ThinkWell at the 2019 iHEA World Congress
25 June 2019
ThinkWell will be hosting sessions at the 2019 iHEA World Congress in Basel, Switzerland, July 13-17, showcasing work from the Immunization Costing Action Network (ICAN) and Strategic Purchasing for Primary Health Care (SP4PHC) program.
Strategic Purchasing for Primary Health Care
Many low and middle-income countries are embracing national health insurance and other government financing schemes to strategically purchase priority health services as part of health financing reforms to achieve universal health coverage. The Strategic Purchasing for Primary health Care project funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and implemented by ThinkWell is focused on improving how sexual and reproductive health services are positioned within these schemes to ensure improved access, equity, and quality. These services have historically been funded through vertical programs, but the momentum around strategic purchasing is calling these vertical approaches into question. How reproductive health services are positioned within broader health financing schemes is critical to ensure that gains in health outcome made in the past decades are not lost and the needs of vulnerable populations are met.
The session “Strategic Purchasing of Sexual and Reproductive Health Services on the Path to Universal Health Coverage in Low and Middle-Income Countries” will present learnings and data from three project countries: Dr. Maria Eufemia C. Yap will share her reflections on the seismic health financing reforms that are unfolding in the Philippines and what that means for reproductive health; Dr. Joanne Ondera will explore how devolution has conditioned the implementation of financing schemes targeting reproductive health services and created opportunities for strategic purchasing reforms in Kenya; and Dr. Hasbullah Thabrany will discuss how the national health insurance program in Indonesia is designing strategic purchasing reforms to attract the right mix of providers to deliver priority reproductive health services.
The Immunization Costing Action Network
The ICAN, supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, is working to increase the visibility, availability, understanding, and use of evidence on the cost of delivering vaccines. This is done globally through the project’s Immunization Delivery Cost Catalogue (IDCC) and locally through a network of research and policy partners in four countries – India, Indonesia, Tanzania, and Vietnam – that are facing the challenge of transitioning from donor aid. Together the countries are finding solutions to common problems in financing vaccine delivery and using cost evidence to inform resource mobilization efforts and routine planning and budgeting.
The session “Fighting Infectious Diseases through Immunization: The Latest Global and Country Evidence on the Costs of Delivering Vaccines in Low- and Middle-Income Countries” will present the latest global and country-specific evidence on the costs of delivering vaccines. The session will focus on delivery through a variety of strategies (facility, outreach, school, campaign) and to different target populations, including those that are hard to reach. The session will be moderated by Annette Ozaltin, ThinkWell. Panelists include Kelsey Vaughan, ThinkWell; Hoang Van Minh; Amila Megraini; and Fatuma Manzi.
The ICAN will also be presenting in two other iHEA sessions, as well as a pre-Congress event on immunization economics organized by the iHEA Immunization Economics Special Interest Group (SIG).
Session Information
Developing Cost Data Repositories: Lessons Learned from HIV/TB, Immunization, Malaria, and Social and Behavior Change
Monday, July 15, 2019, 08:30 – 10:00
Universität Basel – Kollegienhaus – Seminarraum 212
Fighting Infectious Disease through Immunization: The Latest Global and Country Evidence on the Costs of Delivery Vaccines in Low- and Middle-Income Countries
Monday, July 15, 13:30 – 15:00
Universität Basel – Kollegienhaus – Fakultätenzimmer 112
Producing Standardized Country-Level Immunization Delivery Unit Cost Estimates
Tuesday, July 16, 10:50 – 11:10
Universität Basel – Kollegienhaus – Hörsaal 115
Strategic Purchasing of Sexual and Reproductive Health Services on the Path to Universal Health Coverage in Low and Middle-Income Countries
Wednesday, July 17, 13:00 – 14:30
Universität Basel – Versalianum – Grosser Hörsaal EO.16
For more information about the 2019 iHEA World Congress, visit www.healtheconomics.org.