ACTIVITIES

KNOWLEDGE

EVENTS

Workshop on “Universal Health Coverage – Learning through South-South Partnerships” September 10th – 12th 2012, Kathmandu, Nepal

A number of countries in Asia and Africa are already moving towards universal health coverage. Most of them are at different stages of the reform process, with each country trying to find its own method to create an inclusive health care system. Other countries are still in the decision-making and planning phase.
There are a number of organisations and initiatives currently providing helpful policy assistance for and generate valuable information on strategic reform options in countries to move towards Universal Health Coverage (e.g., International Labour Organisation (ILO), Consultative Group to Assist the Poo (CGAP), Deutsche Gesellschaft fuer Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), USAID, the World Bank, the Health Insurance Fund, Plans for Healthcare (P4H), etc.).
The difficulty and challenge, however, remains in the practical implementation within a national context.
All countries face specific challenges in their reform and planning efforts. These include identifying the population entitled to subsidies, designing an appropriate and affordable benefit package and developing practical information technology that can support reform measures and interventions.

At the core of these reform processes are the implementing practitioners in the Southern countries. They have to find innovative solutions that fit the conditions in their countries and cater to the country’s policy objectives. Among those directly involved in breaking down their country’s policy for the implementation phase, there is an increasing demand to learn and share from other countries that face similar challenges, or have already overcome them, using innovative and practical approaches.

The “Moving towards Universal Health Coverage – Learning through South-South Partnerships” Workshop in Kathmandu, 10th to 12th of September 2012 will provide a South-South cooperation platform for joint problem-solving, and create a forum for practitioners and experts from selected countries to meet and discuss their strategies for pathways towards UHC, focusing on key implementation challenges.

The workshop will provide a multi-country cross-learning platform, and deliberately involves various countries at every stage of the reform process. Countries that have already moved towards universal health coverage or are on the way to doing so will learn from each other, and share their innovations and learning in the design and implementation of their respective health financing reforms.

Rsby Side Event at the 12th meeting of the sector network health and social protection Asia and Eastern Europe
14th – 17th November 2011, Pattaya, Thailand

During the 12th GIZ Sector Network Meeting on Health and Social Protection, the Network for Social Security organized a RSBY Side Event Workshop with representatives from various countries.
In the past few years, the Government of India, the RSBY team (Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana, health insurance for people BPL), GIZ and other organizations (such as the World Bank and ILO) have received visits from delegations of various countries to get to know the Indian social security schemes and their respective features.
Among those national delegations that recently visited the Indian Ministry of Labour and Employment and other key ministries were Cambodia, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan and Bangladesh. During those visits, common fields of interest were found and it was agreed that triangular or South-South cooperation with the support of organizations like GIZ will be beneficial for all countries involved.
The side event provided a first get-together to receive updates on recent activities and developments in these respective countries, to jointly establish a working plan and time-line for future co-operation.