TY - JOUR T1 - Learning is a means to progress and empowerment for health systems JF - BMJ Global Health JO - BMJ Global Health DO - 10.1136/bmjgh-2022-010572 VL - 7 IS - Suppl 7 SP - e010572 AU - Kabir Sheikh AU - David Peters AU - Irene Akua Agyepong AU - Seye Abimbola AU - Abdul Ghaffar AU - Soumya Swaminathan Y1 - 2022/09/01 UR - http://gh.bmj.com/content/7/Suppl_7/e010572.abstract N2 - There is widespread consensus that learning is crucial for the performance of health systems and the achievement of broader health goals. However, this consensus is not equally matched by shared knowledge and understanding of how health systems learn, or of how to improve health systems learning across different contexts. The very term ‘learning health systems’ (and variations of it) is not new—it has been invoked for more than a decade in different contexts, and with quite disparate connotations.1In September 2021, the Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research published its flagship report: ‘Learning health systems: pathways to progress’.2 This report, building on the body of existing theories and frameworks of learning organisations, was informed by experiential cases from 14 countries and guidance from an advisory group of country policy-makers and health system experts, and reflects a concerted attempt to develop the learning health systems concept.In this editorial, we, the editors and members of the advisory group for the report, summarise some of these key advances and their wider significance. Together with the other articles in this special series on learning health systems, we are hopeful that the ideas in this editorial will serve as a useful guide for further thought, and for actions and investments in learning to strengthen health systems worldwide.All too often, health systems have been taken to be synonymous with healthcare systems or health services. Some initiatives that use the terminology of learning health systems have focused on decision-making in healthcare settings, reflecting the conflation of ‘health systems’ with ‘healthcare systems’ or ‘health services’.3–5 This report, however, adopts a broader understanding of health systems.The global health and development community has, for the past 30 years, advanced and applied an understanding of health systems that extends beyond healthcare services, to include … ER -