Access to COVID-19 vaccines has been made easier in the Kingdom of Eswatini as residents can get their jab at bus stops and taxi ranks across the country. To boost vaccine coverage across the kingdom, Eswatini officials have teamed up with the transport sector to...

Singapore’s Integrated Shield Plans have extended coverage periods for hospitalization due to COVID vaccine until the end of 2022
In Singapore, the Integrated Shield Plan (IP) is optional for health coverage provided by private insurance companies. Seven insurers providing IPs have agreed to extend their coverage to hospitalization from COVID-19 vaccine complications till Dec 31, 2022. ...

NHSO pays out B1bn for vaccine side-effect claims
In Thailand, the National Health Security Office (NHSO) is responsible to pay out vaccine compensation to all Thai citizens who have adverse effects from COVID-19 vaccination regardless of their public health insurance scheme entitlements. So far, the NHSO has paid...
MOHW pays loss compensation of KRW 318.1 billion in December
The Central Disaster Management Headquarters of the Ministry of Health and Welfare (Director: Minister Kwon Deok-cheol) announced it would pay a total of KRW 318.1 billion in compensation on December 28 (Tues) following the Loss Compensation Deliberation...
THE COVID-19 CRISIS IN ALBANIA
COVID-19 health situation – December 2020/January 2021 • While the number of COVID-19 cases in Albania began to stabilise by mid-December, the situation has deteriorated again as of January 2021. While the daily rate of new cases decreased to a low of 185 new cases...
Sierra Leone receives COVID-19 health supplies from development partners
In May 2021, Sierra Leone received a consignment of Covid-19 medical supplies as support from Germany, European Union and UNDP under the framework of the regional programme support to pandemic prevention (RPSPP) in the economic community of west african states...

The state of Lagos, Nigeria, approves 14.4 USD as COVID-19 vaccine cost at the private health facilities.
In October, 2021 the Lagos state government approved the sum of N6000 (14.4 USD) for the administration of vaccines against coronavirus infection at private health facilities in the state. Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu said that the money would allow the private...
Measurement and determinants of financial protection in health in Afghanistan
Out of pocket payments for health poses a significant health financing challenge in Afghanistan as they put households at risk of incurring catastrophic health expenditure and potential impoverishment. This study measures and explains the drivers and impacts of this...

Kenya receives 4 million USD for syringe manufacturing
Amid looming shortfalls of syringes to administer COVID-19 vaccine, Kenya’s leading medical supply manufacturer, Revital Healthcare (EPZ) Ltd has received 4 million USD from development partners. This will help expand production of...
Kenya receives over 900,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines
In October, 2021 Kenya received a second consignment of 990,990 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine with help from the COVAX facility and the United States government. The first batch of 795,000 Pfizer vaccines arrived in September, 2021. With the second batch,...

Botswana ministry of health requires USD 97 million for COVID-19 response
The ministry of health and wellness, Botswana, requires an additional funding of USD 97 million as additional funding to cover the procurement of medical supplies, mainly vaccines and associated medical items such as syringes, needles and surgical masks. The fund...
Health financing for the COVID-19 response: Process guide for national budgetary dialogue
Overview This Process Guide lays out a sequenced set of analytics and actions to support reorienting budgetary arrangements to facilitate the ability of national governments to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic by delivering therapeutics, diagnostics, and vaccine...
Brunei’s Global Health Security Index Improvement in 2021
The Global Health Security (GHS) Index is an assessment and benchmarking of health security and related capabilities across 195 countries, aiming to inform foundation elements that need to be prepared for future pandemics. The GHS Index has six categories: (1)...

Australian Government now funds half the cost of rapid test for close contacts
To curb COVID-19 spending, the Australian Government stops providing free rapid antigen testing (RAT). However, tests are still freely provided for health reasons and partly subsidized for those who are considered close contacts. While discounted RAT for concession...
Joint external evaluation of IHR core capacities of the Kingdom of Cambodia
"This report is the product of a joint external evaluation (JEE) of the Kingdom of Cambodia’s capacity to prevent, detect and rapidly respond to public health threats of a natural, deliberate or accidental nature. The assessment used the World Health Organization...