Japan enacts law to make coronavirus vaccines free to residents
Japan's parliament enacted a law Wednesday to cover the costs for residents to be vaccinated against the novel coronavirus. Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga pledged to secure coronavirus vaccines for all the roughly 126 million residents of the country in the first half...
Budget 2021: Healthcare measures welcomed but fall short
Some RM31.9 billion was allocated for the healthcare sector in (the) 2021 (Budget for Malaysia) compared with RM30.6 billion in 2020. As the Covid-19 pandemic is expected to persist for a number of years, an additional RM1 billion has been allocated to stem the...
Extension of Ayushman Bharat scheme to Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF)
Union Home Minister of India, Mr. Amit Shah has announced the extension of Ayushman Bharat – Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY) under the convergence scheme ‘Ayushman CAPF’. The scheme will benefit 10 lakhs CAPF personnel and their families. The beneficiary...
All Sri Lankans will be vaccinated free of charge; first batch should arrive within three months: chief epidemiologist
'Sri Lanka will likely receive the first batch of a government-approved COVID-19 vaccine within the next three months and plans are underway to vaccinate all citizens free of charge, Chief Epidemiologist Dr Sudath Samaraweera said. The Pfizer-BionTech vaccine...
ADB approves first loan under its COVID-19 vaccine access facility to the Philippines
The Asian Development Bank is providing the Philippines a $400 million loan for the procurement of COVID-19 vaccines. This is the first loan the bank is providing under its $9 billion Asia Pacific Vaccine Access Facility announced in...
Sri Lanka receives Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines under COVAX Facility
'Sri Lanka on Sunday received the first batch of 264,000 doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines provided under the World Health Organisation's COVAX facility, an official said. COVAX is the global initiative to ensure rapid and equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines...
Law amendments on Health-related laws in Mongolia: Strategic purchasing system is at the starting point of the way
In August 2020, The Parliament of Mongolia approved new amendments into the Health insurance law of Mongolia, the Health law of Mongolia, and the Law on Medicine and medical devices of Mongolia. These laws’ amendments are aimed at improving the efficiency of...
Sustainable Financing for New Vaccines in Indonesia: Challenges and Strategies
‘The issue of sustainable financing for new vaccines is particularly pertinent as Indonesia transitions away from extensive Gavi support towards a self-financing immunization system. As the current immunization system transitions, practical solutions must be found and...
Healthcare financing and social protection policies for migrant workers in Malaysia
Malaysia has been dependent on non-citizen workforce for long enough now for the country to consider health financing options for covering this vast section of people that contributes to its economy. The government has made efforts of course in the form of mandatory...
Health Financing in Digital Health in Australia: 2021
The Pandemic has forced governments to rethink their systems of healthcare delivery and digital has been one way to go to ensure maximum coverage with minimum physical interaction. For a developed economy like Australia, financing research and development of digital...
Nepal focuses on health spending to fight COVID-19 in annual budget
The Parliament of Nepal saw a substantial increase in the share of budget expenditure on health in FY 2021, significant compared to other South Asian countries. The country saw increased spending in health infrastructure to primarily combat the onslaught of the Corona...
Covid-19 and Nepal’s Health Financing: Insights and recommendations based on local government response during full lockdown
The public healthcare system in Nepal is a shared responsibility between the federal, local and provincial governments with the latter usually at the forefront of handling outbreaks such as COVID-19 on ground. The financing for their operations was mixed as well where...
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...