World Health Day is celebrated each year on 7th April, and this year had as its theme primary health care. The Royal Government of Cambodia convened the 3rd Cambodia Universal Health Coverage (UHC) Forum to carry forward the discussion on Cambodia’s road to universal health coverage, and the role of primary care in achieving it.
Universal health coverage means that all people and communities can use the promotive, preventive, curative, rehabilitative and palliative health services they need, of sufficient quality to be effective, at the time they need them, while also ensuring that the use of these services does not expose the user to financial hardship.
The 3rd Forum was a two-day event, with an agenda centred around the three axes of universal health coverage, namely “who is covered”, “which services are covered”, and “what proportion of costs are covered”. The topics discussed under these three axes were primary care, quality of care, the burden of disease, benefit package design, and improved public financial management.
The meeting was opened by His Excellency Professor Eng Huot, Secretary of State of the Ministry of Health, in front of stakeholders representing four ministries, several government institutions, representatives of sub-national provincial and operational district offices, and development partners. Preceding his comments, Dr Kumanan Rasanathan, Acting WHO Representative to Cambodia, spoke on the importance of primary care, and His Excellency Dr Lo Veasnakiry of the Ministry of Health spoke the need to guarantee a basic level of quality health services to the population.
As is customary with the Cambodia UHC Forums, there were several international guests on hand to present their experiences from specific countries, and from across the globe. Dr Melanie Bertram of WHO Headquarters provided a theoretical guide to the development of a benefit package. Dr Eduardo Banzon of the Philippines explained the history and context for the development of PhilHealth’s benefit package, noting that it had its roots as a hospital-only benefit package, and that the influence of those beginnings is still felt today. Dr Warisa Panichkriangkrai of the International Health Policy Program of the Thai Ministry of Health gave a comprehensive history of the effort by the Thai government to focus on developing primary care as a means to achieving universal health coverage.
There was an enthusiastic response to the Thai presentation by the large number of national and sub-national health system administrators in the audience, with a particular interest in how Thailand created the conditions for high-quality service delivery at primary care level.
The meeting was closed by His Excellency Professor Mam Bunheng, Minister of Health, who re-emphasized that the Royal Government of Cambodia considers the good health of its people as an indispensable asset in Cambodia’s sustainable development. He went on to note the importance of having a guaranteed benefit package of services available to the entire population, responding to the current burden of disease.