Can National Health Insurance pave the way to Universal Health Coverage in sub-Saharan Africa?
African leaders across the continent have made bold commitments to attain Universal Health Coverage (UHC). One way to show this commitment has been through exploring National Health Insurance Schemes (NHIS). In this study, the authors examine African country...
President Buhari says that 83 million poor Nigerians will benefit from the new health insurance scheme
President Muhammadu Buhari announced that, as recommended by the Lancet Nigeria Commission, a fund will be set up to ensure coverage of 83 million poor Nigerians (who cannot afford to pay premiums) in the new National Health Insurance Scheme . A statement issued by...
Health coverage and financial protection in Uganda: A political economy perspective
It has been over 20 years since Uganda abolished user-fees to improve access to health services and reduce the financial burden of accessing care. However, household out-of-pocket expenditures are still persistently very high contributing 42% of total health...
Jordan: IAF proposes independent institution to run health insurance services
The Islamic Action Front party (IAF) in Jordan has proposed setting up an independent public institution to run health insurance services nationwide, similar to the Social Security Corporation (SSC). IAF said this is part of the Jordan Vision 2030 is based...
Jordan’s lower house passes 2022 budget bill: Key takeaways for health
Jordan’s lower house on Monday passed the 2022 draft laws for the state budget and for this year’s budgets of independent public institutions after marathon deliberations that took place for seven days. Healthcare allocations are increased in the budget law by JD 177...
An assessment on Universal Health Coverage in Fiji is now available
Health services at public facilities in Fiji were and still are largely free and readily available for the population with limited user fees charged for certain specialized medical procedures. It even offers waivers for said fees to poorer patients. This assessment...
Uganda Parliament asked to reconsider National Health Insurance Bill
In March 2021, Parliament passed the National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill mandating all Ugandans aged 18- years and above to contribute to access health services. However, president, Yoweri Museveni is yet to give an approval of the Bill. The speaker of parliament...
The costs of South Africa’s National Health Insurance are yet to be calculated, says Finance Minister
Finance minister Enoch Godongwana says the government has not updated the cost model of the proposed National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) since the 2019/2020 financial year. Responding in a written parliamentary question and answer session, Godongwana said this...
Government proposes payroll tax and other surcharges to fund South Africa’s National Health Insurance Scheme
The National Department of Health in March presented its proposal to mobilise additional resources to fund the new National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) which include the introduction of new taxes. In a presentation to Parliament on Tuesday 29 March, the Department...
Health Financing System Assessment in Papua New Guinea
The document provides an analysis of the economic, demographic, and disease burden context, the health system structure, human resources for health and health expenditure in the country. It includes detailed information and analysis of the health expenditure trends,...
Equality in financial access to healthcare in Cambodia from 2004 to 2014
"Using the World Health Organization's methods for the analysis of healthcare expenditure and household survey data from 2004, 2009 and 2014 Cambodian Socio-Economic Survey, the authors assessed trends in reported illness, utilization of healthcare services and...
New document on National Health Accounts for Fiji is now available
The National Health Accounts report for Fiji provides health expenditures information for the period of 2011-2015 and tracks health expenditures from financing sources to health services and beneficiaries. An average of 9% of total government expenditure funded the...
Inclusive social protection in Mali: launch of the WSM-DGD 2022 2026 program
On June 17, 2022, the international Network for Social Protection Rights (Insp!r-Mali), in partnership with Belgian organizations, officially launched the WSM/DGD program for the period 2022-2026 in the area of the right to social protection. The INSPIR-Mali network,...
Saudi Arabia: Saudi National Health Insurance Center offers free insurance coverage to all citizens
Saudi Arabia's National Health Insurance Center will provide free insurance for those covered by government health services in the Kingdom, said Mohammed Al-Abdulaali, spokesperson for the Ministry of Health. Al-Abdulaali said that the health transformation and the...
WEBINAR – Extending financial protection to underserved and socially excluded populations
Health inequalities are systematic differences in the health status of population groups; social factors such as education, employment status, income level, gender and ethnic origin influence an individual's health[1]. It is important to address health inequalities,...