As we wrap up the year at IntraHealth International, we know the old idiom, “change is the only constant in life,” will definitely ring true in 2017.

Changes in global health can be particularly dramatic. Ebola refocused resources and took over headlines in 2014. Zika followed suit in 2015. In 2016, we watched in horror as the last functioning hospitals in East Aleppo were destroyed.

And those are just the headline grabbing changes. Meanwhile, noncommunicable diseases are quietly overburdening health systems, and seismic shifts in the political climate around the world are driving significant health and financing policy changes.

What new global health concerns will 2017 bring? What new solutions? Can we strengthen health systems now to withstand the unforeseeable threats ahead? If a new lifesaving medicine or innovation becomes available, will we be ready to deliver it to those most in need?  

Everything we do and write about connects in some way to the people behind the health care, the people who must adapt and respond to the changes ahead.

We can’t answer these questions with certainty. (Although, stay tuned for our annual list of the top issues to follow in the new year where we do our best to predict the future!). But we do know that while health threats, treatments, priorities, and policies are subject to the whirlwind of change, at the center of that storm are the health workers on the front lines delivering care. One thing will never change, and it’s the need for well trained, supported, and equipped providers to bring essential health services to everyone who needs them.

When we look back over the past year, we are enormously proud of our work to support these health workers and strengthen the health systems in which they work. Everything we do and write about connects in some way to the people behind the health care, the people who must adapt and respond to the changes ahead.

We took a look back to see which stories and posts resonated most with our readers in 2016. From the dramatic transformation of the health system in a Kenyan county where health workers were once stationed as punishment to the effects of Zika on the elderly to the women at the intersection of global health and technology, here are the stories most popular with you, our readers, in 2016.

1. Turkana County: The Face of Kenya’s Health Workforce Boom
2. Are the Elderly at Risk of the Zika Virus?
3. 10 Global Health Issues to Follow in 2016
4. 10 Women Who Are Disrupting Global Health and Tech
5. Move Over, Unmet Need—There’s a New Family Planning Indicator in Town
6. 12 Faces of the Health Workforce Shortage
7. 5 Behavioral Science Tips for Integrating Health Services So People Actually Use Them
8. 10 Defining Moments that Shaped Global Health in 2015
9. 5 Reasons Senegal Is Ahead of its Neighbors on Family Planning and HIV
10. Seven Tactics that Are Leading Francophone West Africa toward a Contraceptive Revolution