A round table on Health Financing and Health Insurance was held in Tajikistan
With the support of the Government of the Republic of Tajikistan, the Ministry of Health and Social Protection and the World Bank organized a round table titled “Health insurance in Tajikistan”. The event was held in capital city Dushanbe on November 1, 2021, as...
Pensions, student stipends and social benefits increased in Azerbaijan by 25-50% since January 1
Press service of Azerbaijan’s President reported that on December 20, 2021, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev signed a number of decrees to increase students’ stipends, social benefits and pensions. These changes aimed at improving social protection...
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...
MOU for moving towards the Universal Health Coverage in Laos
In Laos, the 3rd phase of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on the contribution to Universal Health Coverage was signed between the National Health Insurance Bureau, the Ministry of Health, and the Swiss Red Cross. The partnership under this MOU will provide...
PhilHealth speeds up reimbursement to hospitals
To ensure social health protection of the members, Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) has implemented a new payment mechanism or the so-called “Debit-Credit Payment Method”, aiming to enable fast track reimbursement to qualified hospitals that...
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...
Maldives join hands with Indonesia to develop their health sector
Maldives has signed an MoU with Indonesia to share knowledge, initiate expert visits, strengthen health regulatory capacity and provide support in healthcare services, health resilience, health financing, health human resources, and health technology. To know more,...
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...
New document available on Sudan country page
A new document has been recently uploaded to the documents section of the Sudan country page. The document examines the determinants and the impact of out-of-pocket health care expenditures on household livelihoods in Sudan. The document can be downloaded from...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
New article on community based health insurance (CBHI) has been posted on the Rwanda country page
A new document assessing factors for low adherence to community based health insurance has been posted on the document section of the Rwanda country page. The document can be accessed using the link below