The world health organisation defines UHC as everyone having access to required health services of high quality without suffering financial hardship. UHC is embedded within the 3.8 target of sustainable development goals. To attain the UHC goal, there is need for...
Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) and the Abuja declaration: Honouring the pledge
The 2001 Abuja declaration is a pledge by the African Union member states to allocate at least 15% of their national budgets each year to improving their healthcare systems. However, for the countries in the SADC, fulfilling this pledge has been a challenge. Having...
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Japan braces itself against the COVID-19 pandemic with the largest ever budget for 2022
Japan's cabinet has approved a record ¥107.60 trillion budget for 2022 to fight against the pandemic and increasing social security costs. Social security spending is more than a third of the overall budget to address the medical needs of the aging population. The...
Out-of-pocket healthcare expenditures: Determinants and impacts on the livelihoods of urban households in selected Sudanese states
Understanding the characteristics of individuals or households that are most at risk of incurring catastrophic health expenditures could help in targeted policies to ensure financial risk protection among the most vulnerable. Researchers in Sudan investigated the...
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Ghana receives additional USD 200 million financing for COVID-19 response interventions
The government of Ghana has received an additional USD 200 million financing towards the coronavirus (COVID-19) emergency preparedness and response project (EPRP). The amount will enable the government to fund the procurement of vaccines to inoculate about 7.6 million...
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Need for increase in domestic funding towards the health sector in Ghana
Civil society organisations (CSOs) have urged the government to increase budgetary allocation to the health sector to ensure sustainability of the gains made with the help of development partners over the years. Currently, donor funding is in transitionary period and...
Republic of the Gambia 2012-2020 national health policy-Health is wealth
The government of Gambia envisioned providing quality and affordable health services for all by 2020. This national health policy provided a clear direction to all relevant stakeholders in the health sector for implementation of interventions in the sector to improve...
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Australian Government health spending increased by 5.6 % in the first year of COVID-19
In Australia, healthcare expenditure for Fiscal Year 2019-20 follows an upwards trajectory. As reported in Health Expenditure Australia 2019–20, government health spending increased by 5.6% due to COVID-19 pandemic surveillance programs, while non-governmental health...
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Malawi contributes domestic resources to COVID-19 vaccine roll out
The government of Malawi, in a public statement, said that it contributes to the procurement and dissemination of COVID-19 vaccines in the country. During the routine weekly briefing, the Director of Communications, Sean Kampondeni said that even though...
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Nepal reallocated health budget to response COVID-19
Nepal reported spending nearly half of the health budget to combat Covid-19 and address its impact on people’s livelihoods and the economy. To cover the costs, the government was forced to cut budget for various large hospitals in the country. Public health experts...
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Increased health funding in Malawi could prevent 100,000 deaths – study
Research conducted by the National Planning Commission (NPC) with the assistance from the African Institute for Development Policy (AFIDEP) and the Copenhagen consensus centre has revealed that significantly increasing financial investment in the health sector could...
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Rwanda gets more support for its vaccine manufacturing plant, manages to raise US$3.5 Million
As the African continent battles with the coronavirus pandemic, Rwandan president Paul Kagame is planning to establish the first mRNA vaccine plant in Africa. The government of Rwanda has so far gotten support from several development partners including...
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UNICEF creates fund to support low- and middle-income countries’ access to COVID-19 health supplies
UNICEF invites contributions to support its ACT-A Supplies Financing Facility (“ACT-A SFF”), a newly launched pooled fund that will enable us to mount the largest health and logistics operation ever seen. ACT-A (Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator) is a global...
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Social protection – Developing countries should invest US$1.2 trillion to guarantee basic health
A new study by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) has recommended that developing countries invest roughly US$1.2 trillion – on average 3.8 per cent of their gross domestic product (GDP), to guarantee at least basic income security and access to essential...
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Kazakhstan’s experience in COVID-19 management was presented to European ministers of health
Vice Minister of Healthcare and Chief State Sanitary Doctor of Kazakhstan Yerlan Kiyasov shared Kazakhstan's experience in an online meeting on "The situation with COVID-19 in the European Region: analysis of lessons learned and further actions", organized by the WHO...