[afro-nets] Strategies to achieve universal coverage: are there lessons from middle ncome countries?

["Ana Lucia Ruggiero" <ruglucia@paho.org>]

Cross-posted from: EQUIDAD@listserv.paho.org

Strategies to achieve universal coverage: are there lessons from middle income countries?

Anne Mills, Health Economics and Financing Programme, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine March 2007
Literature review commissioned by the Health Systems Knowledge Network 
World Health Organisation's Commission on Social Determinants of Health

Available online as PDF file [42p.] at:
http://www.wits.ac.za/chp/kn/Mills%202007%20Universal%20coverage.pdf

"…..The desirability of providing universal coverage of health services is not in question. Few people, and no countries, would explicitly accept that universal coverage is not a desirable goal for a health system. However the mix of financing sources and provision arrangements within a universal coverage system, and the degree of equity sought and achieved, vary widely amongst countries.

Countries that have yet to achieve universal coverage face many options with respect to strategies which will move them closer to universal coverage. Moreover, given that universal coverage requires cross-subsidies of various types, especially from richer groups to poorer groups, political dynamics and broader social influences are very important in affecting both the choice of strategies and the speed of progress….."

--
Mrs. Ana Lucia Ruggiero 
mailto:ruglucia@paho.org