Joint Learning Network facilitates study tours for delegations from Ethiopia and Benin
As a partner on the Abt Associates-led Health Finance and Government Project, leveraging its wide network the Joint Learning Network for Universal Health Coverage helped facilitate study tours to Ghana, the Philippines and Rwanda for health sector agency officials from Ethiopia and Benin. These study tours will allow the opportunity to learn from the practical experiences of other countries implementing health insurance reforms and to understand the challenges countries face in operationalizing health insurance reforms.
On March 22-28, Ghana’s National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) hosted a delegation of fourteen members from the Ethiopia Health Insurance Agency (EHIA) and partner organizations. The NHIA also hosted a delegation from the Benin Ministry of Health on April 8-12.
Next report: Research for Universal Health Coverage
Next World Health Report will focus on research for universal health coverage
The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced that the next World Health Report -- to be published in September 2013 -- will focus on research for universal health coverage (UHC). Below is a snap shot of the announcement.
*Everyone should have access to the health services they need without being forced into poverty when paying for them. This report argues that universal health coverage – with full access to high-quality services for prevention, treatment and financial risk protection – cannot be achieved without the evidence provided by scientific research. It maintains that all nations should be producers of research as well as consumers. The process of discovery should take place not only in academic centres but also in public health programmes where people seek health care and use the services provided.
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 1, 2013.
Bridging the health sector gap
With a topic like “Scaling up Health Insurance and Financial Protection in Health,” a conference could easily slip into a debate mired in technical details. However, Julio Frenk, Dean of the Harvard School of Public Health set the tone early for the March 28, 2013, workshop, co-hosted by the International Finance Corporation and the World Bank, by identifying two themes as essential to introducing and expanding health insurance: coordination and transparency.
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 March 25, 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 March 18, 2013. If you are viewing this on the web and would prefer to receive The Week in Headlines in your inbox every week, subscribe to the email edition.
COUNTRY NEWS
Ghana
Ethiopian delegation in Ghana to under study NHIS: An 11-member high-powered delegation from Ethiopia is in Ghana to under study the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).
Free health care, a step towards universal coverage in Africa? Perhaps, if we draw the lessons of the recent past!
(Health Financing in Africa) - In this blog post, Bruno Meessen (ITM, Antwerp) discusses the gaps in the process of implementation of free initiatives in many African countries. He distinguishes lessons for universal coverage agenda for governments in Africa, the international community and researchers. This post is cross-posted with permission from the Health Financing in Africa blog.
In 2009, at the request of UNICEF, I had the pleasure of coordinating a study on the policy of free care in six African countries.
Ministers share experiences on achieving universal health coverage
Since the World Health Organization (WHO) released their report on universal health coverage (UHC) in 2010, 70 countries have asked them for technical assistance to get on the path to achieve UHC. As part of the WHO’s ongoing work to assist countries, they recently co-hosted with the World Bank a ministerial meeting on UHC in Geneva.
AfGH took part in this meeting together with civil society colleagues working on this agenda at both national and global levels, shaping it from a civil society perspective and ensuring that it delivers on its potential.
The meeting provided an important opportunity for ministers of health and finance, two roles that do not always see eye-to-eye, to come together and discuss what needs to happen to achieve 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 March 11, 2013. If you are viewing this on the web and would prefer to receive The Week in Headlines in your inbox every week, subscribe to the email edition.
Country News
Nigeria
Universal health coverage is our goal: At a recent national workshop for civil society organizations the Acting Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), Dr.
Joint Learning Network countries build costing manual for provider payment
Health provider payment systems—the way health providers are paid to deliver services—are increasingly being recognized as a powerful tool in the pursuit of universal health coverage (UHC). In their provider payment reform efforts, many countries are struggling to establish a cost basis for payment rates – the average cost per unit of service provided—to better leverage provider payment policy for UHC (see Box). Determining the cost of health services and then using this cost information to inform payment rates is not easy in data-constrained environments, and there is little existing guidance for countries to follow. Well, not yet anyway.