UHC Forward: Towards Universal Health Coverage

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 reform.

Below is a list of UHC-related headlines from around the world:

Ghana

Progressivity of health care financing and incidence of service benefits in Ghana: A comprehensive assessment of the financing and benefit incidence of health services in Ghana. This analysis draws on secondary data from the Ghana Living Standards Survey (2005/2006) and from an additional household survey, which collected data in 2008 in six districts covering the three main ecological zones of Ghana. (Oxford Journals: Health Policy and Planning)

India

The ministry has asked the Planning Commission to rewrite its chapter on health in the 12th 5-year Plan document: The health ministry has opposed the Planning Commission’s proposal for a radical overhaul of the public healthcare system, saying it deviates from the government’s primary goal of providing health coverage to all. (Livement.com & The Wall Street Journal)

German delegation visiting India to take Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana lessons: Germany has sought India's help to provide social benefits to needy schoolchildren in a cost-effective way on the lines of the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana, the smart-card based health insurance scheme that covers over 30 million poor households. (Economic Times)

Health insurance scheme to cover OPD patients too: After providing cashless health insurance cover to below-poverty-line (BPL) indoor patients under the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY), Punjab will also implement the scheme in the OPD (out-patient department) as a pilot project in three districts. (Hindustan Times)

Activists up in arms against new proposal on health care: Health activists are up in arms against the Planning Commission for its proposal in the 12th Five Year Plan documents that seeks to restructure the country’s health care system in a way that would effectively hand over health care to the corporate sector. (The Hindu)

Indian state of Chhattisgarh set to become first state to offer health insurance cover for all: Chhattisgarh is set to become the first state to extend health insurance cover to all its unorganised sector workers, a step that will not only make healthcare accessible to all but also set a model for other states to follow. (Economic Times)

Mali

Scaling up community-based health insurance in Mali: Health Systems 20/20 released the 12th brief in the Better Health Systems – Strategies that Work series. It discusses the development of Mali’s new national community-based health insurance (CBHI) policy. (Health Systems 20/20)

Informatisation des mutuelles de santé: Cheickna Toure, Executive Vice President Technical Union of Malian Mutuality UTM, describes the experience of Mali in attempting to answer the question, "how can the use of information technology improve the collection of contributions in mutual health?" (Health Harmonization in Africa Financial Access to Health Services Community of Practice)

Philippines

Universal health care debates: The phrase “Universal Health Care” or UHC, a topic that has recently become a buzzword in health circles globally as health experts worry about the fact that large population groups in many countries, including the most powerful in the world, have inadequate access to good quality health care. (Malaya Business Insight)