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Fifty years ago, health outcomes in the countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia were not far behind those in Western Europe and well ahead of most other regions of the world. But progress since then has been slow. While life expectancy in the ECA region today is close to the global average, the gap with its western neighbors has doubled, and other middle-income regions have all surpassed ECA. Some countries in the region are doing better, but full convergence with the world’s most advanced health systems is still a long way off. At the same time, survey evidence suggests that the health sector is the top priority for additional investment among populations across the region. The experience of high-income countries also suggests that popular demand for strong and accessible health systems will only grow over time. Yet these aspirations must be reconciled with current fiscal realities. In brief, health sector issues are a challenge here to stay for policy-makers across the ECA region. This report draws on new evidence to explore the development challenge facing health sectors in ECA, and highlights three key agendas to help policy-makers seeking to achieve more rapid convergence with the world’s best performing health systems. The first is the health agenda, where the task is to strengthen public health and primary care interventions to help launch the \"cardiovascular revolution\" that has taken place in the West in recent decades. The second is the financing agenda, in which growing demand for medical care must be satisfied without imposing undue burden on households or government budgets. The third agenda relates to broader institutional arrangements. Here there are some key reform ingredients common to most advanced health systems that are still missing in many ECA countries. A common theme in each of these three agendas is the emphasis on improving outcomes, or \"Getting Better\".

The study examines the effect of health care reform in Bulgaria in 1999 on the equity of health care financing. It explores the distribution of different types of health care financing by income. Furthermore, it separates the financial and social reasons for these differences, dividing them into economic and social inequalities. It suggests a method of distinguishing between financially based and \"exclusion based\" reasons for having progressive/regressive health care financing. Moreover, it looks at the social factors that shape health expenditure patterns and identifies those social characteristics that lead to exclusion from the health care system.

In Bangladesh, maternal mortality is estimated to be 320 per 100,000 live births, among the highest in the world, and most deliveries in rural areas occur at home. Women with obstetric complications fear to seek hospital care for various reasons; one of which is the tremendous cost. This paper shows how cost impedes rural, poor women's access to emergency obstetric care. The data are from a larger ethnographic study of childbirth practices in 2000–01 in Apurbabari village, the adjacent sub-district health complex and more distant tertiary hospitals at district level. Families had to spend what for them added up to a fortune for a caesarean section and other surgery, medicines, laboratory investigations, blood transfusion, food, travel and other expenses. Corruption in the form of demands for under-the-table payments to obtain these aspects of essential care is rife. Adequate resources should be allocated to the different health facilities, including for emergency obstetric treatment. Thana health complexes (sub-district hospitals) should be upgraded to provide comprehensive obstetric care. The system for prescribing drugs should be reformed and the causes of corruption investigated and addressed. Hospital care should not be allowed to further impoverish the poor. Addressing these issues will help to encourage rural, poor women to seek skilled delivery and post-partum care, particularly in emergency situations. Au Bangladesh, la mortalité maternelle est estimée à 320 pour 100 000 naissances vivantes, l'une des plus élevées du monde ; la plupart des accouchements dans les régions rurales se déroulent à domicile. Les femmes présentant des complications obstétriques craignent de demander des soins hospitaliers, pour plusieurs raisons dont leur coût exorbitant. L'article montre comment le coût empêche les femmes rurales pauvres d'accéder aux soins obstétrique d'urgence. Les données sont tirées d'une vaste étude ethnographique sur les pratiques obstétriques en 2000-2001 dans le village d'Apurbabari, le complexe de santé de sous-district adjacent et les hôpitaux tertiaires de district plus éloignés. Les familles doivent dépenser ce qui représente pour elles une fortune pour des césariennes et d'autres interventions, des médicaments, des analyses, des transfusions sanguines, des frais de voyage, d'alimentation et autres. La corruption, sous la forme de ≪ dessous de table ≫ exigés pour obtenir ces soins essentiels, est très répandue. Il convient d'allouer des ressources appropriées aux centres de santé, notamment pour un traitement obstétrique d'urgence. Les centres de santé de sous-district doivent être aménagés pour fournir des soins obstétriques complets. Il faut réformer le système de prescription des médicaments et les causes de la corruption doivent faire l'objet d'enquêtes et être éliminées. Les soins hospitaliers ne sauraient appauvrir encore les démunis. Ces mesures encourageront les femmes rurales pauvres à rechercher des soins qualifiés pendant et après l'accouchement, particulièrement dans des situations d'urgence. En Bangladesh, la tasa de mortalidad materna es de aproximadamente 320 por cada 100,000 nacidos vivos, una de las más altas del mundo. La mayorı́a de las mujeres en las zonas rurales dan a luz en su hogar. Aquéllas que presentan complicaciones obstétricas temen acudir al hospital por varias razones, entre ellas el alto costo. En este artı́culo se muestra cómo el costo impede el acceso de las mujeres pobres rurales a la atención obstétrica de emergencia. Los datos provienen de un amplio estudio etnográfico sobre la atención de partos en del perı́odo 2000-01 en el poblado de Apurbabari, en el establecimiento de salud del subdistrito cercano y en los hospitales distritales de tercer nivel de atención más distantes. Las familias gastaron una fortuna para cubrir las cesáreas y otros procedimientos quirúrgicos, medicamentos, exámenes de laboratorio, transfusiones sanguı́neas, alimentación, transporte y otros gastos. La corrupción o exigencias de pagos por debajo de la mesa para obtener estos aspectos básicos de la atención médica es la norma. Se deben distribuir los recursos adecuados a los establecimientos de salud, incluso el tratamiento obstétrico de emergencia. Asimismo, se deben actualizar los establecimientos de salud de los subdistritos para capacitarlos en la atención obstétrica integral. Debe reformarse el sistema de formulación de medicamentos y se deben investigar y eliminar las causas de la corrupción. El tratar estos aspectos ayudará a motivar a las mujeres pobres rurales a acudir a los prestadores calificados de atención obstétrica y posparto, particularmente en situaciones de urgencia.

