In 2020, the Health Financing and Economics department (HEF, previously Health Systems Governance and Financing department) launched a new webinar series on key governance and financing topics, inviting practitioners, policy makers and scholars to share their knowledge and experience.
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March 14, 2024
Rethinking External Assistance for Health
The COVID-19 pandemic and the economic crisis that it has triggered has had major implications for national health systems and the broader international aid architecture. This has forced countries and development partners to reconsider several long-held assumptions around external assistance.
Reflecting the need for new knowledge to inform the paradigm shifts mentioned above, the Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research and the Department of Health Financing and Economics, both within WHO, have been collaborating on the development of a supplement issue of Health Policy and Planning (HPP) on Rethinking External Assistance for Health. This supplement issue brings together 14 articles (selected from an initial list of 105 abstracts) that address different facets related to rethinking external assistance to make it fit-for-purpose to the needs of LMICs today. The articles discuss country examples from Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe and include both original research papers as well as innovation and practice reports co-authored by policymakers. They adopt a wide range of methods including quantitative analysis of development assistance for health (DAH) databases, systems thinking approaches such as causal loop diagrams as well as in-depth interviews to better understand policy processes and why things happened as they did.
This webinar served to both launch the supplement issue and stimulate discussion and debate among policymakers, development partners and academic researchers through a series of focused panel discussions and thematic round tables.
Speakers:
Kara Hanson (welcome & chair)
Kumanan Rasanathan (introduction)
Zubin Shroff (presentation - part I)
Susan Sparkes (presentation - part II)
Kelechi Ohiri (discussant)
Walaiporn Patcharanarumol (discussant)
Mercy Mwangangi (discussant)
Ingvar Theo Olsen (discussant)
Matthew Jowett (wrap up)
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February 15, 2024
Strengthening pandemic preparedness and response through integrated modelling
Speakers:
Reena Estuar (presenter)
Adolfo Rubinstein (presenter)
Victoria Fan (discussant)
David Wilson (concluding speaker)
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Hospital financing reforms in low and lower-middle income countries: operational considerations (Two webinars occured, one in English and one in French)
In many countries, progressing towards Universal Health Coverage (UHC) will require health financing reforms, i.e., purposeful changes of the institutional arrangements which establish the mobilization, pooling and allocation of financial resources and population’s entitlement to the health services they fund. Intervening in the health financing domain is often politically and technically challenging. Challenges are even bigger in low- and lower-middle income countries (LLMICs). Although hospitals are a crucial component of any health system, there is a dearth of knowledge and guidance on hospital financing for these settings. This is problematic, as inappropriate policies and practices can impede progress towards UHC.
In this webinar, we hear about the findings of a literature review commissioned by WHO, which focused on identifying factors affecting the success of hospital financing reforms in LLMICs. With panelists and the audience, we reflect on the research and learning agenda and share country experiences.
English Webinar Speakers:
Hamid Ravaghi (Introduction)
Bruno Meessen (framing and wrap up)
Mara Boiangiu (presenter)
Natalie Trachsel (presenter)
Wu Zeng (presenter)
Fahdi Dkhimi (facilitator)
Benjamin Tsofa (country experience: Kenya)
Christophe Lemiere (country experience: Vietnam)
English Webinar:
French Webinar Speakers:
Pierre Claver Kariyo (introduction)
Bruno Meessen (fframing and wrap up)
Eva Jarawan (presenter)
Vincent Turbat (presenter)
Fahdi Dkhimi (facilitator)
Jean-Paul Dossou (country experience: Benin)
Abdelali Belghiti Alaoui (country experience: Morocco)
French Webinar:
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October 26, 2023
Reducing fragmentation across health programmes to improve efficiency: lessons from countries
While health programmes are critical to advocate and provide access to priority services, they have also had unintended consequences, such as creating parallel service delivery, procurement, information systems, trainings, along with other areas. This fragmentation is often driven by separate financing, governance, and accountability structures and is exacerbated by external assistance. This can constrain efficiency and impacts country progress towards universal health coverage (UHC).
