergencies, using the One Health approach
- Advocate for renewed, stronger and more supportive global governance for health
- Leverage French research and expertise for global action
This strategy, in line with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, in particular SDG 3 (good health and well-being), guides Expertise France’s work in partner countries.
Flagship project
L'Initiative – AIDS, Tuberculosis, Malaria
L'Initiative (formerly 5% Initiative) aims to respond to requests for technical expertise from French-speaking countries, to support them in designing, implementing, monitoring/evaluating and measurin...
- When ?
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2011 - 2031
Status
Ongoing
- Location
- Cambodia, Burundi, Burkina Faso, Burma, Benin, Algeria
- Financing amount
- 38.8m/year €
Key figures in 2024
- 2,260 facilities received support in delivering healthcare services
- 598K people accessed health services through Expertise France projects