The Community Health Fund:Assessing Implementation of New Management procedures in Hanang District,Tanzania

A key obstacle to the success of community-based health insurance initiatives in Africa is the dearth of well-trained health managers who can design and run the insurance schemes in a viable manner. Internal management controls are often not adequate to ensure the fund is protected from misuse and fraud carried out by members or its own staff. The Community Health Fund in Hanang district in Tanzania has introduced management procedures that help it to exercise control over revenue collection and reporting and provide management with sufficient information to assess the Fund’s performance. This report looks at the implementation of the new management procedures, identifies successes and shortcomings in fulfilling record keeping and reporting requirements in particular, and recommends steps to improve record keeping at health care facilities, reporting of data to the district level, and use of the new data by the district.\u

FINANCIAL LITERACY AND CONSUMER PROTECTION: A ROAD MAP TO DIGITAL FINANCIAL ACCESS BY SMEs IN KENYA

This paper seeks to ascertain the influence of financial literacy and financial consumer protection on digital financial access. The objectives of the study were to find out the effect of financial literacy on digital monetary access, and to find out the effect of f consumer financial protection on digital access of finances of SMEs in Sub County of Ruiru in County government of Kiambu, Kenya. Financial Literacy Theory, Information Asymmetry Theory and Social Learning Theory are the theories that guided formulation of study’s objectives. Descriptive research design was used with the population of interest comprising of all SMEs owners in Ruiru Sub County in Kiambu County. The sample size for the study was 384 respondents derived byFisher (1998) formula. Primary data as collected by use of questionnaires. Descriptive statistics of mean, frequency, percentages and standard deviation were used combined with inferential analysis of correlation as well as multiple regression to analyse the data. Findings of the study indicated that financial literacy and financial consumer protection significantly and positively influence on digital financial access of SMEs. The paper concluded that an improvement in the knowledge of financial products, developing a financial attitude towards the long term, debt management literacy of SME owner, financial product choice knowledge and having the ability to make informed decisions regarding finances generally improves digital financial access of SMEs

Costing HIV/AIDS Services for Community Health Fund\ud Members and Non-members in Hanang District, Tanzania\ud

This study analyzes the costs and use of HIV/AIDS services by people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) who are members and non-members of the Community Health Fund (CHF), a prepaid health scheme in the Hanang district of Tanzania. The study comprised multi-facility, retrospective, and analytical analyses of HIV/AIDS services for the year 2002. Medical utilization data through a retrospective review of the facility records and 1,666 medical charts of 464 PLWHA were analyzed. The study collected data on the direct costs of providing HIV/AIDS services within the CHF package of benefits. Members are 1.6 times more likely to access outpatient care than non-members. CHF members use outpatient services more regularly than non-members, with an average number of revisits per patient per year of 1.8 for members versus 1.6 for non-members. CHF members are 40 percent less likely to have inpatient care compared to non-members and require a shorter inpatient stay. Voluntary counseling and testing services are underused in the district. Members consume 30 percent more outpatient resources per year but consume 40 percent less inpatient resources than non-members. There is no appreciable difference between the two populations for the cost of care per visit or admission. No major differences are found between services provided to the two groups. Major differences in costs exist with regards to the facility where the inpatient stay takes place. The total cost of care of PLWHA is on average Tanzanian shillings (TSh) 6,543 for members and TSh 5,960 for non-members. The total cost of care used by an individual PLWHA is on average 65 percent of the annual premium for a household.\u

Hospitalizations and Costs Incurred at the Facility Level after Scale-up of Malaria Control: Pre-Post Comparisons from Two Hospitals in Zambia

There is little evidence on the impact of malaria control on the health system, particularly at the facility level. Using retrospective, longitudinal facility-level and patient record data from two hospitals in Zambia, we report a pre-post comparison of hospital admissions and outpatient visits for malaria and estimated costs incurred for malaria admissions before and after malaria control scale-up. The results show a substantial reduction in inpatient admissions and outpatient visits for malaria at both hospitals after the scale-up, and malaria cases accounted for a smaller proportion of total hospital visits over time. Hospital spending on malaria admissions also decreased. In one hospital, malaria accounted for 11% of total hospital spending before large-scale malaria control compared with < 1% after malaria control. The findings demonstrate that facility-level resources are freed up as malaria is controlled, potentially making these resources available for other diseases and conditions