Richard Skolnik, teaching Yale's Essentials of Global Health course, examines what it means to get value for money in health investments. He defines a health system and surveys how different countries organize theirs, comparing structures across income levels. The lecture covers common problems these systems face in delivering care efficiently, effectively, and at acceptable quality, from financing gaps to workforce shortages. Skolnik then turns to what current evidence shows about cost-effective interventions, drawing on global health data to illustrate which approaches stretch limited budgets furthest. The module is part of a larger course sequence and functions as an overview rather than a deep dive into any single country's system, aimed at students building foundational knowledge of how health systems are structured and evaluated worldwide.