ThinkWell Presented at the 6th PhilHealth Research Forum

29 November 2022

Members of our ThinkWell team in the Philippines presented at the 6th PhilHealth STUDIES Forum held on November 9, 2022 at the Philippine International Convention Center. The theme of this year’s forum was “Health Financing in Post-Pandemic Times: Exploring New Theories and Practices to Advance Universal Health Coverage (UHC).”

Dr. Pura Angela “Peewee” Co and Dr. Helena “Lena” Alvior presented to the plenary during the morning session findings from the work done under the Strategic Purchasing for Primary Health Care project. Peewee shared perspectives on strengthening public financial management (PFM) systems and practices for health in response to COVID-19. This was based on the paper ThinkWell prepared for the 5th Meeting of the Montreux Collaborative to share country experiences on adjustments of PFM mechanisms for the COVID-19 response. Lena presented findings from the applied stakeholder analysis in mapping political actors involved in the implementation of UHC in 25 provinces in the Philippines. This paper was also in the International Health Economics Association (IHEA) Congress in 2021.

Dr. Marife Yap shared findings on “Oncology Financing in the Philippines” as part of the panel titled “Expanding UHC with Responsive Benefits.” This work is part of the global work on “Oncology Financing: Evidence from Country Experiences to Inform the Global Challenge” which is supported with funding from Merck & Co., Inc. As part of this work, ThinkWell generated case studies in six countries: the Philippines, Brazil, Argentina, Serbia, Spain, and Sweden.

The Philippines continues to strive for UHC amidst all the challenges faced in the last few years. Generation and dissemination of knowledge is key during this journey, and they are gaining a more central role during events such as PhilHealth STUDIES Forum. ThinkWell continues to implement projects that generate knowledge on health financing and health systems and aims to remain a key partner of the country in its journey toward UHC.