News

Uganda

Intervention Area:

Develop a Health Financing Strategy

Specific Objective:

Establish a consultation architecture and facilitate effective dialogue for the development of a Roadmap for Universal Health Coverage

Action Plan:

1.   Define key stakeholders;

2.   Develop a policy brief for strategic communication of key UHC issues;

3.   Organize a top management meeting between the MOH, and MOPED (among others)

4.   Trigger a substantive dialogue in the MOH Management Committee (by mid Dec 14), intermediate steps: solicit views and develop a concept note

5.   Push a national stakeholder consultation and consensus building initiative (two Workshops)  (Jan-Mar 15)

6.   Present results (Mar 15)

Context of the CAI

The HFS process was initiated by MoH in 2010. However the process stalled several times; the main issues slowing down the HFS development: First, leadership for the HFS remains at technical level and within the health sector; top management engagement and accountability are limited and thus a bottleneck for moving ahead.  Second, there have been different views about the HFS content; the current version appears to serve as a platform for wider health sector reform beyond the HF scope; there needs to be clarity and consensus on what should be in the HFS and what not.

Just to note that the discussion was around UHC as a whole and not about the HFS alone. The impetus for this initiative is the fact that the understanding of and vision for UHC is limited within the Ministry of Health and further still limited within other stakeholders for health in Uganda. This is a huge bottleneck for the attainment of Universal Health Coverage and the related strategies therein including the Health Financing Strategy.

Relevance of the CAI

The consultations planned are aiming at creating an enabling environment for the HFS development, e.g. by generating a shared understanding of UHC, broadening commitment and reviving/accelerating the process. The envisaged dialogue should capture the views and interests of various stakeholders, help raising the profile beyond the technical level and build consensus on a joint vision and way forward.

Team mandate and position in relation to the CAI

The team consists of the Director of Planning (MoH), the Executive Director of the Uganda National Health Consumers Organization, a senior health advisor from the World Bank and a health economist from WHO. It shall be expanded to co-opt other key stakeholders. The team has been involved in the HF strategy process and advocacy for Universal Health Coverage so far and is in a good position to advocate for improved stakeholder involvement and effective dialogue.  Proposed entry points: the use of existing fora for deeper UHC discussion; convening meetings with key stakeholders through MoH top management.