The Ministry of Well being, in collaboration with the World Well being Group (WHO), convened a 2-day roundtable dialogue to mirror on precedence methods and reforms to speed up progress in the direction of attaining sustainable and efficient financing of well being in Uganda.
The occasion introduced collectively well being financing consultants from varied authorities ministries, departments and businesses, improvement and implementing companions, and academia to share evidence-based data on the well being financing panorama in Uganda. Contributors will establish, mirror on, and agree on coverage and observe suggestions to enhance the well being system’s efficiency and meet the inhabitants’s well being wants.
Nations dedicated to attaining Common Well being Protection (UHC) as a part of the 2030 Sustainable Growth Objectives (SDGs). The objective is to make sure that every one individuals have entry to the total vary of high quality well being providers they want with out dealing with monetary hardship while receiving wanted well being providers. Nonetheless, six years to the tip of the SDG period, a number of international locations, together with Uganda, are dealing with challenges which can be compromising their motion towards UHC.
Talking on the opening ceremony, Dr Jane Ruth Aceng Ocero, Uganda’s Minister of Well being, identified that the nation’s well being sources are extremely fragmented, leading to a mismatch with authorities priorities resulting in duplication and wastage of sources. “To attain our objective of common well being protection, I urge all companions to channel their sources via a single system to facilitate effectivity and coordination,” she stated.
The Ministry of Well being, with help from WHO and companions, has made commendable progress in bettering the well being financing panorama in Uganda. The authorities’s finances allocation to the sector has steadily elevated, with an annual well being finances progress charge of 10% within the 2022/23 monetary 12 months. Moreover, the federal government has moved from input-output budgeting to program-based budgeting, which promotes effectivity and useful resource prioritization. To help strategic operations, results-based funding mechanisms have been launched and built-in.
Whereas these efforts are commendable, latest assessments of Uganda’s well being financing system spotlight persistent challenges to attaining UHC. “To fulfill our objective of Common Well being Protection, it’s important to strengthen methods to enhance authorities useful resource allocation to the well being sector and to make sure that donor efforts in help of important well being packages are sustainable,” stated Dr. Yonas Tegegn Woldemariam, WHO Consultant to Uganda.
On the occasion, three well being financing information merchandise that present insights into the well being financing panorama in Uganda have been launched. They embody the Nationwide Well being Accounts 2016-2019, the Well being Financing Progress Matrix 2024, and the Report of the Mid-term Evaluate of the Well being Financing Technique.
“These merchandise and the suggestions from this roundtable will inform subsequent coverage dialogues and reforms to catalyze progress in the direction of common well being protection in Uganda,” concluded Christabell Abewe, the Well being Financing Officer at WHO Uganda.