Phl hosts Universal Health Care Forum 2015
Public and private sector stakeholders from Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines converged at the Universal Health Care (UHC) Forum 2015 to share their insights and learn lessons from each country’s journey towards universal health coverage.
Now on its fourth year, the UHC Forum is a series of annual multi-stakeholder policy forums conceptualized and organized by the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. ( PhilHealth), Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health (ASMPH) and Novartis.
The UHC Forum gathers the inputs of key stakeholders and encourages their joint commitment in order to enhance access to health benefits, ensure financial protection and safeguard quality of care.
Held on Nov. 6 at the Makati Diamond Residences in Makati City, the UHC Forum 2015 focused on the theme, “Are citizens benefitting from UHC?” It was co-organized by Universitas Indonesia School of Public Health, the Social Security Organizing Body (BPJS), the lead UHC implementor of Indonesia; and the Vietnam Ministry of Health. The forum had four sessions tackling the following issues: if citizens are getting covered, if the health system is providing better packages for citizens, if the citizens are availing of the packages and how citizens can benefit more.
“UHC Forum 2015 builds on the learnings from the three previous forums and broadens stakeholder engagement in the region. We learned new lessons from our Indonesian and Vietnamese colleagues while sharing our insights with them, as we all strive to achieve our common goal of universal health coverage,” said former health Secretary and current ASMPH dean Manuel Dayrit. “Public- private partnerships and Kalusugan
Pangkalahatan ( universal health care), two fl agship programs of the Philippine government, are the driving forces behind the UHC Forum series. Only through the collaboration of government and private sector stakeholders can we ensure that all Filipinos are able to receive affordable and quality health services,” Health Secretary Janette Garin said.
“The UHC Forum 2015 is one of the platforms for sustaining the dialogue on universal health care in the region and following through on the actions that need to be done. We hope that priority can be put on ensuring access to the key interventions targeting the health Millennium Development Goals, i.e. births attended by a trained health worker, family planning, vaccinations, and prevention and treatment of diseases such as HIV, malaria and tuberculosis. At the same time, we should also work together to address the growing problem of noncommunicable diseases,” said Benjamin Lane, officer-in-charge of the World Health Organization Philippine Representative Office.
“We thank our colleagues from Indonesia and Vietnam for sharing their insights and expertise in this important forum. While we have made some headway in reducing inequities in healthcare access, there are still many gaps and challenges that need to be addressed. All concerned stakeholders must continue to work together in order to make universal health care a reality,” said PhilHealth president and CEO Alexander Padilla.
“One of the key objectives of the UHC Forum series is to ensure financial risk protection to prevent people from being pushed into poverty when they have to pay for health services out of their own pockets. Novartis shares our partner-stakeholders’ belief that universal health coverage is a critical component of sustainable development and poverty reduction, and a key element of any effort to reduce social inequities,” said Jason Smith, head, Asia Cluster, Novartis AG.
“Universal health coverage cannot be achieved overnight, but we can work together to move more quickly towards this goal and sustain the gains that we have already made. Novartis is committed to collaborating with key stakeholders in the Philippines and the region in enhancing access to health services, strengthening health systems and finding innovative and sustainable ways of health financing,” said Nikolaos Tripodis, president and managing director, Novartis Healthcare Philippines.