This latest paper of the World Bank's Double Shock, Double Recovery series, Health Financing in a Time of Global Shocks, is a first attempt to comprehensively gauge how government health spending has fared in developing countries over the past three years – a period...
Strategic purchasing of health services in Sierra Leone
This study assessed the progress that Sierra Leone has made regarding strategic purchasing of health services, in its efforts to attain universal health coverage. Specifically, it aimed to; Map the major purchasers and purchasing arrangements in Sierra Leone, Analyze...
Can Ethiopia finance the continued development of its primary health care system if external resources decline?
Originally published in 2018, this study utilized a projection model to assess Ethiopia's ability to sustain its primary care system in the face of decreasing external support. The study also examined the projected costs associated with primary healthcare delivery....
Use of incentives in health supply chains: a review of results based financing in Mozambique’s central medical store
This qualitative review was conducted in March 2013 to evaluate the impact of introducing results-based financing aiming to improve health supply chain performance at Central Medical Store-Central de Medicamentos e Artigos Medicos (CMAM). The intervention linked the...
Public-private partnerships for health: opportunities in Cabo Delgado, Mozambique
The Mozambican government confronts formidable challenges in enhancing population health outcomes, primarily due to the burden of disease and insufficient allocation of resources to the health sector. At the same time, mining and natural gas firms operating in Cabo...
Free drug provision for tuberculosis increases patient follow-ups and successful treatment outcomes in the Indian private sector
A quasi-experimental study using propensity score matchingAbstract Background The private sector is an important yet underregulated component of the TB treatment infrastructure in India. The Joint Effort for Elimination of Tuberculosis (Project JEET) aims to link...
Has Iran achieved the goal of reducing the prevalence of households faced with catastrophic health expenditure to 1%?: A national survey
A research article published in the Health Science Reports of the Wiley online Library on the government of Iran’s efforts towards reducing catastrophic health expenditure for its population. Abstract One of the goals of the Islamic Republic of Iran is to reduce the...
The economic burden incurred by families caring for children with developmental disability in Uganda
This study reveals that households caring for a child with a disability spent more than the national average household expenditure, and the annual cost of illness for all households was more than 100% of the national GDP per capita. In sub-Saharan Africa,...
The importance of wage loss in the financial burden of illness: Longitudinal evidence from India
Abstract Background A key aim of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) is to protect individuals and households against the financial risk of illness, and large-scale health insurance expansions are a central focus of the UHC agenda. Importantly, however, health insurance...
Qatar’s National Health Insurance Company (NHIC): What happened, and what shall be done to develop the current social health insurance law
The social health insurance scheme in the State of Qatar provides universal health insurance for all people in the country, and offers members a choice of providers from across the public and private sectors. It forms a key part of the realization of...
Strategic health purchasing in Nigeria: Exploring the evidence on health system and service delivery improvements
Global commitment to achieving universal health coverage (UHC) has led to increasing attention on health purchasing. Purchasing is one of the key health financing functions that provides the critical link between resources mobilized for health and the effective...
Universal health coverage and the poor: to what extent are health financing policies making a difference? Evidence from a benefit incidence analysis in Zambia
Zambia has invested in several healthcare financing reforms aimed at achieving universal access to health services. This study conducted a quasi-longitudinal benefit incidence analysis of public and overall health spending between 2006 and 2014 by combining data from...
Expanding Social Health Protection for Migrant Women in the Dominican Republic
Migrants are vulnerable population, often a forgotten segment of countries’ populations, not only in the Americas. Their access to health coverage without facing financial ruin faces particular challenges. This report presents findings from a rapid assessment...
Is performance-based financing a pathway to strategic purchasing in sub-Saharan Africa? a synthesis of the evidence
In this study, the authors examine the question of whether and how PBF programs in sub-Saharan Africa influence strategic purchasing more broadly within the country’s health financing arrangements. Many countries in sub-Saharan Africa have implemented...
An equity analysis on the household costs of accessing and utilising maternal and child health care services in Tanzania
One of the most cited barriers to accessing health services in most low and middle-income countries is distance to the facility, not only geographically but also financially. Direct and time costs of accessing and using health care may limit health care access, impact...