As part of new reforms, each household will soon be expected to make a compulsory Sh500 monthly contribution to the national hospital insurance fund (NHIF) as the country lines up a health cover for all Kenyans. The amount is a requirement for the...
Health Financing Policies in Jordan: The Allocation of Public Expenditures in Global Context | Rawabdeh | Makara Journal of Health Research
This research article provides a comprehensive analysis of nearly eight years of data on public health expenditure, the national health strategy and other health policies which influence the provision of equitable healthcare in Jordan. It looks at providing access to...
Estonian Ministry of Social Affairs solicits increased health financing from the Government
As reported by Kaija Kasekamp at the platform of European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, multiple analyses have indicated that the social tax-based health financing system in Estonia is not sustainable. Estonia's working-age population is...
Nigeria’s financing of health care during the COVID-19 pandemic: challenges and recommendations
In this study, the authors analyse the financing of Nigeria’s healthcare system in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. They use the three health care financing functions: revenue collection, pooling, and purchasing. The findings show that Nigeria projected that it...
Malaysia’s government seeks $11 billion more in Covid fund
Malaysia’s government plans to increase funds for Covid-19 support measures and raise the country’s statutory debt ceiling. The government considers adding 45 billion Malaysian ringgit ($10.8 billion) to the Covid-19 fund in order to support businesses...
Willingness to pay for national health insurance fund (NHIF) among public servants in Juba City, South Sudan
The NHIF is the proposed health insurance scheme for South Sudan and aims at achieving universal health coverage. One challenging compounding issue however, is that over the years, governments’ spending on healthcare has been decreasing from 8.4% of national budget...
South Sudan secures US$ 174.2 million to address the COVID-19 pandemic
On 30th March, 2021, South Sudan received US$ 174.2 million to help finance the country’s urgent balance of payments needs and provide critical fiscal space to maintain poverty-reducing and growth-enhancing spending. A sharp decline in international oil prices...
Japan plans for fiscal year 2022 total 111 trillion yen to control COVID-19
Due to a rise of social security expenditures, budget requests from government ministries and agencies reach 111 trillion yen ($1 trillion) in total for fiscal 2022. Social security costs accounted for one-third of government expenditures. The health ministry...
Analysis of Botswana’s health financing structure
Health financing remains one of the top issues among policymakers and continues to lead in public discourse as countries implement health systems reforms to achieve equity in health and universal health coverage. In this peer reviewed article, the authors analyse the...
Eswatini COVID-19 response gets a boost
The Kingdom of Eswatini’s response to COVID-19 got a boost following the approval of US$5 million loan in additional financing on the 16th of April, 2021. The added funds were expected to assist the Government of Eswatini accelerate its ongoing efforts to purchase and...
Japan to use $13 bil. in reserve funds for COVID measures
Japan's cabinet has approved 1.4 trillion yen ($13 billion) in fiscal 2021 reserve funds. This budget is mainly allocated to purchasing COVID-19 vaccines and securing medicines for patients. Of the total budget, the government allocated about 841.5 billion yen...
Tanzania gets US$112 million to fight COVID-19 and accelerate end of HIV, TB and Malaria
The Government of Tanzania has received new funding to fight the COVID-19 crisis and accelerate the end of the epidemics of HIV, TB and malaria while building resilient and sustainable systems for health. During a virtual launch ceremony, Her Excellency Samia Suluhu...
Who pays for and who benefits from health care services in Uganda?
Equity in health care entails payment for health services according to the capacity to pay and the receipt of benefits according to need. It is an essential element of universal health coverage. In Uganda, as in many African countries, although equity is extolled in...
Uganda gets additional support for COVID-19 crisis recovery
Uganda, along with much of sub-Saharan Africa, has faced extraordinary challenges since the pandemic hit. Before the pandemic, Uganda’s economy grew, on average, by about 6%. However, even then, per capita income growth had started to slow because of ...
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...