The WHO Cross-Programmatic Efficiency Analysis (CPEA) diagnostic detects inefficiencies resulting from the ways in which health programmes and related services are articulated within the context of the overall health system. This approach helps to identify and address duplications and misalignments between functions that are common across selected health programmes and focuses on fragmentation that constrains the ability to improve or at the very least sustain coverage of these health programmes. In its application in 16+ countries to date, the CPEA has been an important process to bring together, build consensus between, and align through evidence-based dialogue diverse sets of stakeholders.
This webinar is build from the session held at the 15th international Health Economics Congress (iHEA) in July 2023 (see also our newly released blog from this session on “Addressing fragmentation to improve efficiency on the road to UHC”). During the webinar, the CPEA approach is explained and demonstrated building first from cross-country experiences in addressing identified inefficiencies and then the recent application in Cameroon, Mozambique, and Nigeria. The session brings together speakers across all three levels of WHO, Ministry of Health, and academia.
Speakers:
Ogochukwu Chukwujekwu (introduction)
Susan Sparkes & Alexandra Earle (Technical Presentation)
Modeste Gatcho (country presentation: Cameroon)
Georgina Bonet Arroyo (country presentation: Mozambique)
Francis Nwachukwu Ukwuije (country presentation: Nigeria)
Agnes Gatome-Munyua (moderator)
Simeon Onyemaechi (discussant)
Aminata Tou (discussant)
Funding is acknowledged from GIZ, UHC Partnership, The Global Fund, Gavi, and FCDO.
Related documents:
Cross-Programmatic Efficiency Analysis Key Resources
- Cross-programmatic efficiency analysis webpage
- A Step-by-step guide to conducting a cross-programmatic efficiency analysis
- Guidance Paper - A system-wide approach to analysing efficiency across health programmes
- Report of the WHO technical workshop on addressing cross-programmatic inefficiencies in the WHO African Region
- Cross-Programmatic Efficiency Analysis eLearning Course (Self-Paced)
Country Policy Briefs
- Bhutan Cross-programmatic Efficiency Analysis
- Ghana Cross-programmatic Efficiency Analysis
- Kenya Cross-programmatic Efficiency Analysis
- Lao PDR Cross-programmatic Efficiency Analysis
- South Africa Cross-programmatic Efficiency Analysis
- United Republic of Tanzania Cross-programmatic Efficiency Analysis
Presentation
September 20, 2023
Digital technology for health financing: how can we assess their benefits and risks for UHC?
Within the area of digital health, digital technologies for health financing receive increasing attention. However, very little evidence exists on the impact of digital technologies on health financing and universal health coverage (UHC) objectives.
This webinar starts with presenting a guide on how to assess digital technologies for health financing and their effects, then shares country evidence on digital technologies for health financing and their benefits and challenges, followed by a deep dive into the use of artificial intelligence / machine learning for health financing and how it supports (or doesn’t) the realization of UHC.
Speakers:
Alain Labrique (introduction)
Inke Mathauer (conceptual outline and concluding remarks)
Evelyn Kabia (country presentation: Kenya)
Kristiina Kahur (country presentation: Estonia)
Maarten Oranje (thematic presentation: AI/ML in health financing)
Grace Achungura (moderator)
Related documents:
- Assessing the effects of digital technologies on health financing and UHC universal health coverage objectives - A guide with key questions
- The role of digital claims management for Estonia’s health insurance: a leverage for making healthcare purchasing more strategic
- The implications of artificial intelligence and machine learning in health financing for achieving universal health coverage - Findings from a rapid literature review
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July 5, 2023: Health system strengthening: lessons from Small Island Developing States
Speakers:
Carlene Radix (discussant)
Anne Ancia (concluding speaker)
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June 15, 2023: Strategic purchasing for primary health care: lessons learned from national workshops (Webinar in French)
Many countries are reforming or consolidating their financing systems to move towards universal health coverage (UHC). Primary Health Care is a valuable approach to guide some choices, in particular on how to make health care purchasing more strategic by prioritizing front-line services, establishing cost-effective care packages and remunerating health facilities to improve coverage, quality of care and equity.
