Save Ugandans from Catastrophic expenditure on health
This message sums up all the deliberations at the 7th National Community Health Financing Conference (#7thCHFCONF2023) that was convened by Save for Health Uganda, and its partners from the 21st -23rd November, 2023.
The conference was themed “Towards universal health coverage in Uganda through expanding private and community health insurance schemes” and brought together over 70 stakeholders from Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies, health care providers, health insurance providers and promoters, private sector, CSOs and academia. It offered a forum for engaging stakeholders on the different avenues to further reduce financial barriers that prevent Ugandans from accessing quality healthcare services.
While officiating at the opening of this conference, the State Minister for Primary Health Care Hon. Margaret Muhanga noted that the Ministry of Health was committed to rolling out the National Health Insurance Scheme and the bill was awaiting cabinet’s final review before it’s presented to Parliament of Uganda. She argued that 75% of the disease burden is preventable and thus encouraged Ugandans to pay more attention to preventive than the curative measures.
During the conference, participants decried the limited awareness on insurance and how it works, the high premium costs, lack of political will to implement the national health insurance scheme, and the low insurance coverage. Ill health was highlighted among the major drivers of poverty in Uganda as it erodes people’s savings and assets, and therefore the delay to implement the National Health Insurance Scheme had a negative effect towards the realization of the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development (Especially Goal 3 – Good health & well-being)
“Only 3.9% of Ugandans are covered under some form of insurance and this is done by private companies. Worse still, the most beneficiaries are those in urban areas. The question is – who is caring for those Ugandans in the rural areas” … Fredrick Makaire, Executive Director, Save for Health Uganda.
Save for Health Uganda is enabling over 30,000 individuals in 15 districts to access affordable quality healthcare services with ease through community health insurance schemes. SHU envisions healthier families with simplified access to quality healthcare.
For more details about their work, please visit their website www.shu.org.ug
