In the week since it was rolled out, Oman’s first endowment fund dedicated to public healthcare services has garnered several millions of Omani riyals in contributions from government, public and private sector organisations, and growing numbers of individuals as...
COVID-19 response in Lebanon: current experience and challenges in a low-resource setting
This journal article gives insight into Lebanon’s healthcare response to the COVID 19 pandemic with limited financial resources and an increasingly private and urban health sector. It suggests that 80% of the health care budget in Lebanon is spent on acute care in...
Equity of healthcare financing: a progressivity analysis for Egypt
This paper aims to evaluate the progressivity of healthcare financing in Egypt by assessing five financing sources, out-of-pocket payments, an earmarked cigarette tax, direct taxes, indirect taxes, social health insurance and private health insurance. It provides a...
Lebanon receives support for first COVID 19 vaccine rollout
Lebanon has received US$34 million under the World Bank's Lebanon Health Resilience Project to support vaccine procurement. The financing will provide vaccines for over 2 million individuals. The vaccines are expected to arrive in Lebanon by early February...
Presenting documents on Lebanon’s health system reforms, financing of social protection and COVID 19 response
New documents include a paper on health sector reforms that lays out the measures taken by Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health to increase the country’s access to health services since the end of the civil war in 1992. Another publication reviews the health budget and...
Malaysia budget 2022 prioritizes to support the low-income households and businesses affected by COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic negatively affects Malaysia’s economy and household income, especially lower income families. To minimize the impact of economic recession and alleviate the poverty from the pandemic, Malaysia approved budget for 2022 with priorities to support...
Ghana national health insurance scheme (NHIS): improving financial sustainability based on expenditure review
Since the establishment of Ghana’s NHIS in 2003, the country has made substantial progress towards its goal of universal health care. As of 2014, the NHIS covered 10.5 million people which is 40% of Ghana’s population. The total number of inpatient and outpatient...
The Philippines established the cancer assistance fund
In Philippines, the Department of Health has established the cancer assistance fund to support the Cancer and Supportive-Palliative Medicines Access Program (CSPMAP). The CSPMAP will provide free medicines to cancer patients, aiming to reduce the out-of-the pocket...
Four donor countries support Ghana with Astrazeneca vaccines
On 6th October, 2021, Ghana received over 500,000 doses of Astrazeneca vaccines from Germany, Denmark, Norway and Iceland through the COVAX facility to assist its vaccination programme. Receiving the vaccines, chairman of the health commodity group...
We need US$200 Million for the national vaccine institute- Committee
Following the global shortage of COVID-19 vaccines, the government of Ghana planned to establish a national vaccine institute. The mandate of the institute would include establishing local vaccine manufacturing plants, deepening research and development for vaccines....
European Investment Bank is funding COVID-19 response throughout 2021 and Public Health Care Schemes until 2024 in Georgia
On February 9, 2016, the agreement between Georgia and the European Investment Bank, which was aimed at improving the municipal infrastructure, entered into force. However, On December 21, 2020, the contract was reprogrammed and due to the challenges caused by the...
World Bank allocated additional financing to Georgia for Emergency COVID-19 Response Project and will fund COVID-19 vaccines
World Bank (WB) allocated Additional financing (AF) within the Georgia Emergency COVID-19 Response Project and will finance procurement and deployment of COVID-19 vaccines. To ensure safe and effective systems for COVID-19 vaccine procurement and deployment,...
25$ mln ADB grant approved for Tajiskistan for COVID-19 vaccines
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $ 25 million grant to help the Government of Tajikistan procure and implement COVID-19 vaccines and strengthen the country's capacity to implement the vaccination program. “COVID-19 vaccines save lives and are vital to...
Eurasian Development Bank to provide Armenia with a grant to fight COVID-19
Eurasian Development Bank will allocate a $ 3 million grant to Armenia to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. During the meeting on Friday, the government approved a proposal to sign an agreement between Armenia and the Eurasian Development Bank to provide a grant to finance...
Budget preparation dialogue: publication to help enhance budgetary space for health in Ukraine in 2021
WHO has published a report titled "Budgetary space for health in Ukraine. Policy document to support budget preparation dialogue for 2021". This report describes how Ukraine was kick-starting dialogue on increasing funding for health care; a challenging task in...