Identifying the critical need of capacity building for health financing policy development in the country, WHO Country Office for India partnered with the World Bank to offer a flagship training course on health financing at Bhubaneswar, Odisha from 25-29 November 2013.
Speaking about the initiative, WHO Representative to India, said, “We are delighted to partner with the World Bank to bring this flagship programme to the country. It will help build capacity in the vital area of health financing.”
“I am especially pleased that the theme of the course is ‘sustaining progress towards universal health coverage (UHC)’. It is important that we keep this overall goal in focus,” she added.
Recognising the policy initiatives that the Government of Odisha has taken to address the health needs of its population with a long term objective to establish a system of UHC, the first training course on this subject in the country was organized in the state.
The World Health Report 2010 has highlighted the need for countries to enhance capacities on health financing policy towards improving health status of their people and meeting the growing public demand for access to high-quality, affordable care.
India’s 12th Five Year Plan also seeks to expand the reach of health care by providing greater flexibility in health financing to the states through the National Health Mission.
The course content focused on:
- Health systems framework - concepts and applications to diagnose system performance problems and their causes.
- Health financing for universal health coverage - reform trends, core performance challenges and priorities, based on global and Indian experience.
- Health financing policy framework - objectives, instruments and constraints on the path towards universal health coverage, with specific sessions on:
- Revenue contribution and collection
- Pooling of funds
- Purchasing and provider payment
- Benefit design and rationing
- Public and private roles in health financing - concepts and lessons from Indian and global experience
A part of the series of joint global actions under the ‘Provide for Health (P4H) network’, the training course was facilitated by international and national trainers from WHO, World Bank and other institutes of higher learning. India and Odisha-specific aspects of health systems and health financing were addressed by the national faculty.
The training course was attended by senior-level policy makers, mid-level managers and experts working in the health system area along with other key stakeholders.