Refining the social contract for health to build on the Millennium Development Goals
(International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies) - On 16 October 2012 from 11am to 12.30pm, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), in partnership with other organisations, will be holding the High Level Panel 'Building a Social Contract for Health'. Speaking for the IFRC will be Stefan Seebacher, Head of the Health Department, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
The social contract for health stems from our mutual responsibility to alleviate poverty and misery. It has deep historical roots and strong foundations, but it still needs to be refined and improved.
In that respect, Universal Health Coverage must be within the Post-2015 policy framework to build on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and ensure a continued pledge towards health and inclusive growth.
Global Health 2: Universal Health Coverage - opportunities and lessons
Nisha Agrawal, Chief Executive Officer, OxFam India
Margaret Chan, Director-General, World Health Organization
Keizo Takemi, Senior Fellow at the Japan Center for International Exchange and Professor of Political Science and Economics at Tokai University, Japan
Richard Horton, Moderator, Editor in Chief, The Lancet, and Chair, External Review Panel for the Comm. on Accountability & Information on Women’s and Children’s Health
Universal health coverage: An emerging agenda
(Let's Talk Development) - This week at the World Bank Annual Meetings in Tokyo, many of us are talking about universal health coverage as a goal that most countries aspire to achieve. There is a growing recognition that reaching the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for health, as well as broader improvements in health status, will require expanding access to affordable, quality health services to all.
In its simplest formulation, universal health coverage is a system in which everyone in a society can get the health care services they need without experiencing financial hardship. The goal is to improve access and achieve equity in health care provision and health outcomes in a fiscally sustainable, inclusive manner.
Get Well, Maya: Universal Health Coverage Ensures Healthy Futures
Partners of Harmonization for Health in Africa Discuss Action Plans for High Quality, Affordable Healthcare and Implementation of Tunis Declaration
(African Development Bank) - Partners in the Harmonization for Health in Africa (HHA) initiative convened in Nairobi on October 4 and 5, as a follow-up to the recent Tunis Ministerial Conference for African Health and Finance Ministers.
Regional Directors, senior representatives and a multidisciplinary group of technical experts from the HHA partner agencies used the opportunity to discuss how to further strengthen their support to countries in providing quality and affordable healthcare to African populations, particularly the under-served.
Through exchanging experiences on the partnership's approach to advocacy, technical support, resource mobilization, among other topics, the delegates sought solutions to support countries in a more cohesive and effective manner.
Challenges of health care financing in Nigeria: effective insurance scheme as a way out
(Business News) - In the last couple of months, social media especially twitter was flooded with #savecitizen drives, aimed at raising fund for medical treatment of compatriots. Laudable as these ventures seem, their sustainability is doubtful, as donor fatigue will set in. For every one citizen saved, there are a thousand and one citizens waiting in anguish to be saved. Begging to foot medical bill is not alien to our society; we are inundated daily with image display of ailments in our mosques churches and market places. The images displayed often include dehumanizing pictures, showing of sensitive parts like scrotum and breast. To convince would-be donors on the veracity of their ailments, patients often display their ailing body parts to the public. This definitely shouldn’t be the means of financing health care.
Health care is a right not a privilege, its provision should be based on need not ability to pay.
New Publication: The quest for universal health coverage: achieving social protection for all in Mexico
(The Lancet) - Mexico is reaching universal health coverage in 2012. A national health insurance programme called Seguro Popular, introduced in 2003, is providing access to a package of comprehensive health services with financial protection for more than 50 million Mexicans previously excluded from insurance. Universal coverage in Mexico is synonymous with social protection of health. This report analyses the road to universal coverage along three dimensions of protection: against health risks, for patients through quality assurance of health care, and against the financial consequences of disease and injury. We present a conceptual discussion of the transition from labour-based social security to social protection of health, which implies access to effective health care as a universal right based on citizenship, the ethical basis of the Mexican reform.
Jeffrey Sachs and Universal Health Coverage
(Salud por Derecho) - Last week, in the framework of the General Assembly of the United Nations, The Lancet celebrated the launch of a monographic document dedicated to Universal Health Care.
In one of its articles, “Achieving Universal Health Coverage in Low Income Settings”, Jeffrey Sachs proposes that universal health coverage is an attainable goal. Sachs defines universal coverage as a basic package of health services that efficiently prioritizes the common illnesses of a community. In the case of impoverished countries, the most pressing illnesses are the infectious diseases and resulting symptoms as a consequence of poorly developed sanitation and health infrastructure, for example, diarrhea, malaria, and the perinatal and maternal deaths associated with childbirth.
Kwara Assembly passes health insurance bill
(This Day) - A bill to give legal backing to the Community Health Insurance Scheme for low income groups in Kwara State has been passed into law by the state House of Assembly.
The bill tagged: "The State Health Insurance Scheme 2012", scaled through the third reading on the floor of the Assembly, following the final consideration of the report of the Assembly's Committee on Health and Environment.
The Speaker of the Assembly Hon.
Experts will provide technical support on health financing of the universal health coverage scheme
(Livemint & the Wall Street Journal) - As the health ministry begins the overhaul of India’s healthcare system, experts from the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) will lend them a helping hand. The experts will assist the health ministry with capacity building, ministerial leadership training and will provide technical support on financing the proposed universal health coverage scheme.
According to health ministry officials, experts will provide technical support on health financing of the universal health coverage scheme.