The Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research (the Alliance) promotes the generation and use of health policy and systems research as a means to strengthen the health systems of LMICs. As an international partnership hosted by the World Health Organization, we work together with organizations around the world to:

• Stimulate the generation and synthesis of policy-relevant health systems knowledge, encompassing evidence, tools and methods 
• Promote the dissemination and use of health policy and systems knowledge to improve the performance of health systems 
• Facilitate the development of capacity for the generation, dissemination and use of HPSR knowledge among researchers, policy-makers and other stakeholders

Throughout all our work, we prioritize and promote systems thinking, which recognizes that the whole of the system is more than its constituent parts. We also recognize the need to engage diverse actors and improve equity – we target our support to ensure better inclusion of and participation by women, those in low- and middle-income countries and other historically underrepresented groups.

The Alliance was founded in 1997 following a recommendation of the Ad Hoc Committee on Health Research Relating to Future Intervention Options. It became a hosted partnership of at World Health Organization Headquarters a few years later. It has grown from a team of three to around 15 staff managing around 18 programmes and more than 40 grants a year.