PHM-Exch> New tools to improve access to healthcare services for Africa's worst-off

[Claudio Schuftan]

<maryeve.tassot.chum at ssss.gouv.qc.ca> wrote:

>
>
> What can be done to ensure that the poorest Africans have access to a
> healthcare system that charges user fees? Many options have been proposed to
> address this situation, but currently the decision-makers involved have
> little or no access to these. To assist them, a team of researchers from the
> University of Montreal, with support from the international NGO HELP (Hilfe
> zur Selbsthilfe e.V.), has produced a thorough compilation of all existing
> knowledge on this subject, in four bilingual policy briefs. These briefs,
> which will be distributed as of November 2009 in Burkina Faso, *are
> available at no charge on our Web site.* Information is power, especially
> when it comes to defining health policy. Decision-makers need to have access
> to all the information and experience that can help them to implement the
> best strategies in their countries.
>
> The current situation
> Since the 1980s, nearly all African countries have implemented user fees in
> the hope of renewing their healthcare systems. Today, it is clear that this
> payment system excludes the most vulnerable and in fact puts them at risk of
> further impoverishment. Yet, there are other options besides user fees that
> have been the subject of documented studies. The problem is that their
> results are fragmented and often written in English, whereas most African
> decision-makers are francophone.
>
> Solutions are possible!
> This was an intensive project for the University of Montreal researchers.
> These four bilingual policy briefs present four options that have been shown
> to promote access to care : abolition of user fees for healthcare services,
> case-by-case exemptions for the worst-off, health equity funds, and health
> insurance that includes coverage for the poor. The objective of this
> project? To give leaders a comprehensive overview of actions that have
> already been undertaken to evaluate what options are best suited to their
> context.
>
> Made for Africa, with Africa
> With the assistance of an international NGO (HELP ? Hilfe zur Selbsthilfe
> e.V.), consultations were carried out in Burkina Faso to strengthen the
> relevance of these policy briefs. Starting in November, these four documents
> will be distributed in Burkina Faso as part of a HELP project that will test
> a trial of user fees abolition. They will also be available on the Web site
> of the Teasdale-Corti team:
> www.vesa-tc.umontreal.ca/access_en.htm
>
> www.usi.umontreal.ca
>
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