The Providing for Health (P4H) Initiative is a result of a continuous process initiated at several G8 summits in which the G8 underlined the necessity to strengthen (national) health financing systems as the overall basis for accessible and pro-poor health systems. In the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness (2005) aid recipients were advised to reassess their domestic health financing systems. Subsequently, an international conference on social health protection with a focus on social health insurance was organised in Berlin in December 2005. The issue of social health protection and the need to develop sustainable domestic health financing systems were addressed at some recent conferences, including the international conference on social health protection in Paris, organised by French President Chirac in March 2007.
At the G8 Summit in Heiligendamm, Germany in June 2007, the G8 welcomed the 'Providing for Health (P4H)' Initiative “as a means to work towards sustainable and equitable financing of health systems and improved access to quality health services, through linking of national health financing strategies with coordinated international support. The ’Providing for Health (P4H)’ Initiative will create an international platform for dialogue and collaboration on the issue of financing health systems in low- and middle-income countries and on expanding initiatives of national and international donors to improve the efficiency of increasing national and international funding.”