Factors that affect the uptake of community-based health insurance in low-income and middle-income countries : a systematic protocol

Many people residing in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) are regularly exposed to catastrophic healthcare expenditure. It is therefore pertinent that LMICs should finance their health systems in ways that ensure that their citizens can use needed healthcare services and are protected from potential impoverishment arising from having to pay for services. Ways of financing health systems include government funding, health insurance schemes and out-of-pocket payment. A health insurance scheme refers to pooling of prepaid funds in a way that allows for risks to be shared. The health insurance scheme particularly suitable for the rural poor and the informal sector in LMICs is community-based health insurance (CBHI), that is, insurance schemes operated by organisations other than governments or private for-profit companies. We plan to search for and summarise currently available evidence on factors associated with the uptake of CBHI, as we are not aware of previous systematic reviews that have looked at this important topic

Varying Levels of Proficiency in the Delivery of Value Engineering Objectives among Built Environment and Allied Professionals in Kogi State, Nigeria

Value Engineering (VE) practices analyze designed building features, systems, equipment, and material selections to achieve essential functions and enhance results while reducing the life-cycle cost. Hence, the objective of this paper was to evaluate the varying levels of proficiency in the delivery of VE objectives among the Built Environment and allied professionals in Kogi State, Nigeria. Data were harnessed from 94 study questionnaires administered across strata of these professionals in the study area. It was found that Architects, Builders, Engineers, Estate Surveyors and Valuers, and Town Planners in the study area exhibited varied levels of proficiencies across specific value engineering objectives (VEOs), whereas project managers and quantity surveyors exhibited very high-, and high levels of proficiency in the delivery of all the ten VEOs respectively. The variation which is an indication of their diversified skills in project cost management and control was significantly determined by the ten VE objectives commencing with enhancing of project functionality and terminating with minimizing project operating cost. The study recommended project managers and quantity surveyors as first- and second choice professionals in value workshop facilitation, given their high levels of proficiency in the delivery of these VEOs.

Hospital delivery and neonatal mortality in 37 countries in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia: an ecological study

BACKGROUND: Widespread increases in facility delivery have not substantially reduced neonatal mortality in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia over the past 2 decades. This may be due to poor quality care available in widely used primary care clinics. In this study, we examine the association between hospital delivery and neonatal mortality. METHODS AND FINDINGS: We used an ecological study design to assess cross-sectional associations between the share of hospital delivery and neonatal mortality across country regions. Data were from the Demographic and Health Surveys from 2009 to 2018, covering 682,239 births across all regions. We assess the association between the share of facility births in a region that occurred in hospitals (versus lower-level clinics) and early (0 to 7 days) neonatal mortality per 1,000 births, controlling for potential confounders including the share of facility births, small at birth, maternal age, maternal education, urbanicity, antenatal care visits, income, region, and survey year. We examined changes in this association in different contexts of country income, global region, and urbanicity using interaction models. Across the 1,143 regions from 37 countries in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, 42%, 29%, and 28% of births took place in a hospital, clinic, and at home, respectively. A 10-percentage point higher share of facility deliveries occurring in hospitals was associated with 1.2 per 1,000 fewer deaths (p-value < 0.01; 95% CI: 0.82 to 1.60), relative to mean mortality of 22. Associations were strongest in South Asian countries, middle-income countries, and urban regions. The study's limitations include the inability to control for all confounding factors given the ecological and cross-sectional design and potential misclassification of facility levels in our data. CONCLUSIONS: Regions with more hospital deliveries than clinic deliveries have reduced neonatal mortality. Increasing delivery in hospitals while improving quality across the health system may help to reduce high neonatal mortality

Financing for universal health coverage in small island states: Evidence from the Fiji Islands

© Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2017. All rights reserved. Background: Universal health coverage (UHC) is critical to global poverty alleviation and equity of health systems. Many low-income and middle-income countries, including small island states in the Pacific, have committed to UHC and reforming their health financing systems to better align with UHC goals. This study provides the first comprehensive evidence on equity of the health financing system in Fiji, a small Pacific island state. The health systems of such states are poorly covered in the international literature. Methods: The study employs benefit and financing incidence analyses to evaluate the distribution of health financing benefits and burden across the public and private sectors. Primary data from a cross-sectional survey of 2000 households were used to assess healthcare benefits and secondary data from the 2008–2009 Fiji Household Income and Expenditure Survey to assess health financing contributions. These were analysed by socioeconomic groups to determine the relative benefit and financing incidence across these groups. Findings: The distribution of healthcare benefits in Fiji slightly favours the poor—around 61% of public spending for nursing stations and 26% of spending for government hospital inpatient care were directed to services provided to the poorest 20% of the population. The financing system is significantly progressive with wealthier groups bearing a higher share of the health financing burden. Conclusions: The healthcare system in Fiji achieves a degree of vertical equity in financing, with the poor receiving a higher share of benefits from government health spending and bearing a lower share of the financing burden than wealthier groups

