UHC
Universal Health Coverage
According to the World Health Organization, nearly half of the world’s population continues to lack full coverage for essential health services and approximately 100 million people experience extreme poverty due to health care expenses. Universal health coverage (UHC) allows individuals to access services for some of the most significant causes of disease which can ultimately reduce global poverty rates and further global progress toward the sustainable development goals. There is unprecedented political will in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) to pursue the goal of UHC. An increasing number of SSA countries have committed to working towards this goal, with some establishment of health financing strategies or implementation plans for advancing UHC, supported by numerous partners, projects, and initiatives. However, most countries in SSA are experiencing obstacles to moving forward operational implementation of health financing policies that can improve coverage, expand access, and support financial protection. Effective coverage, especially of the hardest to reach population groups, remains low.
Financial sources can be fragmented (including donor resources), possibly inequitable (including user fees or out-of-pocket payments), and/or insufficient or inefficiently allocated. The ability to provide a high-quality package of services is often limited by poor purchasing arrangements that limit provider flexibility and autonomy. Much has been documented about macro-level challenges at the country level (low domestic resource mobilization, health care services of inadequate quality or availability, etc.), yet there has been less attention paid to operational challenges encountered in the implementation process itself of the various policies and strategies meant to advance UHC. ACS acknowledges that the pathway towards UHC is not one-size-fits-all. ACS support incorporates all key in-country stakeholders’ voices to ensure that UHC policies and strategies are grounded in the diverse needs of the population. Country-by-country, region-by-region, ACS examines existing UHC efforts and listens and learns what the key obstacles are. Whether the focus is on HIV/AIDS or expanding coverage to the most vulnerable, ACS advances these efforts by leveraging African expertise in health financing, policy, technical processes and communications.
The ACS seeks to support advancement and engagement around the UHC Roadmap through the local organizations in different countries. To this end, the ACS in collaboration with AIPs would like to engage a country level process facilitator who would take the mantle to drive and ensure the sustainability of a country in implementing the UHC Roadmap. Objective The objective is to develop a country level facilitation process to serve as a reference for policy makers interested in sustaining UHC processes. The identified facilitator will be expected to; – Identify the operational challenges around health financing policies – Bring the essential people to the table to collaborate to create the best processes and solutions to address challenges; – Create communication pathways to strengthen and support learning, advocacy and accountability for UHC.
