This research paper examines the equity in the delivery and financing of health care for both the public and the private sectors in South Africa. Using nationally representative datasets and standard methodologies for assessing progressivity in health care financing...

Australian Government COVID-19 disaster payments
Australia provides the COVID-19 Disaster Payment divided into three different rates based on the number of hours of work lost by an eligible recipient and whether or not they are receiving an income support payment: $200 per week for those in receipt of an...

Thai private health insurance now covers for homecare treatment
The Office of Insurance Commission (OIC) announced that Covid-19 patients in home and community isolation programmes are eligible for reimbursements from the private insurance companies. Moreover, following this announcement, the insurance companies will be...

Maximizing convenience in payment of medical expenses covered by health insurance amid Covid-19
https://vss.gov.vn/english/news/Pages/vietnam-social-security.aspx?ItemID=9945&CateID=198

SENEGAL: Financial agreement with the USA and Europe for vaccine production
Senegal, several European institutions and countries, and the United States in particular, have announced the signing in Dakar of an agreement to finance the installation in this West African country of a production plant for vaccines against Covid-19 and other...
Review of health financing in Namibia
Key factors to consider in the development of approaches to UHC include expanding coverage of the population in terms of access to and quality of health service; equitable distribution of services; the types of services to be provided in the benefits package1; and the...
Review of health financing in Namibia
Key factors to consider in the development of approaches to UHC include expanding coverage of the population in terms of access to and quality of health service; equitable distribution of services; the types of services to be provided in the benefits package1; and the...
Supporting the development of a health benefits package in Malawi
Just like most low-income and middle-income countries, Malawi has used health benefits packages (HBPs) to allocate scarce resources to key healthcare interventions with the goal of achieving universal health coverage. However, with no widely accepted method for their...
Malawi budget brief 2019/2020: Towards full implementation of the essential health package
This budget brief explores the extent to which the FY2019/20 National Budget addresses health financing needs of citizens in Malawi, especially children. Specifically, it analyzes the size, composition and equity of allocations to the health sector in FY2019/20. The...
The Sierra Leone free health care initiative: process and effectiveness review
The introduction of the free health care initiative in 2010, which removed user fees for pregnant women, lactating mothers and children under five was supported by earlier evidence that showed health-related financial costs were a major barrier to mothers and children...

Sierra Leone’s free health care initiative: Financing implications
In 2010 the Government of Sierra Leone established the Free Health Care Initiative removing user fees (on drugs and consultations) for pregnant women, lactating mothers and children under five. The major objective of the scheme, as far as health financing was...
The right choice: Achieving universal health coverage in Malawi
In Malawi primary healthcare services are provided for free at point of use in all government facilities and selected Christian Association of Malawi facilities through service level agreements). In practice, however, around 70% of the services provided at tertiary...

Thai cabinet approves 42-billion-baht for business affected by COVID
Thai cabinet has approved a 42-billion-baht package of financial assistance for people and businesses affected by the government's partial Covid-19 lockdown, currently implemented in Bangkok and nine other provinces to contain the coronavirus outbreak. For more...

Philippines now covers cartridge based PCR tests
The Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) is now paying for SARS-CoV-2 testing using cartridge-based polymerase chain reaction or PCR tests. The new benefit package ranges from Php 1,059 to Php 2,287 and will be paid directly to the accredited testing...

Evidence-based recommendations for Armenia to improve the Basic Benefit Package for UHC
The World Bank staff and external contributors have produced a report titled “Reforming the Basic Benefits Package in Armenia: Modeling Insights from the Health Interventions Prioritization Tool”. The full text of the report is available here, and on this page (see...