WHO/Europe is pleased to announce that the next edition of the annual WHO Barcelona Course on Health Financing for Universal Health Coverage will be held on 20-24 November 2023.
This week-long intensive course organized by the WHO Barcelona Office for Health Systems Financing, with generous support from the European Union and the Government of Catalonia, Spain, aims to equip policymakers with the knowledge and skills needed to improve health systems financing and make progress towards universal health coverage (UHC).
Why a course on health systems financing?
UHC – ensuring everyone can use quality health care without financial hardship – is a Sustainable Development Goal, part of the European Pillar of Social Rights and a core priority of the WHO European Programme of Work 2020-2025. Health financing policy plays a key role in moving countries towards UHC. By understanding the principles of health financing policy and assessing options for reform, policymakers will be better able to design and implement effective strategies to improve affordable access to health care.
About the course
The course is designed for policymakers in the health and social policy sectors, senior managers in organizations delivering health care and experts engaged in health system reform.
Delivered in English, it has trained over 1000 experts since its launch in 2011, addressing policy questions such as why some countries invest more in health care than others, how countries can make health systems more efficient and how to ensure affordable access to services, even when resources are limited.
The course reviews effective policy instruments to improve health financing policy through the following modules:
- Coordinating reform – aligning policy instruments with policy objectives
- Financial protection – securing affordable access to health care
- Raising revenues – thinking outside the box
- Pooling health revenues – reducing fragmentation
- Purchasing – getting more health for the money
- Re-designing coverage policy for equity, efficiency and transparency.
How to apply
Applicants are invited to submit a completed online application form no later than 19 September 2023. Acceptance to the course is not automatic: participants will be selected based on several factors, including the relevance of course topics to applicants' work functions, their level of prior training in health systems strengthening and language abilities.
Upon acceptance, participants will be required to pay a non-refundable registration fee of €100 to secure their place on the course. WHO will cover expenses related to tuition, course materials, lunches for all five days of the course and one social dinner. Participants (or their funding agency) will be responsible for covering their travel, accommodation and subsistence expenses while in Barcelona.
Please note that enrollment in this course is exclusive to participants from the WHO European Region, and we can only accommodate a maximum of 50 participants.
For further inquiries, contact: