News & Events


NEWS June 23, 2025

Powering Universal Health Coverage: 3 Lessons in Domestic Resource Mobilization

JLN Network Manager

Universal health coverage (UHC) remains one of the world’s most consequential health goals, yet achieving it requires securing robust, sustainable financing—an increasingly complex challenge as many low- and middle-income countries are facing declining development assistance due to shifting geopolitical priorities. During the 78th World Health Assembly, we came together as part of the Joint Learning Network for Universal Health Coverage (JLN) to tackle this critical issue, sharing insights from domestic resource mob ilization efforts. From navigating complex budget negotiations to harnessing the power of collective knowledge, our experiences have revealed three strategic lessons that are reshaping how countries finance their path to health for all. 1. Strategically Earmarked Taxes Build Resilient Health Systems As practitioners working directly with domestic financing strategies, we’ve seen firsthand how governments can look to softly earmarked taxes as a politically feasible means to strengthen the sustainability and resilience of their health systems.  In Ghana, the National Health Insurance Scheme was established with earmarked revenue from a consumption tax. While the system initially faced constraints from funding caps and delayed disbursements, recent policy changes signal a turning point. “The lifting of the cap speaks to the commitment of our country and government to make sure that there are funds available in-country locally to finance the health needs of our people,” explains Ruby, Director of the Strategic Health Purchasing Directorate of Ghana’s National Health Insurance Authority. Malaysia’s experience highlights the potential of soft earmarked taxation to meet evolving health system needs. Through sustained collaboration between the Ministries of Health and Finance, sugar and beverage taxes have been strategically directed toward health initiatives—creating dedicated funding streams while preserving fiscal flexibility. As Malaysia undertakes a comprehensive health sector transformation across both public and private sectors, policymakers continue to explore new sustainable health financing pathways that create a strong foundation for achieving universal health coverage. As Dinash, a member of Malaysia’s Health Transformation Office reflects, “Given fiscal realities, we are embracing creative and innovative approaches.” 2. Data-Driven Decision Making Maximizes Every Investment Sustainable UHC isn’t just about securing more money—it’s about using existing resources with maximum efficiency and impact. In Pak Ghufron’s role as President Director of BPJS Kesehatan (Indonesia’s Social Security Administering Body for Health), he’s learned that performance data is crucial for assessing the efficiency of health resource utilization. It’s not just about increasing funding, but about using existing resources more effectively. “It’s not just about more funding — it’s about smarter use of it.” – Dr. Ali Ghufron Mukti Indonesia’s experience showcases the power of data. The government captures and analyzes 1.9 million health claims and transactions nationwide, empowering policymakers and decision-makers with the information they need to strengthen care delivery, detect fraud, and make overall systems improvements across the health system. Building on these insights, they are now implementing phased reforms to: further optimize current resources, shift to outcome-based financing, and leverage private sector capacity to accelerate progress towards UHC. 3. Sustained Advocacy Turns Investment into an Imperative Perhaps the greatest challenge in domestic health financing isn’t technical—it’s political. Health ministers worldwide face the daunting task of competing for limited government resources against sectors that deliver more immediately visible returns, such as infrastructure projects like roads and bridges. External economic shocks and shifting donor priorities can further destabilize carefully constructed financing plans. In Ajay’s work as a lead economist with the World Bank, he has observed that successful health advocates must demonstrate how health investment drives outcomes far beyond the health sector itself.  Practical tools can amplify these advocacy efforts. Resources like the Joint Learning Network’s evidence-based messaging guide, Making the Case for Health, provide health leaders with compelling, real-world examples and economic arguments that resonate with finance ministers and political leaders who control budget decisions. Our Collective Conclusion These three lessons converge on a powerful conclusion: achieving sustainable domestic health financing requires more than any single strategy. Success emerges from the strategic integration of innovative financing mechanisms, evidence-based resource optimization, and persistent, well-informed advocacy. As Joint Learning Network members, we continue to share experiences and advance collective knowledge. These lessons provide a roadmap for countries at every stage of their universal health coverage journey. The ultimate goal—health for all—remains ambitious, but the strategies to achieve it are becoming increasingly clear and actionable through our collaborative efforts.  Acknowlegements About the Authors: Ali Ghufron Mukti, President Director BPJS Kesehatan (Social Security Administering Body for Health), Indonesia Dinash Aravind, National Health Financing, Health Transformation Office, Ministry of Health, Malaysia  Ruby Aileen Mensah, Director, Strategic Health Purchasing Directorate. National Health Insurance Authority. Ghana. Michael Kent Ranson, Senior Economist, Health, The World Bank   Ajay Tandon, Lead Economist, The World Bank and Lead Technical Facilitator, JLN Domestic Resource Mobilization Collaborative (Virtual)  The authors would like to thank Hallie Goertz for her strategic communications support to the JLN, and Rahul S. Reddy Kadarpeta, JLN’s Executive Director, for his ideation, review, and editorial guidance on this article. For more information on how to join or partner with the Joint Learning Network, please email [email protected]

NEWS March 8, 2025

Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) roll-out in Nigeria

Web Master

JLN Strategic Communications Practical Guide & Planning Tool
was used in Nigeria to operationalize the BHCPF.

NEWS

JLN Medical Audit Toolkit: Institutionalizing Medical Audits in India

Web Master

JLN Medical Audit Toolkit was adapted to design
A decentralized audit system and scaled across states.

