In August, representatives from WHO and ILO met to discuss their work to support Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and strengthen social health protection in Ethiopia.
The ILO team gave an overview of the PROSPECTS project, a new Partnership on Inclusive Jobs and Education for Host Communities, Refugees, and other Forcibly Displaced Persons. The Partnership brings together five agencies (ILO, World Bank, IFC, UNICEF, UNHCR) to support inclusive job creation, education and protection in contexts characterized by forced displacement. The PROSPECTS project is currently exploring opportunities to further strengthen social health protection for vulnerable populations in Ethiopia through the Community Based Health Insurance (CBHI) schemes in the informal sector.
The WHO team described their work to strengthen the health financing system Ethiopia, focusing on the technical support provided to the Ethiopian health insurance agency (EHIA). WHO is working with partners to support the EHIA to revise the health insurance benefit package (HIBP) and build capacity at the sub-national level in order to successfully roll out the CBHI. The purpose of the revision of the HIBP is to provide a clear definition of what services should be provided at each level of care for CBHI beneficiaries within the projected resource constraints.
Both parties agreed that ILO and WHO have complementary roles to play, and plan to continue the discussion and keep each other updated on the progression of the work in Ethiopia.
To find out more about PROSPECTS, click here or reach out to Shana Höhler (Hoehler@ilo.org).
To find out more about P4H and WHO’s health financing support in Ethiopia, reach out to Jessika Yin, P4H country focal person in Ethiopia (jyin@who.int).