Vietnam's successes in the health sector are remarkable. Between 2000 and 2005, Vietnam achieved reductions in mortality rates for all ages, while some of its neighbors saw little change or even increases. To date, its infant and under-five mortality rates are comparable to those of countries with substantially higher per capita incomes. According to the data assembled in 'Health Financing and Delivery in Vietnam', the country continues to perform strongly in the sector, but its health care system is facing new challenges, as do those of other countries. By international standards, for example, a large percentage of Vietnamese households make out-of-pocket health care payments that exceed a reasonable fraction of their income. The country has been expanding the breadth of health insurance coverage, but questions remain on how to further expand coverage, how to decrease health care costs, and how to increase the overall quality of care. 'Health Financing and Delivery in Vietnam' reviews the country's successes and the challenges it faces, and suggests some options for further reforming the country's health system. These include the issue of stewardship—what different parts of government (for example, the Health Ministry and the health insurer) should be doing at each level of government, and what different levels of government (for example, the central government and the provincial government) ought to be doing. 'Health Financing and Delivery in Vietnam' will be of interest to readers working in the areas of public health and social analysis and policy.

Background: Financial risk protection against the cost of unforeseen healthcare has gained global attention in recent years. Although Ghana implemented a nationwide health insurance scheme with a goal of reducing financial barriers to accessing healthcare and addressing impoverishing effects of out-of-pocket (OOP) healthcare payments, there is a paucity of knowledge on the extent of financial catastrophe of such payments in Ghana. Thus, this paper assesses the catastrophic effect of OOP healthcare payments in Ghana. Methods: Ghana Living Standard Survey (GLSS 5) data collected in 2005/2006 are used in this study. Catastrophic effect of OOP healthcare payments is assessed using various thresholds of total household expenditure and non-food expenditure. Furthermore, four indices, namely the catastrophic payment headcount, catastrophic payment gap, weighted catastrophic payment headcount and weighted catastrophic payment gap, are defined and computed. Results: As at 2005/2006, it was estimated that 11.0% of households in Ghana spent over 5% of their total household expenditure on healthcare OOP. However, after adjusting for the concentration of such spending, it decreased to 10.9%. Also 10.7% of households spent more than 10% of their non-food consumption expenditure on OOP healthcare payments. Furthermore, about 2.6% of households are observed to have spent in excess of 20% of their total household income on healthcare OOP. With the exception of the 5% threshold of household expenditure, because the concentration indices of these expenditures are negative, the burden of such expenditures rests more on the poor. Conclusions: Significant levels of financial catastrophe existed in Ghana prior to the uptake of the national health insurance scheme. Poorer households were at a higher risk than the relatively well-off households. The results of this study present baseline assessment of the impact of Ghana's health insurance policy on catastrophic healthcare payments. Thus, there is a need for continuous monitoring of financial catastrophe in the system to ensure that households are adequately protected.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to decompose the inequities induced by the Nigerian health care financing sources and their effect on the income distribution. Inequities in health care financing sources are of immense policy concern particularly in developing countries such as Nigeria, where high-level income inequality exists, and the cost of medical care is generally financed out-of-pocket (OOP) due to limited access to health insurance.Design/methodology/approachThe Duclos et al. decomposition model provided the theoretical framework for the study. Data were obtained from two waves of the Nigeria General Household Survey (GHS) panel, 2012–13 and 2015–16. The analysis covered 3,999 households in 2012–13 and 4,051 households in 2015–16. Two measures of health care financing: OOP payment and health insurance contribution (HIC) were used. The ability to pay measure was household consumption expenditure.FindingsThe major inequity issue induced by the OOP payments was vertical inequity. HICs created the problems of vertical inequity, horizontal inequity and reranking among households. Overall both health care financing options were associated with the worsening of income inequality both at the national and sectorial levels in the country. The operations of the NHIS need to be improved to ensuring improved health care coverage for the poor.Originality/valueThis paper fulfills an identified need to determine the income redistributive effects (REs) of the social health insurance (SHI) contribution at the national, urban and rural locations overtime.