Legal and regulatory responses

Covid-19 pandemic posed a unique challenge to legislatures and executives worldwide, necessitating the development of new regulations. This chapter evaluates South Africa’s legal and regulatory response to Covid-19 against the values enshrined in section 1 of the Constitution. It considers the options for managing the pandemic provided by the Constitution and ordinary legislation and evaluates the impact of the choice of the Disaster Management Act. Covid-19 has had a profound impact on and challenged the maintenance of human rights. The chapter reviews issues around human rights and governance within the legal framework, as well as the ethical guidelines that should frame responses to a pandemic. It examines how consideration of the country’s constitutional and democratic norms, values, and safeguards (e.g., the rule of law, freedom of expression, and human dignity) were affected with respect to the right to healthcare, education, a safe environment, and the like during the management of the pandemic. Rather than analysing specific regulations in detail, the chapter focuses on three macro issues: the rule of law, human rights, and freedom of expression. The aim is to provide a broad framework and set out principles with which the law must comply during emergency situations.This chapter 3.1 is published in the first edition of South Africa Covid-19 country report in June 2021.https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/202206/sa-covid-19-reporta.pd

Social gradient in the cost of oral pain and related dental service utilisation among South African adults

Background: Oral pain affects people's daily activities and quality of life. The burden of oral pain may vary across socio-economic positions. Currently, little is known about the social gradient in the cost of oral pain among South Africans. This study therefore assessed the social gradient in the cost of oral pain and the related dental service utilisation pattern among South African adults. Methods: Data were obtained from a nationally representative cross-sectional survey of South African adults ?16 year-old (n = 2651) as part of the South African Social Attitudes Survey conducted by the South African Human Sciences Research Council. The survey included demographic data, individual-level socio-economic position (SEP), self-reported oral health status, past six months' oral pain experience and cost. The area-level SEP was obtained from the 2010 General Household Survey (n = 25,653 households) and the 2010/2011Quarterly Labour Force Survey conducted in South Africa. The composite indices used for individual-level SEP (? = 0.76) and area-level SEP (? = 0. 88) were divided into tertiles. Data analysis was done using t-tests and ANOVA. Significance was set at p < 0.05. Results: The prevalence of oral pain among the adult South Africans was 19.4 % (95 % CI = 17.2-21.9). The most commonly reported form of oral pain was 'toothache' (78.9 %). The majority of the wealthiest participants sought care from private dental clinics (64.7 %), or from public dental clinics (19.7 %), while the poorest tended to visit a public dental clinic (45 %) or nurse/general medical practitioner (17.4 %). In the poorest areas, 21 % responded to pain by 'doing nothing'. The individual expenditure for oral pain showed a social gradient from an average of ZAR61.44 spent by those of lowest SEP to ZAR433.83 by the wealthiest (national average ZAR170.92). Average time lost from school/work was two days over the six-month period, but days lost was highest for those living in middle class neighbourhoods (3.41), while those from the richest neighbourhood had lost significantly fewer days from oral pain (0.64). Conclusions: There is a significant social gradient in the burden of oral pain. Improved access to dental care, possibly through carefully planned universal National Health Insurance (NHI), may reduce oral health disparities in South Africa.Scopus 201

Health and development in BRICS countries

At the beginning of the century, the acronym BRIC first appeared in a study produced by an economist at Goldman Sachs. Economic and financial interest in BRICS resulted from the fact of them being seen as drivers of development. The purpose of this review is to analyze the extent to which what is being proposed at the Declarations of Heads of State and in the Declaration and Communiqué of Ministers of Health of BRICS can provide guidance to the potential of achieving a healthier world. With that in mind, the methodology of analysis of Statements and Communiqué rose from the discussions at the Summit of Heads of State and Ministers of Health was adopted. In the first instance, the study focused on the potential for economic, social and environmental development, and in the second, on the future of health within the group addressed. The conclusion reached was that despite the prospect of continued economic growth of BRICS countries, coupled with plausible proposals for the health sector, strong investment by the countries in S&T and technology transfer within the group, research on the social and economic determinants that drive the occurrence of NCDs – there is the need and the opportunity for joint action of the BRICS in terms of the “diplomacy of health” reinforcing the whole process of sustainable development

Endurance, resistance and resilience in the South African health care system: case studies to demonstrate mechanisms of coping within a constrained system

BACKGROUND: South Africa is at present undertaking a series of reforms to transform public health services to make them more effective and responsive to patient and provider needs. A key focus of these reforms is primary care and its overburdened, somewhat dysfunctional and hierarchical nature. This comparative case study examines how patients and providers respond in this system and cope with its systemic demands through mechanisms of endurance, resistance and resilience, using coping and agency literatures as the theoretical lenses. METHODS: As part of a larger research project carried out between 2009 and 2010, this study conducted semi-structured interviews and observations at health facilities in three South African provinces. This study explored patient experiences of access to health care, in particular, ways of coping and how health care providers cope with the health care system’s realities. From this interpretive base, four cases (two patients, two providers) were selected as they best informed on endurance, resistance and resilience. Some commentary from other respondents is added to underline the more ubiquitous nature of these coping mechanisms. RESULTS: The cases of four individuals highlight the complexity of different forms of endurance and passivity, emotion- and problem-based coping with health care interactions in an overburdened, under-resourced and, in some instances, poorly managed system. Patients’ narratives show the micro-practices they use to cope with their treatment, by not recognizing victimhood and sometimes practising unhealthy behaviours. Providers indicate how they cope in their work situations by using peer support and becoming knowledgeable in providing good service. CONCLUSIONS: Resistance and resilience narratives show the adaptive power of individuals in dealing with difficult illness, circumstances or treatment settings. They permit individuals to do more than endure (itself a coping mechanism) their circumstances, though resistance and resilience may be limited. These are individual responses to systemic forces. To transform health care, mutually supportive interactions are required among and between both patients and providers but their nature, as micro-practices, may show a way forward for system change