Improving health service delivery in conflict-affected settings: Lessons from a nationwide strategic purchasing mechanism in Afghanistan
Due to ongoing insecurity, the government of Afghanistan delivers health care to the country’s population by contracting out service delivery to non-governmental organization service providers (SPs). In 2018, major changes to SP contracts were introduced, resulting in...
Measurement and determinants of financial protection in health in Afghanistan
Out of pocket payments for health poses a significant health financing challenge in Afghanistan as they put households at risk of incurring catastrophic health expenditure and potential impoverishment. This study measures and explains the drivers and impacts of this...
Assessment of progress towards universal health coverage for people with disabilities in Afghanistan: a multilevel analysis of repeated cross-sectional surveys
According to the UN Sustainable Development Goal 3, target eight, the provision of quality care to all must include usually underserved groups, including people with disabilities. The paper investigates how much a decade of international investment in the Afghan...
Actuarial study of the proposed single national health insurance (SNHI) scheme in Tanzania: A summary brief
In 2017, Tanzania proposed the SNHI, building on the existing national health insurance fund’s (NHIF) administrative structures to manage contributions and enrol participants. As of October 2017, NHIF, which primarily provides health insurance for the formal sector,...
Strategic purchasing for universal health coverage (UHC): examining the purchaser–provider relationship within a social health insurance scheme in Nigeria
Recognising how important purchasing is in social health insurance, this study critically assesses purchasing arrangements between Nigeria’s national health insurance scheme, health maintenance organisations and healthcare providers. It determines how the arrangements...
Factors affecting utilization of the national health insurance scheme by federal civil servants in Rivers State, Nigeria
This study assessed the utilization of health care and associated factors amongst the federal civil servants using the NHIS in Rivers state, Nigeria. It is a descriptive cross-sectional study using self-administered questionnaires. Findings show that out of a total of...
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...