“Author Archive”
Stories written by UHC Forward
By UHC Forward
In November 2012, the Philippines Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) issued a press release about its “crucial” collaboration with the Joint Learning Network for Universal Health Coverage (JLN) to develop a national health data dictionary. According to Dr. Alvin B. Marcelo, PhilHealth Chief Information and Technology Executive, “without a data dictionary, confusion and misinterpretations are common.” With the openHDD, PhilHealth can create new strategies “to improve universal health coverage.” PhilHealth’s adoption of openHDD is an international partnership embraced at the highest level of the PhilHealth Corporation.read more
February 5th, 2013 | Posted in Mapping,Medical Record Systems,Technology | Read More »
By UHC Forward
In Myanmar, 50 years of military dictatorship left behind a seriously underdeveloped health system, serving barely one in twenty of the country’s 60 million people. You might expect that the first minister of health under civilian rule would be despondent. But on my recent trip I found the opposite: Dr. Pe Thet Khin and his team are aligned around an ambitious vision for building a strong health system for the country.
February 5th, 2013 | Posted in Aid & Development,Delivery,Financing,Hub Selects,Policy & Systems,Politics | Read More »
By UHC Forward
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), adopted by the United Nations (UN) in 2000 are set to expire in 2015, so it is not surprising that a vigorous debate has started on what should succeed them. The UN has established a website dedicated to this and a series of thematic consultations, managed by specialized UN agencies, are now underway. Within the global public health community, there is also a tinge of anxiety that the strong share of health in the current MDGs (three out of eight are health related) could be diluted as other pressing themes such as climate change rise to the top of the agenda.read more
January 30th, 2013 | Posted in Featured Content,Hub Selects,MDGs | Read More »
By UHC Forward
The short film, “Ah, les Indigents,” documents an operational research project, led by Dr. Valéry Ridde from the University of Montreal Hospital Research Center, that focuses on community-based targeting in the district of Ourgaye, Burkina Faso in 2007. The film was released in July 2012 and was shown at the “Equity in Universal Coverage: How to Reach the Poorest” workshop held in Marrakech, Morocco from September 24-27, 2012. In order to share the film with colleagues and generate additional discussion, the EC Track of the JLN organized a viewing of the film at Results for Development Institute. As background, the government of Burkina Faso launched the Bamako Initiative (BI) in 1993 to increase access to primary health care.
January 23rd, 2013 | Posted in Aid & Development | Read More »
By UHC Forward
Universal Health Coverage, as defined by the World Health Organization (WHO), is “access to key promotive, preventive, curative and rehabilitative health interventions for all at an affordable cost, thereby achieving equity.” In May 2012, AIM-ZCABT and the WHO Western Pacific Regional Office (WHO WPRO) released this documentary film on universal health coverage that tackles the complex issues surrounding people’s access to Universal Health Care with emphasis on the situation of Southeast Asian countries including the Philippines.
January 11th, 2013 | Posted in Hub Selects,Policy & Systems | Read More »
By UHC Forward
Subtitle: Heartfile launches a new e-Forum Heartfile recently launched a new e-Forum, which provides a discussion platform to the global health and development community through news updates, commentaries and resources relating to global and national health policies. Check out Heartfile’s most recent blog post by Professor Wim Van Damme, senior lecturer in Public Health at the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp, Belgium on universal health coverage: *Last week the UN General Assembly passed a resolution on Universal Health Coverage, apparently with broad support from the Global South and North. That is no coincidence. In my opinion, UHC’s unique selling proposition is its obvious appeal to middle-income countries, BRICs and other emerging powers. Countries like Indonesia, Brazil, China, India, South-Africa, Mexico, Thailand, … are among the biggest advocates of UHC and for good reason.read more
January 10th, 2013 | Posted in Hub Selects,Policy & Systems | Read More »
By UHC Forward
1,800 participants from over 110 countries gathered in Beijing from October 31-November 3, 2012 to learn about the latest in health systems research. But, universal health coverage – how to achieve it and how to measure it – was the topic de jour at this year’s event. Over the course of four days, health experts from around the globe discussed all aspects of universal coverage ranging from provider payment mechanisms to health benefits packages in Latin America. For those of you that were unable to attend the Symposium, below are a few highlights and links to post-conference blogs, videos, and roundups.
