Advancing Research on Comprehensive Health Systems (ARCHeS), Columbia University, Mailman School of Public Health

Columbia University’s Heilbrunn Department of Population and Family Health (HDPFH) in the Mailman School of Public Health, has been at the forefront of developing the process of health systems strengthening. This involves demonstrating ways to test the impact of systems development, and building partnerships that ensure that research operations will improve the way that national health services work . A new Program for Advancing Research on Comprehensive Health Systems, called ARCHeS , is a collaborative initiative comprised of three interlocking component activities: i) implementation of service system innovations in challenging African settings, such as urban informal communities or rural regions where poverty is extreme and ill-health is pervasive, ii) research using state of the art experimental methods to develop implementation, test impact, and accelerate large scale change, and iii) training that partners students with implementers, scientists and policy makers in the process of developing, implementing and evaluating system strengthening operations.