The Philippines seeks $700-M ADB, AIIB loans for vaccine rollout
The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) will lend the Philippines a combined $700 million (about P33.9 billion) by March to buy vaccines and inoculate Filipinos against the COVID-19 disease. Documents of the Beijing-based...
A case for building a stronger health care system in Bangladesh
The havoc that COVID-19 wreaked on Bangladesh is typical of the effect it had on South Asian countries in general in that it exposed the acute lack of investment- financial, infrastructural and in terms of human resources in the public healthcare system. Considering...
Urgency to transform fragmented health system (UHC Act and Covid-19)
The Philippines has seen relatively more challenges due to the Covid-19 Pandemic than perhaps its other South-east Asian counterparts. Despite the crafting of the historic Universal Health Care (UHC) Law over two years ago, the Pandemic has exposed several gaps in...
Budget 2021: S$4.8b of S$11b Covid-19 Resilience Package for public health
The Singapore Government's commitment to safeguarding public health and the future of its citizens especially in the wake of COVID 19 can be seen in the over 40% share of this year’s Budget that goes to the COVID-19 Resilience Package. Mr. Heng Swee Keat, the...
Situation Update: Response to COVID-19 in Indonesia (As of 1 March 2021)
Indonesia is procured more than 420 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine for 180 million people as of last month according to the Head of the COVID-19 Response and National Economic Recovery team (PCPEN). A breakdown of the procurement would reveal 125.5 million of the...
Thailand’s COVID-19 response an example of resilience and solidarity: a UN Resident Coordinator blog
"The government’s stimulus packages have been comprehensive, rapid and well-sequenced, constituting 15 per cent of GDP. Almost half of respondents to a recent survey reported having received government support. Modelling estimates suggest that while government...
Domestic expenditure increases a 33% in 2020 due to Covid
The Budget Execution Report, released on February 15th, shows a relevant increase in domestic expenditure in health in Mozambique, from 18.985 million MT (263 M$) to 25.318 million MT (351 M$), a +33% change. This prioritization of health with domestic...
Review of Vietnam Social Security’s (VSS) actuarial analysis models and capacity of health insurance benefits
The key stakeholders in Vietnam have identified gaps in their current management, legal documents, operational regulations and technical capacity to conduct actuarial analysis and in the use of the results in policy making and implementation of health...
ILO-WHO-WB’s joint technical note on the additional benefit package of social health insurance in Viet Nam
As part of the process of the Health Insurance Law revision, the Government of Viet Nam is currently identifying the core social health insurance (SHI) policies to be reformed and defining alternative options. Resolution 20 of the Communist Party of Viet Nam, dated 25...
Despite Pandemic, Health Budget Sees Little Real Increase – Water and sanitation outlays included in the health budget
"Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a new healthcare scheme--the Pradhan Mantri Atma Nirbhar Swasth Bharat Yojana--with a Rs 64,180-crore ($8.7 billion) outlay. The Centre's allocation to the health ministry for 2020-21 was Rs 67,112 crore ($9.18...
Budget 2021: Allocation to Healthcare more than doubles after Pandemic
"India will more than double its spending on healthcare in the next fiscal year as it aims to boost the sector crippled by the coronavirus pandemic". Read more...
Equity Budgeting Tool_Evaluating the place of Gender in Health budget planning
An EBT analysis was performed in 2019 in order to assess to what extent Gender is considered in the different stages of budget planning at the Ministry of Health. This report focuses on the analysis of budgetary equity in Cameroon. It is an application of...
N$72.8 billion budget for 2020/21 financial year announced
The Minister of Finance, Iipumbu Shiimi on Wednesday tabled the national budget for the financial year 2020/21 totalling N$72.8 billion from N$66.5 billion budgeted in the 2019/20 financial year. Shiimi in a budget statement said the single-year budget reflects the...
Universal health coverage and COVID-19 preparedness and response in Asia and the Pacific
Authors: Soonman KWON and Eunkyoung KIM Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has disrupted all aspects of our global society and economies and progress towards universal health coverage (UHC), further worsening structural fragilities and deepening inequalities (1)....
P4H’s support in developing Myanmar National Health Insurance Bill
P4H provided technical support in the development of Myanmar National Health Insurance Bill, having it translated from Burmese to English for wider stakeholder consultation. P4H also assisted in seeking feedback on the bill from a wider variety of in-country and...