November 13th, 2012 | Posted in Delivery,Financing,Policy & Systems,Politics | Read More »
By UHC Forward
As co-sponsor and host of the workshop, “Equity in Universal Coverage: How to Reach the Poorest”, in Marrakech, Morocco from September 24-27, 2012, the Moroccan Ministry of Health was clear about the importance of organizing a workshop that acknowledged and linked the political dimension of achieving universal health coverage (UHC), to the discussion and debate on technical achievements and challenges. As RAMED, Morocco’s medical assistance scheme for the poor, moves to rapidly scale-up, ensuring continued government commitment is as critical to the success of the program as getting technical nuts and bolts issues resolved. RAMED needs the support of the Moroccan government to address its challenge of long-term financial sustainability and to continue to elevate affordability and quality in health service delivery as key priorities.read more
November 6th, 2012 | Posted in Aid & Development,Delivery,Financing,Policy & Systems | Read More »
By UHC Forward
Subtitle: The vital role of the essential package for health impact Eugénie, a widow in Rwanda, farms to provide for her children. In January 2012, she had surgery to remove a tumor, a procedure that would have devastated her family economically if she did not have insurance. Rwanda’s health insurance program is the most successful of its kind in sub-Saharan Africa: it supports the health of more than 90 percent of the population, including the most vulnerable, like Eugénie. Rwanda is one of over 100 countries — over half of which are low- and middle-income countries — that have taken steps to provide universal health coverage (UHC).
November 2nd, 2012 | Posted in Hub Selects,misc,Policy & Systems | Read More »
By UHC Forward
The Joint Learning Network for Universal Health Coverage (JLN) released a video on Monday, October 22, 2012 to educate people about the network and its impact on practitioners and policymakers that participate in joint learning activities. The JLN is a network of policymakers and practitioners from Ghana, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia, Mali, Nigeria, the Philippines, Rwanda, Thailand, and Vietnam that learn from one another, jointly problem-solve, and collectively produce and use new knowledge, tools, and innovative approaches to accelerate country progress towards universal health coverage. Watch the video below to learn more about the JLN. read more
October 22nd, 2012 | Posted in Delivery,Featured Content,Financing,Policy & Systems,Politics | Read More »
By UHC Forward
As member of the Spanish All Party Group on Population, Development and Reproductive Health, I recently had the chance to participate in a parliamentarian field trip, supported by Action for Global Health, to a very special country: the Philippines. It is not only special for being a very populated state formed by 7,107 islands but for being at a crucial moment in the path towards being able to guarantee the right to health to its entire population. This is a big challenge because of two main difficulties: Poverty increases: although the Philippines has become a middle-income country recently, the percentage of poor people increases every year ( 26.5 percent of the population are classed as poor) and The country is overpopulated, with more than 95 million people. read more
October 5th, 2012 | Posted in Policy & Systems | Read More »
By UHC Forward
(Institute for Healthcare Improvement) – At IHI, as part of my work on the Quality Track for the Joint Learning Network for Universal Health Coverage, I bridge connections and enable dialogue among physicians, policymakers, and researchers across the globe who are trying to tackle one of the most exciting and important challenges of our generation: providing universal health coverage to people of all income levels. Sounds sexy, huh? Last week, I put this grand idea to the test for our monthly JLN webinar series with colleagues in Asia and Africa. The topic: What indicators should you use to measure the quality of care? How do you know that your health system has improved
September 24th, 2012 | Posted in Aid & Development,misc | Read More »
By UHC Forward
The world’s premier global health journal, The Lancet, released a special collection of papers exploring the social, political, and economic issues around the global movement towards universal health coverage (UHC) – defined by the World Health Organization as everyone in a population having access to appropriate, promotive, preventive, curative, and rehabilitative health care when they need it and at an affordable cost. This series comes at a time when UHC has been at the forefront of the global public health conversation – and is a significant step forward in an effort to achieve a UN resolution on UHC, and embed UHC prominently within the post-Millennium Development Goals framework.read more
September 7th, 2012 | Posted in Featured Content,Journal Watch,misc | Read More »
By UHC Forward
Debates and discussions about universal health coverage (UHC) tend to focus on the need for more equitable and efficient health financing systems. Whilst health financing reform is a crucial part of the equation, other health system building blocks, including human resources for health, also need to be considered. Each country will have a different approach to achieving UHC, but every government will need to ensure they have a strong health workforce if they are to be successful in achieving and sustaining UHC.read more
September 4th, 2012 | Posted in Policy & Systems | Read More »
