Wrapping up

This week, we examined health financing in Africa, exploring Universal Health Coverage and different ways of raising revenue and purchasing services from health providers.

Universal Health Coverage (UHC) ensures that everybody has access to essential health services – whether promotive, preventative, curative, rehabilitative, or palliative. High-quality health services should be available to the entire population and without putting any patient at risk of financial hardship. At present, UHC has not yet been fully implemented in any country.

So, what can we learn specifically in the area of health financing from African countries? This question obviously has many answers. In order to tackle it, this week we addressed the challenges that African countries face when it comes to financing their healthcare systems.

Financing healthcare systems in Africa is challenging due to African countries’ large informal sectors and high unemployment rates. Governments must employ strategies that suit the specific contexts of their country. They can do this in various ways, such as the manner in which they raise funds for healthcare provision, how they pool health funds, and what strategies they use for purchasing health services, such as Results-Based Financing.

In your opinion, what can other countries learn from the example of African countries? Share your thoughts in the comment section below. Remember: you can also ‘like’ and reply to other learners’ comments.