Featuring
Amanda Glassman, Chief Operating Officer and Senior Fellow, Center for Global Development
Tim Evans, Senior Director of Health, Nutrition and Population, World Bank
Ole Norheim, Professor, University of Bergen
Many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) now aspire to universal health coverage (UHC), where governments ensure that all people have access to the quality health services they need without risk of impoverishment. But for UHC to become reality, the health services offered must be consistent with the funds available—and this implies tough everyday choices for policymakers, choices that could be the difference between life and death for those affected by any given condition or disease. The situation is particularly acute in LMICs, where public spending on health is on the rise but is still extremely low, and where demand for expanded services is growing rapidly.
A new contribution from the Center for Global Development and the International Decision Support Initiative (iDSI)—What’s In, What’s Out: Designing Benefits for Universal Health Coverage, edited by Amanda Glassman, Ursula Giedion and Peter Smith—argues that an explicit health benefits package (HBP), to be funded with public monies, is an essential element of a sustainable and effective health system, and considers the institutional, fiscal, methodological, legal, and ethical dimensions of their design and implementation. This event—a private policy breakfast and release of the book—aims to gather leading voices for universal health coverage, effective health financing, and evidence-based health policy to discuss and debate the book’s key findings and messages. Hard copies of the book will be available for all attendees.