For more than one year, the Global Financing Facility (GFF), the World Bank and the World Health Organization have been collaborating on country workshops to help ministries of health around this essential political and technical agenda towards UHC.
In this webinar, the team in charge of this programme presents the didactic approach adopted, the issues addressed and some lessons that emerge from the collective learning initiated during these workshops. National experts who participated in these workshops also explain how they contributed to national processes.
Speakers:
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May 31, 2023: Hospital autonomy: opportunities and pitfalls (Webinar in French)
Many countries are engaging in hospital reforms; giving more autonomy to hospitals is a challenge in this regard.
This webinar delves into the topic of hospital autonomy as part of wider hospital reforms within different contexts. The speakers explore the key issues with hospital autonomy, including implementation and results in different low- and middle-income countries. This session will also explore the models and guiding principles that could help policymakers consider giving more autonomy to public hospitals.
Practitioners also share share their experiences of implementing, supporting or assessing hospital autonomy.
Speakers:
Agnès Soucat (wrap up)
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April 12, 2023: Hospital autonomy: opportunities and pitfalls
Speakers:
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March 23, 2023: Making health insurance responsive to citizens: learning from countries
Speakers:
Ruchi Agarwal (discussant)
Walaiporn Patcharanarumol (discussant)
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September 22, 2022: Engaging the private sector on health service delivery: challenges and opportunities in Asia for achieving UHC
The role and scope of the private sector in health has grown in many countries over the last ten years. Partnerships and/or mix of public-private entities may be found in the provision of health services, in the area of medicines and medical products, financial products, training of the health workforce, information technology, infrastructure and support services.
While the private sector demonstrated it’s role in maximizing efforts to advance Universal Health Coverage (UHC), it needs to be properly regulated and included in the health system for it to behave in accordance with national health principles. The heterogeneity of private actors in the health system has indeed exposed Ministries of Health to a more complex system to govern, as the growth in the private sector in health represents a multifaceted mixture of both opportunities and threats for overall health system governance and to progress in the achievement of UHC.
In Asia, in some countries with mature health systems, the private sector is an integral part of their path to UHC. For instance, Japan achieved UHC in 1961 and is known to have a substantial private health sector engaged under the public health insurance. The Philippines and Thailand have achieved high levels of population coverage by financial risk protection schemes while engaging the private sector as well. The private sector plays an important role in these three countries, especially in the provision health services.
This webinar presents findings from three countries on the services and nature of private providers in the country, their engagement with the public sector including public health insurance agencies to deliver health services. It also engages in discussions on health system governance and regulation, especially towards financial and quality management of private providers. Furthermore, the webinar focuses on activities and tools to strengthen private sector engagement in Asian countries, following the framework formulated by WHO.
Speakers:
Nima Asgari
Gabrielle Appleford
Eduardo P. Banzon
Haruka Sakamoto
Aniqa Islam Marshall
Manuel M. Dayri
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May 19, 2022: Integrated economic-epidemiological modelling during the COVID-19 response and future applications
Public health and social measures (PHSM) are critical to reducing or halting the transmission of an infectious disease, especially when pharmaceutical interventions are not yet available or not widely accessible. PHSM include both actions that individuals can take (e.g. increased personal hygiene, physical distancing, mask wearing and limiting physical contacts) and public health and social policies mandated by authorities (e.g. closure of schools and businesses, mobility restrictions, banning mass gatherings, etc).
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, PHSM have been applied at an unprecedented scale and timespan globally. Despite the growing evidence that these measures significantly reduce COVID-19 transmission and deaths, some PHSM can have adverse and unintended effects on the general welfare of society and individuals. The COVID-19 crisis has highlighted that countries need a better understanding of the broader health, social and economic effects of PHSM to be able to make evidence-informed decisions about their implementation during future health emergencies.
A new group of models called “integrated economic-epidemiological models” reflect the close interdependence of public health outcomes and the economy and the concern of policy makers to balance lives and livelihoods. These integrated models promise to help overcome the key challenge of fragmented and siloed research on the pandemic and better inform policy decisions. The drive for integration comes from both sides. Economists have rapidly escalated their attempts to incorporate epidemiological models in their analyses. However, while the basic mathematical principles of dynamic transmission models are deceptively simple, it is an enormous endeavour to obtain realistic estimates from these models. Likewise, epidemiological models often ignore broader economic considerations or incorporate them in a simplistic manner as an add-on or disjointed calculation.
