COVID-19 response in Lebanon: current experience and challenges in a low-resource setting
This journal article gives insight into Lebanon’s healthcare response to the COVID 19 pandemic with limited financial resources and an increasingly private and urban health sector. It suggests that 80% of the health care budget in Lebanon is spent on acute care in...
Purchasing health services under Egypt’s new universal health insurance law: What are the implications for universal health coverage?
This paper provides an assessment of the purchasing arrangements in Egypt as stipulated by the universal health insurance law and bylaw, their implications and contribution to progress towards universal health coverage (UHC). There needs to be more legal clarity in...
Equity of healthcare financing: a progressivity analysis for Egypt
This paper aims to evaluate the progressivity of healthcare financing in Egypt by assessing five financing sources, out-of-pocket payments, an earmarked cigarette tax, direct taxes, indirect taxes, social health insurance and private health insurance. It provides a...
Implementing the universal health insurance law of Egypt: what are the key issues on strategic purchasing and its governance arrangements?
This document aims to inform the universal health insurance law implementation process in Egypt by anticipating the strengths and possible challenges as well as developing options to support a shift towards more strategic purchasing. It suggests that it would be...
Social protection spending in Lebanon: A deep dive into state financing of social protection
This publication looks into government spending on social protection over the period between 2017 and 2020. In an effort to understand how social protection spending and financing is structured in Lebanon and who are its main beneficiaries, this budget spending review...
Rebuilding of the Lebanese health care system: health sector reforms
This paper outlines the initiatives taken by the Ministry of Public Health (MOPH) to finance the existing network of health services and create additional services since the end of the Lebanese civil war in 1992. It describes the country’s health system in terms of...

Lebanon receives support for first COVID 19 vaccine rollout
Lebanon has received US$34 million under the World Bank's Lebanon Health Resilience Project to support vaccine procurement. The financing will provide vaccines for over 2 million individuals. The vaccines are expected to arrive in Lebanon by early February...

The Lebanese National Social Security Fund, explained
The National Social Security Fund was founded in 1963 under the (then joint) Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs via the Lebanese Social Security Law, with the aim of creating universal insurance. It is primarily funded by the contributions of private companies...

The Lebanese National Social Security Fund requests increased financing
The Lebanese National Social Security Fund (NSSF) serves a particularly important role in the wake of the current crisis engulfing the country, as medical bills have significantly inflated and even the most prominent hospitals are struggling to maintain their...

Lebanon health sector receives international support
Lebanon is recieving more than 1.7 million US dollars aimed at strengthening the health sector by enhancing its operational capacity to provide essential health services and to contribute to the national response to the COVID-19 pandemic through a UNOPS project funded...
Ethiopia launches a COVID-19 vaccination campaign targeting the 12 years and above population
On 16 November 2021, the Federal Ministry of Health (MoH) launched a COVID-19 vaccination campaign aiming to vaccinate people aged 12 years and above. The Ministry has deployed over 28,000 vaccinators and more than 6.2 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines for the...
Is Health Insurance Associated with Health Service Utilization and Economic Burden of Non-Communicable Diseases on Households in Vietnam?
ABSTRACT The rising burden of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) in developing countries has caused high out-of-pocket (OOP) health spending leading to many households suffering Catastrophic Health Expenditure (CHE). This study examined the association between health...
Viet Nam Social Security News VSS’ branches told to develop suitable solutions to increase health insurance participants
https://vss.gov.vn/english/news/Pages/vietnam-social-security.aspx?ItemID=10106&CateID=198

Malaysia budget 2022 prioritizes to support the low-income households and businesses affected by COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic negatively affects Malaysia’s economy and household income, especially lower income families. To minimize the impact of economic recession and alleviate the poverty from the pandemic, Malaysia approved budget for 2022 with priorities to support...

Singapore will open a long-term disability program for people born in 1979 or earlier
Long-term care is needed for dependent older persons. However, the cost of long-term care and duration of disability are unpredictable. Thus, a new long-term disability program so called “CareShield Life” has been introduced to provide a basic lifetime financial...