Does health insurance contribute to improved utilization of health care services for the elderly in rural Tanzania? A cross-sectional study
Health care systems in developing countries such as Tanzania depend heavily on out-of-pocket payments. This mechanism contributes to inefficiency, inequity and cost, and is a barrier to patients seeking care especially the vulnerable aging population, hence impede...
Progressive pathway to universal health coverage (UHC) in Tanzania: A call for preferential resource allocation targeting the poor
Many countries, Tanzania included, committed to the goal of achieving UHC. A key lesson from research evidence and country experience in implementation of pro-poor UHC is that public budget plays a crucial role in financing health care access for the poor. This paper...
Prospects for sustainable health financing in Tanzania: Baseline report
A high proportion of Tanzania’s total health spending comes from foreign donors and households’ out-of- pocket (OOP) spending, rather than from sustainable sources such as government tax-based revenue or health insurance. Over reliance on OOP can expose households to...
Universal health coverage (UHC) in Tanzania: Evaluating the potential of a public private partnership (PPP) in health financing system
In this paper, the author analyses how UHC is being implemented in the health financing system of Tanzania and also how PPPs are contributing towards the attainment of UHC. A cross sectional survey was conducted in the Kilimanjaro region in Tanzania to evaluate the...
Universal health coverage (UHC) in low-Income countries: Tanzania’s efforts to overcome barriers to equitable health service access
The Government of Tanzania has implemented a number of health sector reforms that promote UHC in the last two decades. This case study focuses primarily on the initiatives that foster UHC with a specific pro-poor lens. Tanzania’s efforts that can potentially benefit...
Household health expenditure rises by 52% last four years
The recent Household Budget Survey 2019-20 published end of September shows a relevant 52% increase in household health expenditures. However, expenditure level continues to be low, passing from 90 Mzn (1,5€) in the last report of 2014-15 to 139 Mzn (1,8€) per...
Tanzania receives US$567.25 million in emergency support to address the COVID-19 pandemic
Tanzania has received US$189.08 million under the rapid credit facility (RCF) and a purchase equivalent to US$378.17 million under the rapid financing instrument (RFI), a total of US$567.25 million. This emergency financing will help finance...
Government of Tanzania invests in universal health coverage (UHC)
The government of Tanzania is committed to attaining UHC by 2030. In this vein, the government has set aside Sh149 billion (about 65 million USD) to implement UHC. The government spokesperson, Mr Gerson Msigwa, said the money would be used to start providing...
Publication of the ACT-Accelerator Strategic Review
The Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator Strategic Review: An independent report prepared by Dalberg, was published on Friday, 8th October 2021. This report was commissioned by the World Health Organization, on behalf of the ACT-Accelerator partners and as host...
Kenya: New documents on national hospital insurance fund (NHIF) available in the documents section
Two documents have been recently uploaded to the documents section of the Kenya country page. An assessing the feasibility of the amendment of the NHIF stipulating that all Kenyans must be registered under in the new universal health...
Is Kenya’s national hospital insurance fund (NHIF) amendment bill a silver bullet for universal health coverage (UHC)?
The NHIF amendment bill is part of Government of Kenya plan for achieving UHC. The goal of the UHC program is to provide health care for all based on need-not on ability to pay. One of the proposals in the 2021 NHIF amendment bill stipulates that all Kenyans must be...
Universal health care coverage (UHC): healthcare financing and access to health care services in Kenya
Reliance on out-of-pocket (OOP) payments to finance health care is a barrier to health care access and can result in the impoverishment of households. Health care in Kenya is financed from three main sources: OOP expenditure (households), government expenditure and...
“We are called the et cetera”: experiences of the poor with health financing reforms that target them in Kenya
Kenya has implemented a number of healthcare reforms, demonstrating its intention to extend financial risk protection and service coverage for poor and vulnerable groups. These reforms include the provision of free maternity services, user-fee removal in public...
Towards universal health coverage (UHC) in Kenya: are we on the right path?
The Kenyan government made a commitment to achieve UHC by the year 2022, embodied in the governments big 4 agenda that includes healthcare for all as one of the key development goals. Prioritizing UHC as a global and country health policy goal has highlighted the need...
The progressivity of health care financing in Kenya
Healthcare financing should be equitable to ensure equal access to quality care and financial risk protection from exorbitant health care costs, through social health protection. In many low and middle income countries including Kenya, changes to healthcare financing...