This joint webinar of the World Health Organization, the Jameel Institute and MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis of Imperial College London focused on recent developments in integrated econ-epi modelling. The objectives were to give an overview of the unique features of integrated econ-epi models, reflect how they have been used in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, discuss existing shortcomings and areas where improvements are needed, and lastly, future applications of econ-epi models to support the pandemic preparedness agenda.
Speakers:
Katharina Hauck (presenter)
Tessa Tan-Torres Edejer (concluding speaker)
Links:
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April 25, 2022: Learning health systems for Universal Health Coverage
UHC has gained momentum at global level. However, if the goal is clear, the pathway to get there is not. The statement that "Each country will have to find its own way to reach UHC" hints at what might be one of the few generic recommendations to countries: each must invest in its own learning capacity for UHC.
Is this observation not challenging the current paradigm as for knowledge production? Are practices and expectations sufficiently aligned with learning needs at country level? Are some ways of operating not preventing, to some extent, the emergence of the national learning ecosystem? How does building a learning health system look like? What are the lessons learned in countries or regions more advanced in that development?During this webinar, we explored how the learning health system (LHS) framing can inspire actors committed to consolidate country capacities for UHC. We used examples linked to the function of priority-setting and health technology assessment to illuminate the broader LHS agenda.
Speakers :
Tessa Edejer (introduction)
Kabir Sheikh (presenter)
Andrew Mirelman (presenter)
Benjarin Santatiwongchai (presenter)
Pete Baker (chair)
Regis Hitimana (discussant)
Houcine El Akhnif (discussant)
Jo Keatinge (discussant)
Bruno Meessen (concluding speaker)
Links
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March 16, 2022: Health financing in fragile and conflicted-affected settings
Many regions and countries are now facing complex emergencies, with long term challenges to security, political settlements and health security. These demand new approaches to health financing that learn from and connect developmental and humanitarian approaches. This webinar aimed to draw out key lessons for local and global actors in building stronger health financing systems in future in complex emergency settings. A first webinar (in French below) focused on the scenario of protracted crises. In this second webinar, we focused on humanitarian crises.Those two webinars are organized around the presentation of the core messages from the WHO policy note, 'Health financing policy in fragile & conflict-affected situations'.
Speakers :
Awad Mataria (introduction)
Matthew Jowett (presenter)
Egbert Sondorp (chair)
Mit Philips (discussant)
Andre Griekspoor (discussant)Mohammed Musa (discussant)
Elina Dale (concluding speaker)
Links
- Synthesis of evidence and policy recommendations: Health financing policy and implementation in fragile and conflict-affected settings
- Health financing policy in fragile & conflict-affected situations: a review of the evidence
- Technical guidance note: Using Barriers to Health and Response Option Analyses in Humanitarian Settings
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February 10, 2022: Health financing in fragile and conflict-affected settings (Webinar in French)
Many regions and countries are now facing emergencies, acute and chronic, with challenges to security, political settlements and health security. These demand new approaches to health financing that learn from developmental and humanitarian approaches and explore how and when they can work together.
In this webinar in French, we focused on the scenario of protracted crises: how to maintain progress towards universal health coverage (UHC) in such settings? A second webinar (in English) will aim to draw out key lessons for local and global actors in building stronger health financing systems in future in emergency settings.
Those two webinars are organized around the presentation of the core messages from the WHO policy note: Health financing policy in fragile and conflict-affected situations: review of the evidence.
Speakers:
Seydou Coulibaly (introduction)
Maria Bertone (presenter)
Noelly Donon Douma (discussant)
Zenab Konkobo Kouanda (discussant)
Barbara Profeta (discussant)
Bruno Meessen (concluding speaker)
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January 18, 2022: Financing common goods for health - Guidance document launch event
Following three years of work and extensive consultation, WHO has published a Guidance Document on Financing common goods for health. The Common Goods for Health agenda was launched as part of the 2019 High-Level Meeting on universal health coverage (UHC) at the UN General Assembly. This Guidance Document brings together inputs from all departments across WHO, as well as a technical experts group representing country and international institutional experts, into a coherent list of priority functions and capacities to serve as a basis for budgetary dialog with finance authorities.
