Global Tobacco Economics Consortium

A 50% increase in cigarette prices would lead to millions of life-years gained through smoking cessation, across the study countries (India, Indonesia, Bangladesh, the Philippines, Vietnam, Armenia, China, Mexico, Turkey, Brazil, Colombia, Thailand, and Chile). About 15.5 million men would avoid catastrophic health expenditures and 8.8 million would avoid falling below the World Bank definition of extreme poverty. Despite differences in socioeconomic class and health finance arrangements, a 50% increase in tobacco prices strongly favours those in the bottom income group for life-years saved, out-of-pocket expenses from tobacco attributable treatment costs averted, and avoidance of catastrophic health expenditures or poverty

The state of the Martian climate

60°N was +2.0°C, relative to the 1981–2010 average value (Fig. 5.1). This marks a new high for the record. The average annual surface air temperature (SAT) anomaly for 2016 for land stations north of starting in 1900, and is a significant increase over the previous highest value of +1.2°C, which was observed in 2007, 2011, and 2015. Average global annual temperatures also showed record values in 2015 and 2016. Currently, the Arctic is warming at more than twice the rate of lower latitudes

The Ageing Population: Societal Response and Their Implications to Business and Industry in Selected ASEAN Countries

Worldwide, the population comprising the elderly is growing rapidly. Lower fertility coupled with declining mortality rates across countries have resulted to a higher number of older people. This demographic phenomenon, also known as population ageing or demographic ageing, is happening globally, both in the developed and less developed regions of the world. Population ageing is one of the most prominent demographic trends today. While the proportion of senior citizens is higher in countries that are more developed economically, most of the elderly population will be from the less developed regions, in terms of absolute numbers. Because of the rapid increase in the population of the elderly, there is a possibility that developing nations will become old before they become affluent. Governments and social institutions in these less developed nations will be burdened by the increased demands for healthcare and may not be ready to manage the demands of an older populace if they are not prepared for this demographic transition. This paper explores the factors related to this demographic trend and compares the responses of government and society in Indonesia, the Philippines, and Singapore to this phenomenon. The goal of this paper is to stimulate the industry to consider investing in business endeavors that address issues related to an ageing population. It is hoped that actions taken by the business sector will supplement and complement existing societal responses and interventions

Assessing the Privacy and Security of Electronic Health Information in the Philippines: Informing the Philippine Compliance to the Expanded Trade of Healthcare Services in ASEAN

The expanded use of electronic health records is expected to happen as ASEAN moves towards a single market for healthcare services. Experiences in other sectors, particularly the banking industry, show that as soon as the electronic exchange of information took off, the banking market opened up with freer flow of services. Faced with the same situation, the healthcare sector must act now and adopt rules on the privacy and security of electronic health information. Not only would this address the need to maintain the physician-patient privilege, which has long been an established principle that governs health services information; but it would also help overcome persistent resistance of several stakeholders in healthcare to shift to electronically stored and transmitted health information. The resistance can be partly attributed to the fear that the electronic medium could compromise physician-patient privilege and that personally identifiable health information will be used against the physicians and the patients. This study hopes to address these concerns by determining the current regime on the privacy and security of electronic health information in the country and the measures that may improve this regime

A systems approach to improving maternal health in the Philippines

OBJECTIVE: To examine the impact of health-system-wide improvements on maternal health outcomes in the Philippines. METHODS: A retrospective longitudinal controlled study was used to compare a province that fast tracked the implementation of health system reforms with other provinces in the same region that introduced reforms less systematically and intensively between 2006 and 2009. FINDINGS: The early reform province quickly upgraded facilities in the tertiary and first level referral hospitals; other provinces had just begun reforms by the end of the study period. The early reform province had created 871 women's health teams by the end of 2009, compared with 391 teams in the only other province that reported such teams. The amount of maternal-health-care benefits paid by the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation in the early reform province grew by approximately 45%; in the other provinces, the next largest increase was 16%. The facility-based delivery rate increased by 44 percentage points in the early reform province, compared with 9-24 percentage points in the other provinces. Between 2006 and 2009, the actual number of maternal deaths in the early reform province fell from 42 to 18, and the maternal mortality ratio from 254 to 114. Smaller declines in maternal deaths over this period were seen in Camarines Norte (from 12 to 11) and Camarines Sur (from 26 to 23). The remaining three provinces reported increases in maternal deaths. CONCLUSION: Making health-system-wide reforms to improve maternal health has positive synergistic effects

Health-financing reforms in southeast Asia: challenges in achieving universal coverage.

In this sixth paper of the Series, we review health-financing reforms in seven countries in southeast Asia that have sought to reduce dependence on out-of-pocket payments, increase pooled health finance, and expand service use as steps towards universal coverage. Laos and Cambodia, both resource-poor countries, have mostly relied on donor-supported health equity funds to reach the poor, and reliable funding and appropriate identification of the eligible poor are two major challenges for nationwide expansion. For Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Vietnam, social health insurance financed by payroll tax is commonly used for formal sector employees (excluding Malaysia), with varying outcomes in terms of financial protection. Alternative payment methods have different implications for provider behaviour and financial protection. Two alternative approaches for financial protection of the non-poor outside the formal sector have emerged-contributory arrangements and tax-financed schemes-with different abilities to achieve high population coverage rapidly. Fiscal space and mobilisation of payroll contributions are both important in accelerating financial protection. Expanding coverage of good-quality services and ensuring adequate human resources are also important to achieve universal coverage. As health-financing reform is complex, institutional capacity to generate evidence and inform policy is essential and should be strengthened

Social health insurance in a developing country: The case of the Philippines

Very little is known about the Philippine health care system, and in particular its experience with social health insurance (SHI). Having initiated an SHI programme 35 years ago, the Philippines hold many lessons for the development of such schemes in other low and middle-income countries. We analyse the challenges currently facing PhilHealth, the national health insurer. PhilHealth was formed in 1995 as a successor to the Medicare programme and was given a mandate to achieve universal coverage by 2010. To date, PhilHealth has been quite successful in some areas (e.g. enrolment), but lags behind in others (e.g. quality and price control). We conclude that SHI in the Philippines has been a success story so far and provides lessons for countries in a similar situation. For example: (i) SHI is based on value decisions and the clear statement of societal goals can give guidance in the technical execution, (ii) SHI is a financing institution and needs to be treated accordingly, (iii) SHI can be implemented independently of the current economic situation and might actually contribute to economic development, (iv) community-based health care financing schemes should be merged with the national SHI in the long run, and (v) there is a strong need to push for high quality care and improved physical access. No clear suggestions can be given with respect to the benefit catalogue and the balance between economies of scale and decentralisation. Although riddled with many inadequacies, PhilHealth was set up as a strong and largely politically independent institution for the development of SHI. SHI can act as a stabilizing institution in a politically and economically volatile environment.Social health insurance Philippines Decentralization Health care

Profile of Private Hospitals in the Philippines

As a recognition of the valuable role of private sector in the healthcare delivery system, this paper attempts to collate vital information on private hospitals in the Philippines. This paper looks at the different characteristics and structures of private hospitals sector with regard to geographical distribution, services, financing, human resource, and other information needed by policymakers, investors, and other interested stakeholders. To better understand the current health care delivery system in the country, other sections compare private hospitals vis-a-vis government-owned facilities.health sector, health care, health facilities, hospitals, health care reform, health care financing, health management, private sector participation, Philippines, health, health care markets, private sector, health services delivery