Assessment of the design and implementation challenges of the national health insurance scheme (NHIS) in Nigeria: a qualitative study among sub-national level actors, healthcare and insurance providers
Health insurance is an important mechanism to improve access to healthcare and prevent financial hardship and attain universal health coverage. Although it has been over almost two decades since the launch of the NHIS, only 5% of Nigerians have health insurance and...
Kenya receives 4 million USD for syringe manufacturing
Amid looming shortfalls of syringes to administer COVID-19 vaccine, Kenya’s leading medical supply manufacturer, Revital Healthcare (EPZ) Ltd has received 4 million USD from development partners. This will help expand production of...
Many Nigerians yet to benefit from health care provision fund
In 2014, the government of Nigeria implemented the basic health care provision fund (BHCPF) with the aim of providing adequate care and services at the primary health care (PHC) level, mostly for the vulnerable population, so as to reduce out-of-pocket expenses....
Why has the universal health insurance coverage bill been delayed in Tanzania?
In November, 2021, the government of Tanzania announced that the much-awaited universal health Insurance coverage bill was in the final preparation stages after going through all requisite processes. However, plans to table it during the September 2021 parliament...
Russia approved state guarantees of free medical care with access to high-technology medical care
Program of state guarantees of free medical care provision to citizens for 2022, including plans for 2023 and 2024 (the Program) establishes a list of types, forms and conditions for the provision of free of charge medical care, according to the list of diseases and...
President Putin signed a law for user-friendly identification of insured status
The compulsory health insurance participation status can now be issued in a variety of forms: on paper, or as a bar code otherwise recorded on various information carriers intended for applying, storing and transferring information on insured status. According to the...
Examining health facility financing in Kenya in the context of devolution
The performance of public health facilities depends on purchasing arrangements, and mechanisms used to finance their operations. How public healthcare facilities are financed can affect health system goals in several ways. For example, the reliability of sources of...
Drivers of outpatient care costs incurred by Kenyan households
An estimated 1.48 million people in Kenya are pushed into poverty every year because of out-of-pocket (OOP) and outpatient health expenses. Kenyans from poor households are the most vulnerable and experience economic hardship each time an OOP payment is necessary....
The progress in addressing financial risk in Uganda; Analysis of catastrophe and impoverishment due to health payments
In this study, the researchers monitor the progress that Uganda has made in ensuring financial risk protection to attain universal health coverage (UHC) as a signatory to the sustainable development goals. Monitoring progress towards UHC requires tracking of progress...
Equity of local government health financing in Uganda
In Uganda, just like most low and middle-income countries, most of the health spending is at the local government (subnational) level. To achieve universal health coverage, efforts to increase health spending need to consider the efficiency and effectiveness of...
Health coverage and financial protection in Uganda: A political economy perspective
In this article, the researchers analyse the Ugandan experience of health financing reforms with a specific focus on financial protection. After almost 20 years of abolishing user-fees to improve accessibility to health services for the population, the incidence of...
Kenya receives over 900,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines
In October, 2021 Kenya received a second consignment of 990,990 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine with help from the COVAX facility and the United States government. The first batch of 795,000 Pfizer vaccines arrived in September, 2021. With the second batch,...
Botswana ministry of health requires USD 97 million for COVID-19 response
The ministry of health and wellness, Botswana, requires an additional funding of USD 97 million as additional funding to cover the procurement of medical supplies, mainly vaccines and associated medical items such as syringes, needles and surgical masks. The fund...
Kenya on course to achieving universal health coverage (UHC)
The government of Kenya announced that it is still on track to attaining UHC by 2030. During the state address in Dec, 2021, president Kenyatta urged the senate to expedite the consideration of the 2021 national hospital insurance fund (amendments) bill which was...
New documents available on Kenya country page
New documents on drivers of outpatient care costs incurred by households and health facility financing in Kenya in the context of devolution have been uploaded to the documents section of the Kenya country page. The documents can be downloaded from...