Overview
In response to the ongoing suspension of face-to-face courses, a new facilitated online version of the WHO Advanced course on health financing for UHC was developed throughout 2020 and launched in 2021.
The course was led by WHO Health Financing team in Geneva, but tutors were drawn from WHO offices across the world. The course was hosted on the Virtual Campus for Public Health (VCPH) managed by the WHO Office for the Americas
The course was conducted over a three week period in March 2021 Participants were required to have previously completed the WHO e-learning course on Health Financing for UHC, and to commit approximately 20 hours across the three weeks.
Target audience
As with all WHO’s advanced courses, the target audience was policy makers, advisors and analysts in the health and social sectors, actively involved in health financing policy development and implementation; typically, this includes senior officials in Ministries of Health and public health insurance funds, senior officials from other government agencies involved in health financing (e.g. Ministries of Finance, Parliamentarians), and officials from other relevant stakeholders e.g. service provider organizations, the private sector and civil society.
A total of 98 individuals were invited to participate in the course; all had previously applied for the WHO Advanced Course, including the suspended 2020 course. A total of 87 participants from all regions registered for the course
Course content and structure
The course structure and content (Modules and learning resources) remained the same as in face to face courses, with some adjustments to accommodate the shift to a virtual format. There were six Modules:
Module 1: Overview of Health Financing and UHC
Module 2: Revenue Raising
Module 3: Pooling
Module 4: Overview of Strategic Purchasing & Provider Payment Reform
Module 5: Benefit entitlements and conditions of access
Module 6: Public Financial Management
Participants were required, in a largely asynchronous manner, to:
- attend live sessions (or watch recordings of these sessions)
- watch pre-recorded PowerPoint presentations
- read essential readings; additional readings were also provided
- actively engage in online group discussion forums
- complete an individual assignment based on the WHO Health Financing Progress Matrix
Each participant was part of a tutor-led discussion group with other participants.
As noted above, individuals were asked to use elements of the Health Financing Progress Matrix (HFPM) to analyse a country health system of their choice, for their individual assignment; the HFPM was used to guide the participant’s assignment throughout the course.
Evaluation and certification
Each participant received individual feedback and formal assessment from their tutor, and upon successful submission of their assignments received a certificate of completion.