Background There is a global concern regarding how households could be protected from relatively large healthcare payments which are a major limitation to accessing healthcare. Such payments also endanger the welfare of households with the potential of moving households into extreme impoverishment. This paper examines the impoverishing effects of out-of-pocket (OOP) healthcare payments in Ghana prior to the introduction of Ghana’s national health insurance scheme. Methods Data come from the Ghana Living Standard Survey 5 (2005/2006). Two poverty lines ($1.25 and $2.50 per capita per day at the 2005 purchasing power parity) are used in assessing the impoverishing effects of OOP healthcare payments. We computed the poverty headcount, poverty gap, normalized poverty gap and normalized mean poverty gap indices using both poverty lines. We examine these indicators at a national level and disaggregated by urban/rural locations, across the three geographical zones, and across the ten administrative regions in Ghana. Also the Pen’s parade of “dwarfs and a few giants” is used to illustrate the decreasing welfare effects of OOP healthcare payments in Ghana. Results There was a high incidence and intensity of impoverishment due to OOP healthcare payments in Ghana. These payments contributed to a relative increase in poverty headcount by 9.4 and 3.8% using the $1.25/day and $2.5/day poverty lines, respectively. The relative poverty gap index was estimated at 42.7 and 10.5% respectively for the lower and upper poverty lines. Relative normalized mean poverty gap was estimated at 30.5 and 6.4%, respectively, for the lower and upper poverty lines. The percentage increase in poverty associated with OOP healthcare payments in Ghana is highest among households in the middle zone with an absolute increase estimated at 2.3% compared to the coastal and northern zones. Conclusion It is clear from the findings that without financial risk protection, households can be pushed into poverty due to OOP healthcare payments. Even relatively richer households are impoverished by OOP healthcare payments. This paper presents baseline indicators for evaluating the impact of Ghana’s national health insurance scheme on impoverishment due to OOP healthcare payments.

The goals of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) are to ensure that all people can access quality health services, to safeguard all people from public health risks, and to protect all people from impoverishment due to illness, whether from out-of-pocket payments for health care or loss of income when a household member falls sick. Countries as diverse as Brazil, France, Japan, Thailand, and Turkey that have achieved UHC are showing how these programs can serve as vital mechanisms for improving the health and welfare of their citizens, and lay the foundation for economic growth and competitiveness grounded in the principles of equity and sustainability. Ensuring universal access to affordable, quality health services will be an important contribution to ending extreme poverty by 2030 and boosting shared prosperity in low income and middle-income countries (LMICs), where most of the worlds poor live.

Protecting households from high out-of-pocket (OOP) payments for health care is an important health system goal. High OOP payments can push households into poverty and make them vulnerable to catastrophic health expenditures. This study, based in India, aims to: (a) estimate OOP payments for health and related impoverishment across economic groups; (b) decompose OOP payments and relate the contribution of their components to impoverishment; and (c) examine how well recently introduced national insurance schemes meant for the poor are able to provide financial protection. The analysis of nationally representative data from India shows that 3.5% of the population fall below the poverty line and 5% households suffer catastrophic health expenditures. The poverty deepening impact of OOP payments was at a maximum in people below the poverty line in comparison with those above (Rs. 10.45 vs. Rs. 1.50, respectively). Medicines constitute the main share (72%) of total OOP payments. This share reaches 82% for outpatient care, compared with 42% for inpatient care. Removing OOP payments for inpatient care leads to a negligible fall in the poverty headcount ratio and poverty gap. However, if OOP payments for either medicines or outpatient care are removed then only 0.5% people fall into poverty due to spending on health. These findings suggest that insurance schemes which cover only hospital expenses, like those being rolled out nationally in India, will fail to adequately protect the poor against impoverishment due to spending on health. Further, issues related to identifying the poor and their targeting also constrain the scheme's impact. A broader coverage of benefits, to include medicines and outpatient care for the poor and near poor (i.e. those just above the poverty line), is necessary to achieve significant protection from impoverishment.

Context A patient classification-based payment system called diagnosis-intervention packet (DIP) was piloted in a large city in southeast China in 2018. Objective This study evaluates the impact of DIP payment reform on total costs, out-of-pocket (OOP) payments, length of stay (LOS), and quality of care in hospitalised patients of different age. Methods An interrupted time series model was employed to examine the monthly trend changes of outcome variables before and after the DIP reform in adult patients, who were stratified into a younger (18–64 years) and an older group (≥ 65 years), further stratified into young-old (65–79 years) and oldest-old (≥ 80 years) groups. Results The adjusted monthly trend of costs per case significantly increased in the older adults (0.5%, P  = 0.002) and oldest-old group (0.6%, P  = 0.015). The adjusted monthly trend of average LOS decreased in the younger and young-old groups (monthly slope change: -0.058 days, P  = 0.035; -0.025 days, P  = 0.024, respectively), and increased in the oldest-old group (monthly slope change: 0.107 days, P  = 0.030) significantly. The changes of adjusted monthly trends of in-hospital mortality rate were not significant in all age groups. Conclusion Implementation of the DIP payment reform associated with increase in total costs per case in the older and oldest-old groups, and reduction in LOS in the younger and young-old groups without deteriorating quality of care.