The Government of Malawi is in the process of undertaking a series of reforms aimed at restructuring the health system and assessing financing options to ensure a more efficient, transparent and equitable health system.
Two requests. In this context, a request was made to the World Bank for technical assistance on health financing reform. At the same time, a request was also sent to the P4H Network via GIZ, specifically on the option of introducing a national health insurance (NHI) scheme.
One mission. During a P4H telco on 23 July (see below), the partners decided to combine a P4H mission originally scheduled for 10-14 Aug with the upcoming WB mission on 30-31 July 2015. The objective of the joint mission was to get a better understanding of the requests for technical support on health financing; and to agree on a process for joint support in the area of heath financing for the period August 2015 to July 2016.
Formation of a core group. During a meeting on 31 July, the MoH appointed a core team to manage the review process. On the DP side, a core group comprising WBG, WHO, GIZ, UNICEF, USAID, Abt Associates, UNAIDS, DFID, Norway and the P4H Coordination Desk was formed. This core group will be coordinated by the WHO Country Representative with support from the P4H Network. On the government’s side a multi-sectoral group will be formed.
Next steps. Agreed upon key areas of work in line with the priorities mentioned by MoH are:
· Review of existing documents on health financing (quality of method, data, and conclusions). The options paper on health insurance should be reviewed first. Emphasis will be on assessing the feasibility of establishing a NHI by conducting a cost-benefit analysis, and evaluating implementation capability by looking at the existing health system, national development process, and the political economy.
· Advocacy and joint support to the government in engaging in an inclusive and consultative process;
· Assistance in the development of an implementation plan, and strengthening implementation capacity; and
· Development of a concept note outlining the agreed areas of work, timelines, and roles and responsibilities of each Partner by the end of August 2015. See the Malawi Forum page for info about the development process of the concept note, e.g. discussion among partner and the lastest CN draft.
Minutes of MoH-DP meeting on 31 Jul: still in draft form DRAFT minutes health financing meeting 31 Julydraft for comments ZH-RR-KSPchanges accepted 4 aug[2], the final signed version will be posted here and replace the draft WB back-to-offce-report: 2015_08_05_Malawi_mission_Health_Financing_BTOR Minutes of P4H telco on 23 Jul: 2015_07_23_Malawi_P4H_telco_23Jul_notes