This webinar revisits the importance of CGH in light of the overall response and recovery to the pandemic. This agenda is as important as ever and does not only consider pandemic preparedness, but the broader foundations needed to protect the health and well-being of entire societies. To begin this webinar, there was a brief technical presentation of the contents of the Guidance Document, which grounded the panel discussion with experts from the fields of both health and finance. The panel discussion focused on how to operationalize this agenda in light of inherent challenges in both the prioritization as well as financing of common goods for health.
Speakers :
Susan Sparkes (moderator)Alexandra Earle (presenter)
Agnès Soucat (discussant)
Gavin Yamey (discussant)Justice Nonvignon (discussant)
Jayati Ghosh (discussant)
Joe Kutzin (concluding speaker)
Links:
Background document: /publications/i/item
More information: https://mailchi.mp/903ceda87c9c/governance-in-support-of-common-goods-for-health-webinar-nov-6571743
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December 16, 2021: “How do I begin to work with the private sector?” — Lessons from Governments, Private Sector, and Implementing Agencies
Establishing an effective public-private dialogue (PPD) is a key step for national health authorities willing to mobilize private sector providers in the COVID-19 response. PPD will help to define when, where, and how the private sector can contribute; it will also prepare the building of critical governance capacities and behaviors.This webinar presents WHO recommendations for PPD and gives space for actors to describe their experience with PPD during COVID-19. The main focus is on answering the question, “How do I begin to work with the private sector? and providing actionable solutions to combat barriers to successful PPDs. The session was also an opportunity to hear about the Country Connector for Private Sector in Health – a new initiative to help country governments to improve their capacities to work with the private sector in health.
Speakers:
David Clarke (introduction)Claire Gapare (presenter)Ahsan Maqbool Ahmad (discussant)Volkan Yilmaz (discussant)
Clare Omatseye (discussant)Joe Kutzin (concluding speaker)
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May 20, 2021: Covid-19: What is the impact on the UHC agenda at the level of African countries? (in French)
Prior to the pandemic, several countries in Africa were on track to expand their Universal Health Coverage (UHC) arrangements. The pandemic has not fundamentally challenged the rationale for UHC. On the contrary, the crisis provides a strong argument to speed up implementation. However, we must acknowledge that the management of the crisis has disrupted policy processes in many countries, and economic contraction will potentially reduce funding for UHC.
This webinar is a collective thought and discussion with country experts on the challenges for the UHC agenda, underscored by the COVID crisis. Together, they try to identify new challenges and opportunities which have been created by the crisis.
The whole session is in French.
Speakers:
Seydou Coulibaly (introduction)
Hélène Barroy (presenter)
Kéfilath Bello (presenter)
Y-Ling Chi (presenter)
Isidore Sieleunou (moderator)
Rokhaya Badiane (country discussant)
Rihani Anas (country discussant)
Christine Ortiz (concluding speaker)
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March 26, 2021: Enabling financial access by the poorest to health services – A tribute to Bart Jacobs
During his 20 years of activity in South-East Asia, Bart Jacobs was a key contributor to the design, implementation, study and scale up of health financing schemes, with always a particular attention to the poorest and most vulnerable. Financial access to health services is a critical issue in many countries and barriers faced by poorest often require specific action.
This webinar reviews Dr Jacobs’ original contribution in this field and explores how we can carry his legacy forward for the related learning and policy agendas.
Speakers:
Claude Meyer (introduction)
Maria-Lucia Nikoloudi (moderator)
Por Ir (presenter)
Gabriela Flores (discussant)
Ellen Van de Poel (discussant)
Walaiporn Patcharanarumol (discussant)
Bruno Meessen (concluding speaker)
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February 22, 2021: Ending hospital detention for non-payment of hospital bills: legal and health financing options
Uncounted numbers of people are detained in public and private hospitals around the world for non-payment of hospital bills, despite the fact that hospital detention is both a human rights violation and inconsistent with efforts towards universal health coverage (UHC).
