About
The Challenge
Despite recent increases in donor spending on health, the poor in many middle/low-income countries continue to pay significant out-of-pocket costs and often forgo or delay necessary care due to inability to pay. Numerous countries are experimenting with models for moving toward universal health coverage as a way to protect against financial risk, improve access to health services, and improve health outcomes. These countries face a multitude of design and implementation challenges due to the adaptation required, political challenges, and the complexity of reforms.
The Opportunity
In recent years, a number of national or state-level reforms have been implemented by governments committed to achieving universal health coverage (UHC) through demand-side financing. To support these new and innovative reforms, there is increasing demand for practical, issue-specific problem-solving across countries pursuing similar reforms. Although variation among national reforms suggest that there is unlikely to be one type of health financing or delivery scheme appropriate for all countries, joint learning offers valuable opportunities for knowledge sharing and practical exchange across countries.
Our Work
To meet the demand for cross-learning, a group of initiating countries, including India, Ghana, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam, and several development partners created the Joint Learning Network for Universal Health Coverage (JLN) as a platform for exchange between countries implementing health financing reforms aimed at achieving universal health coverage. Its mission is to accelerate the progress and improve the success of low and middle-income countries that are implementing demand-side financing reforms designed to improve health outcomes and financial protection for the poor and move toward universal health coverage.
Since its inception, the JLN has grown to include ten member countries: Ghana, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia, Mali, Nigeria, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam. Several other countries participate in the network as resource countries, offering their experiences about relevant reforms efforts.
If you are a health financing practitioner, the network secretariat would be happy to discuss how the Joint Learning Network may be able to serve you and others in your country. Find out how to get involved.
Click here to download a two page overview of the Joint Learning Network for Universal Health Coverage