This paper is one of several in a series commissioned by the World Health Organization for the First Global Symposium
on Health Systems Research, held 16-19 November, 2010, in Montreux, Switzerland. The goal of these papers is to initiate
a dialogue on the critical issues in health systems research. The opinions expressed in these papers are those of the
authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the symposium organizers. This paper has financial support from the
Rockefeller Foundation; the Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research; and the German Federal Ministry for Economic
Cooperation and Development (GTZ)