A recently published policy brief from the World Health Organization presents legal as well as health financing policy options to help to end the practice of hospital detention for non-payment of bills and user fees.
In this webinar, the speakers firmly place the problem of hospital detention as a human rights violation and at the heart of the UHC agenda. The findings of the paper are presented, reinforced by a series of interventions from those who have worked on this issue to get a better grasp of what is happening on the ground, and how we can collectively ensure this unlawful practice ends.
Speakers:
David Clarke (speaker)
Inke Mathauer (speaker)
Annette Bosibori Omwoyo (country panelist)
George Tafuna (country panelist)
Rob Yates (discussant)
Alicia Yamin (discussant)
Juliet Nabyonga-Orem (concluding speaker)
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January 28, 2021: Assessing health financing systems with the Health Financing Progress Matrix: a focus on country implementation
Until recently, there was no standard assessment of a country’s health financing system, in terms of the alignment of institutions and policies with good practice. WHO’s newly developed Health Financing Progress Matrix fills this gap. The HFPM is both an evaluation tool and a process to support the development of a coherent, prioritized reform agenda.
This webinar focuses both on the HFPM’s underlying theory of change, as well as how to move forward with country implementation i.e. when to conduct an assessment, completing an assessment (process issues), and using the results to drive progress towards UHC.
Speakers:
Matthew Jowett (speaker)
Agnès Soucat (introduction)
Kenneth Munge Kabubei (moderator)
Midori de Habich (discussant)
Cristina Manzanares (discussant)
Joe Kutzin (concluding speaker)
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December 3, 2020: More money for health services: what is the role of PFM in the "New Normal"?
Historically, public financial management (PFM) has been overlooked in academic and policy discussions on the availability of domestic resources. However, there is now a growing body of evidence that shows the impact of PFM processes on the quality and volume of public spending in the health sector. In a recent Center for Global Development and World Health Organization paper, Hélène Barroy and Sanjeev Gupta argue that budgetary space for health can be created through added revenue and by improving PFM in publicly-funded health systems. This is a new approach to positioning PFM which has implications for budget dialogues and future research.
This webinar focuses on the links between PFM and budgetary space for health and explores ways in which improvements in budget formulation and execution can expand resources available for the health sector.
Speakers:
Joe Kutzin (chair and moderator)
Hélène Barroy (speaker)
Sanjeev Gupta (speaker)
Yuriy Dzhygyr (discussant)
Paul Booth (discussant)
Amanda Glassman (concluding speaker)
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November 19. 2020: Governance in support of Common Goods for Health: Regional and country perspectives
Over the last few years, global health systems experts have begun to make progress coalescing a shared understanding of the priority actions needed for effective health system governance. In many countries, both rich and poor, COVID-19 has shed light on governance arrangements and revealed some of their shortcomings.
This webinar focuses on the link between common goods for health, essential public health functions and the governance arrangements that are integral for their successful delivery.
Speakers:
Agnès Soucat (speaker)
Hala Abou Taleb (speaker)
Maha El Rabbat (panelist)
Sameen Siddiqi (panelist)
Walid Ammar (panelist)
Maryam Bigdeli (moderator)
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September 24, 2020: Labor-Tax-Financed Social Health Insurance: a wrong track for LMICs?
In low and low-middle-income countries, there is increasing interest in initiating and expanding social health insurance through labor taxes. Yet, this vision goes against available empirical evidence. This webinar session built on recent recommendations by leading health financing experts against labor-tax financing of health care in LMICs. Message by Abdo Yazbeck and colleagues is very clear: access to health care should not be conditional to employment status. While the social health insurance model has strengths (in terms of governance for instance), it has inherent drawbacks.
Speakers:
Agnès Soucat (introduction)
Abdo Yazbeck (speaker)
Ir Por (discussant)
Kurfi Abubakr (discussant)
Joe Kutzin (concluding speaker)