POLICY BRIEF article
Front. Health Serv.
Sec. Health Policy and Management
SDG 3 Measurement in Integrated Health System Reform: A Growing Gap as 2030 Approaches
Department of Family and Community Medicine, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
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Abstract
Integrated health system reforms are implemented across financing, service delivery, digital health, and governance, while SDG 3 monitoring relies on indicator-based frameworks designed for discrete interventions. This creates a misalignment between how reforms are implemented and how progress is assessed, particularly where outcomes emerge from interactions across system components. Using Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 reform as an illustrative case, this analysis identifies three constraints: indicator-based measurement, limited evaluability of concurrent reforms, and data and governance limitations. These constraints limit the ability of policymakers to assess system performance, determine reform effectiveness, and allocate resources. Addressing this gap requires a shift toward system-level evaluation that integrates indicators across domains, strengthens data linkage, and aligns national and global monitoring frameworks.
Summary
Keywords
Health Policy, Health system performance, health system reform, integrated health systems, Policy evaluation, Sustainable development goals, System-level evaluation
Received
01 April 2026
Accepted
03 April 2026
Copyright
© 2026 Alamro. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
*Correspondence: Nurah Alamro
Disclaimer
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.