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...
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 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...
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...
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 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...
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...
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...
This study examines the financial sustainability of CBHI schemes, focusing on schemes that have been operational for more than two years, and provides descriptions of institutional structures, human resource capacity, engagement and commitment of key stakeholders, and...
In the last 10 years, Africa has witnessed a renewed interest in Community-based Health Insurance (CBHI) schemes as countries leverage communities to expand risk-pooling coverage to informal sectors and the rural population. Among African countries, Ethiopia’s...
This paper relies on a difference-in-differences approach applied to both panel and cross-section data. We find that CBHI-affiliated facilities experience a 111% increase in annual outpatient visits and annual revenues increase by 47%. Increased revenues are used to...
Nicole Fraser, Adanna Chukwuma, Marianna Koshkakaryan, Lusine Yengibaryan, Xiaohui Hou, Tommy Wilkinson, Christina Meyer When Armenia introduced its first Basic Benefits Package (BBP) in 1997, the average life expectancy at birth was 70 years and the under-five...
National Health Security Office, Thailand will cover costs of home care for asymptomatic or mild-symptom COVID-19 patients, aiming to reduce crowd in the hospitals, especially in Bangkok and metropolitan area. Home care includes online consulting with physicians,...
The Essential Health Service Package, launched in November 2019, aims to provide access to quality health services without any financial challenges regardless of age, ability to pay and economic status, and geographic location for the population in Ethiopia.
This document presents case studies from six African countries (Eswatini, Ethiopia, Malawi, Nigeria, Rwanda, and South Africa) and: • reviews the process by which prioritized SRHR interventions were included in countries’ health benefits packages; • discusses...