NEWS January 22, 2025

Webinar: Achieving Universal Health Coverage in Urban Settings: Incentives, Challenges, and Opportunities

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Cities in low- and middle-income countries are experiencing significant expansion. The World Bank estimates that India’s urban population will increase by 40% by 2036, necessitating an investment of $840 billion in infrastructure over the next five years. Given the urgent challenges related to urban health, how can low- and middle-income countries ensure access to integrated, quality, and affordable health care in line with their goal of achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC)? This webinar, co-hosted by Management Sciences for Health and the Joint Learning Network, will focus on “Achieving Universal Health Coverage in Urban Settings: Incentives, Challenges, and Opportunities.” It will address emerging issues in urban health in India, Malaysia, and Bangladesh. The discussion will deliberate on innovative financing strategies for population health in urban areas, approaches to reducing out-of-pocket expenses, and how to leverage development finance to achieve equity and efficiency in healthcare delivery. Participants will also be able to engage in a Q&A session during the latter half of the webinar. For more information, click here. Register Now

NEWS January 21, 2025

Understanding priority setting, resource allocation and financing trends for health: JLN Knowledge Product Showcase Series 

JLN Network Manager

Authors: Vrishali Shekhar, Dr. Daniel Darko The JLN Knowledge Product Showcase Series (JLN- KPSS) was launched to provide the JLN community with greater exposure to JLN’s recently concluded and ongoing work. This seminar series enables key decision-makers and policymakers to become better acquainted with available JLN products and approaches for development. It also demonstrates products that can be scaled in their respective countries as sustainable innovations to attain their UHC priorities. During a recent session of the JLN KPSS, members addressed the critical global challenge of strengthening health financing systems and improving health system resilience amidst evolving health priorities. The relevance of these JLN resources is underscored in the context of the global decline in public health spending post-COVID-19, and the persistence of catastrophic out of pocket health spending which poses a significant barrier to UHC thereby emphasizing the need to prioritize public financing and improve budget execution. The session spotlighted two popular JLN resources produced under the World Bank led Health Financing Technical Initiative; the Health Priority Setting and Resource Allocation (HEPRA) toolkit (produced under the Efficiency Collaborative) and the Narrative Summaries on Public Expenditures for Health (produced under the Domestic Resource Mobilization Collaborative). These tools, developed collaboratively with inputs from several JLN member countries including Bangladesh, Kenya, Indonesia, and Ghana, aim to enhance evidence-based decision-making and policy dialogue.   The session began with providing an overview of the two respective JLN resources. The HEPRA toolkit has 36 questions that comprise a structured mechanism to assess and visualize how systematic and evidence based the various existing health sector priority setting mechanisms are in a country and whether resources are allocated on the basis of the priorities that are set. When administered across multiple countries and/ or over the course of time, the tool’s output allows benchmarking across countries, monitoring progress, and identifying areas where targeted efforts can be made for improvement. Developed collaboratively with ten countries, the practical application of the toolkit included enabling more effective policy dialogue, identifying areas for capacity building, and monitoring progress in linking priority setting to resource allocation.  Complementing this, the Narrative Summaries are concise and comprehensive briefs of a country’s historical trends in health spending and domestic resource mobilization reforms that can support evidence- based decision making amongst government policymakers and help facilitate fiscal discussions, especially between Ministries of Health and Finance. These summaries leverage historical and global data to evaluate fiscal space, public health expenditures, and their alignment with national health outcomes. Each summary is customized to country needs and focused on evaluating trends in health expenditure, fiscal space, and drawing sectoral comparisons. The process of creating summaries involved collaboration with local stakeholders, enhancing capacity and promoting ownership.  The session underscored the practicality of these tools through country-specific experiences. Bangladesh emphasized the application of the HEPRA toolkit in revising its health financing strategy and aligning it with its Universal Health Coverage (UHC) roadmap. The country highlighted pilot programs transitioning donor-funded initiatives, such as tuberculosis treatment, to government-led frameworks.  Ghana presented its use of narrative summaries to evaluate the decline in health budget allocations and advocate for increased investments in health, demonstrating the resources’ role in identifying gaps and informing policy. Despite challenges such as declining budget allocations and insufficient tax revenues, Ghana has used these tools to benchmark progress and engage in policy advocacy.  Panelists from Kenya and Indonesia echoed the value of these tools, recognizing their potential to enhance transparency, improve resource allocation, and promote policy coherence. Discussions also highlighted the broader implications of budget execution on health outcomes and the importance of sustained advocacy to ensure alignment between health system priorities and resource availability.  The session demonstrated the relevance and adaptability of JLN tools in diverse country contexts. The development of the tools through co-creation by several JLN member countries ensured that they address real-world challenges faced by countries in similar scenarios in the low- and middle-income country context. Importantly, the JLN resources demonstrated their usability by helping identify areas for targeted efforts, providing actionable solutions while continuing to allow an opportunity for cross-country learning. They can also be resources for health policymakers to engage with finance ministries and other stakeholders more effectively. Finally, in the context of depleting financial resources and conflicting priorities, these knowledge products stress the need for countries to prioritize domestic resource mobilization and improve budget execution to sustain health system progress.   About the authors:  Vrishali Shekhar, Focal Point for Country Engagement and Country Core Group Activities, World Bank JLN team Naina Ahluwalia, Focal Point of JLN Efficiency Collaborative Aditi Nigam, Focal Point of JLN Domestic Resource Mobilization Collaborative Dr. Daniel Darko, Deputy Director, Financial Accounting, NHIA, Ghana  Contributors:  Naina Ahluwalia, Focal Point of JLN Efficiency Collaborative  Aditi Nigam, Focal Point of JLN Domestic Resource Mobilization Collaborative  Dr.Subrata Paul, Health Economics Unit, MoH, Bangladesh  Dr.Elizabeth Wangia, JLN Country Core Group Chair & Head, Health Financing, Ministry of Health, Kenya.   Bu Suciati Mega Wardani, Expert Staff of Director, BPJS Kesehatan/ National Social Security Agency of Indonesia 

NEWS

Request for Proposal: Joint Learning Fund Launched, 15 January 2025

Web Master