Increasing the use of evidence in the design and implementation of health financing reforms
This blog is co-authored by Gina Lagomarsino, Managing Director for Results for Development, and Simon Wright, Head of Child Survival for Save the Children UK
This week in Geneva, the global community has gathered for the Sixty-sixth World Health Assembly. As we recently passed the 1000 day count down to the end of the current Millennium Development goals. The post-MDG framework is at the forefront of this year’s Assembly.
Over the past three years, UHC has been gaining traction as an overarching framework for the post-2015 development agenda. In 2010, The World Health Organization (WHO) published the World Health Report on Health Financing. In 2011, the United Nations passed a Resolution on UHC. In 2012, Thailand hosted the 2012 PMAC on UHC, and at last year’s WHA Dr.
New Resource! UHC Forward is pleased to announce the addition of the Equitable Health Financing tool
UHC Forward Save the Children UK announce new partnership on Universal Health Coverage
More than 3 billion people globally earn less than $2.50 per day.
The Week in Headlines
UHC Forward's Weekly Roundup of Headlines from Around the Globe
Governments around the world are engaging in serious political and technical discussions on how to expand health coverage. Still others are considering such reforms, but are struggling to navigate the legal, financial, and political frameworks of their countries to determine the best path towards universal health coverage (UHC).
Below is a list of UHC-related headlines from around the world for the week of May 13, 2013.
Accreditation: A continuous process for improvement
An interview with Dr. Kedar Mate, vice president of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement
A high-quality health system is defined by its cost-effectiveness, capacity to continuously learn from and prevent errors, and its commitment to the respect and dignity of the patients and families it serves.
Policymakers, payers, providers, patients and the public each have a role to play in achieving these goals; through collaboration, they can achieve an effective quality strategy that, combined with expansions in healthcare access, will achieve improvements in health outcomes.
Healthcare delivery systems must continuously improve to match the increased demand they face from patients.
The Week in Headlines
UHC Forward's Weekly Roundup of Headlines from Around the Globe
Governments around the world are engaging in serious political and technical discussions on how to expand health coverage. Still others are considering such reforms, but are struggling to navigate the legal, financial, and political frameworks of their countries to determine the best path towards universal health coverage (UHC).
Below is a list of UHC-related headlines from around the world for the week of May 6, 2013.
The Week in Headlines
UHC Forward's Weekly Roundup of Headlines from Around the Globe
Governments around the world are engaging in serious political and technical discussions on how to expand health coverage. Still others are considering such reforms, but are struggling to navigate the legal, financial, and political frameworks of their countries to determine the best path towards universal health coverage (UHC).
Below is a list of UHC-related headlines from around the world for the week of April 29, 2013.
The Week in Headlines
UHC Forward's Weekly Roundup of Headlines from Around the Globe
Governments around the world are engaging in serious political and technical discussions on how to expand health coverage. Still others are considering such reforms, but are struggling to navigate the legal, financial, and political frameworks of their countries to determine the best path towards universal health coverage (UHC).
Below is a list of UHC-related headlines from around the world for the week of April 22, 2013.
The role of the private sector in moving towards universal coverage
Using the example of Heartfile Pakistan
Meet Majid. This 15 year old boy is the primary earner for his family in Pakistan. Majid was hit by a tractor, leaving him out of a job, with no money for an operation, and a starving family. More than 120 million people in Pakistan pay out of pocket for needed health care services. As a result, many are at risk of catastrophic expenditures that lead to a downward spiral of poverty or the possibility of becoming indebted for life.
One organization is trying to change this picture, by actively seeking patients who are at risk. Heartfile Health Financing, profiled on the Center for Health Market Innovations (CHMI), is an example of the type of private sector innovation that can be used to mobilize progress towards universal health coverage (UHC).
The Week in Headlines
UHC Forward's Weekly Roundup of Headlines from Around the Globe
Governments around the world are engaging in serious political and technical discussions on how to expand health coverage. Still others are considering such reforms, but are struggling to navigate the legal, financial, and political frameworks of their countries to determine the best path towards universal health coverage (UHC).
Below is a list of UHC-related headlines from around the world for the week of April 15, 2013.
Beyond the cube
Ethics and universal health coverage
The World Health Report: Health systems financing: the path to universal coverage chose three dimensions (population, services, direct costs) to consider when moving towards universal coverage, as demonstrated by a graphic cube (on page 12). A major theme emerging on day one of the conference “Universal Coverage in Developing- Country Health Systems: Ethical Dilemmas" is that the cube does not go quite far enough.
The cube is meant to demonstrate the tradeoffs between covering direct costs, the population, and services. A nation has to decide to what extent and to what degree they will cover each area. In essence, universal health coverage is a balancing act or, rather, a tug of war, between these different priorities.