An essential health benefit (EHB) is a policy intervention designed to direct resources to priority areas of health service delivery to reduce disease burdens and ensure equity in health. Many low income countries introduced or updated EHBs in the 2000s. In Swaziland...

Philippines expands benefits coverage
The Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) has covered admissions in emergency rooms and tents in the hospitals to respond unavailability of hospital rooms. Beneficiaries who stay in the hospital for at least 24 hours are eligible to be...
Uganda national minimum healthcare package- a case study
The basic essential healthcare benefit package (EHB) policy interventions aim to optimize efficiency while extending coverage by increasing equity of access to the defined benefits. Many low and middle-income countries introduced or updated EHBs in the 2000s. Uganda’s...
Analytical review of health care reforms in Uganda and its implication on health equity
Uganda Government has continued to strengthen the country’s health system by initiating policy reforms aimed at enhancing equity in health care with the goal of attaining universal health coverage. These reforms include the abolition of user fees and the introduction...

Burkina Faso-Public social welfare institutions: sales of FCFA 44 billion by 2020
Between 2019 and 2020, sales by Etablissements publics de prévoyance sociale (EPPS) rose by 9.7%, from FCFA 244.82 billion to FCFA 268.72 billion, an increase of FCFA 23.89 billion. These EPPSs are the Caisse Autonome de Retraite des Fonctionnaires (CARFO) , the...

A new report published on aligning health and decentralization reform in Ukraine
As part of Health policy paper series, WHO Regional Office for Europe in collaboration with WHO Country Office in Ukraine published a policy brief titled “Aligning health and decentralization reform in Ukraine” (2021). Considering that Ukrainian decentralization...

Multi-Regional Landscape Study and Analysis of Select West African Countries available
New West Africa regional document available: Recognizing that a healthy population promotes economic development, resilience, and strength, many governments have started pursuing a universal health coverage (UHC) agenda. The international community, national...
Paying for and receiving benefits from health services in South Africa: is the health system equitable?
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...