EQUINET is part of a consortium that was appointed in September 2005 as the organisational Hub of the Health Systems Knowledge Network of the WHO Commission on the Social Determinants of Health. The other consortium partners are the Centre for Health Policy at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa (www.wits.ac.za/chp) (the Hub leader) and the Health Policy Unit of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in the United Kingdom (www.lshtm.ac.uk/hpu). The Commission is a global strategic mechanism to improve equity in health through action on the social determinants of health at global, regional and country level (http://www.who.int/social_determinants/map/en). The way that health systems are designed, financed and operated acts as a powerful determinant of health. The Health Systems Knowledge Network will review different models for health systems to improve health equity outcomes. The focus will be on innovative approaches that effectively incorporate action on the social determinants of health, and on strategies of policy development and implementation. Key themes are evolving and are likely to include: • Building and maintaining national policy space for health policies that seek social justice; • Using the health sector to leverage inter-sectoral actions that address the social determinants of health; • Identifying key elements of the health system architecture necessary to secure social protection and universal coverage; • Ensuring effective governance and oversight of health systems and policies intended to secure social protection and universal coverage; • Preserving health equity in conflict and post conflict settings; and • Strengthening management and stewardship capacities within the health sector. The Health Systems Knowledge Network is chaired by Lucy Gilson of the Centre for Health Policy and co-chaired by Dr. Antonio Infante of the Chilean health services. The network is made up of 14 policy-makers, civil society leaders and academics from around the world, all of whom are well linked into other networks, formal and informal. The network is assembling evidence through commissioned papers, case studies and engagement with country governments and civil society, as facilitated by separate initiatives of the Commission. We will provide information and public documents from this work on this site at the health services page [http://www.equinetafrica.org/workhealthservices.php]. For more information on the work of this network contact admin@equinetafrica.org.