Ensuring healthcare for all at every stage of life is at the heart of UHC. How health care is organized affects access and health outcomes. At the center of IHS work is what and how healthcare is delivered and experienced, in the encounter between the person getting healthcare and the provider. Our objective is to get care to people and people to the care they need. We aim at trusted and quality healthcare for all that is safe, effective, respectful and compassionate, timely, and efficient. 

To do this, we provide strategic and normative guidance and operational tools that support countries in optimizing how health services are designed, delivered, and measured to: 

• improve the settings where care is delivered and how they relate 
• equip workers with process tools, competencies, and equipment 
• engage and empower patients, families and communities for shared decision-making at all levels

We adopt a holistic approach to health and healthcare, rooted in the understanding that each person and situation is unique and the importance of the values, preferences and beliefs and the context in which healthcare is accessed. 

Our department consists of six units: the Quality of Care unit, Patient Safety unit and the Infection Prevention and Control unit ensure that the health service encounter between the person seeking health care and the person providing health care is safe for all, compassionate and of high quality. The Clinical Services and Systems unit supports the selection, design, and delivery of integrated health services within a national health system, while the Health Services Assessment unit provide the means to measure and monitor the progress of health service delivery. The Traditional, Complementary and Integrative medicine unit develops the integration of proven traditional and complementary medical practices into health systems.