The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted a global rethink on the importance of strong and resilient health systems, capable of responding to health emergencies while maintaining continuous access to essential health services and addressing ongoing population health needs.

Building strong and resilient health systems across the Indo-Pacific region will require the sustained support of development partners and donors for the foreseeable future. And although determining the most useful contributions that external agencies can make will be context specific, the focus must be on strengthening integration across the health system, with an emphasis on increasing equity in access, quality of care and resource optimisation.

This report presents the findings and recommendations from a rapid desk-based review of the current status of health system strengthening in seven Indo-Pacific countries: Cambodia, Fiji, Indonesia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vietnam. The framework used to undertake the review was an adapted version of the World Health Organization (WHO) Building Blocks framework, with the incorporation of three cross-cutting key elements: equity in access, quality of care and resource optimisation.