Title – Socially inclusive health care financing in West Africa and India
Short title – Financing health care for inclusion
Project Acronym – Health Inc
Duration – 36 months
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In most low- and middle- income countries (LMIC), out-of-pocket payments make up a large proportion of total health expenditure (on average 75% in Asia and 50% in Africa). At the international level, there is now a consensus that out-of-pocket payments for health care increase inequity and as a result, increased risk pooling is necessary. There has been a recent proliferation of health financing reforms in LMIC which aim to introduce prepayment at affordable prices for low socio-economic groups and targeted subsidies for indigents and other vulnerable groups. However, while such reforms have led to increased utilization of health care, it is often the case that the poor and informal sector continue to be excluded from coverage.
The research project Health Inc. (Financing health care for inclusion) puts forward the hypothesis that social exclusion is an important cause of the limited success of recent health financing reforms.
In four countries/states (Ghana, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Senegal), Health Inc. will employ mixed methods to analyse whether different types of financing arrangements not only overcome social exclusion to successfully cover poorer population groups but, crucially, also increase social inclusion by empowering socially marginalised groups. A multi-sectoral stakeholder analysis will additionally explore whether vulnerable population groups participate in policy making and whether their needs are represented and understood. Health Inc. will also identify and test policy recommendations.
This will be done through a process of comparing and contrasting policies across contexts in order to elicit lessons. Following this, local policy makers and population groups will be consulted in a feasibility analysis.
Using a wide range of media, Health Inc. will disseminate those lessons learnt among different target populations: local, national and international public health authorities, researchers and health and development cooperation actors in general. Health Inc. will also consolidate and expand international research networks and build the capacity of the partners in the consortium.
Funded under : 7th FWP (Seventh Framework Programme) by the European Union
List of partners
- LSE Health : The London School of Economics and Political Science – Health (Coordinator), United Kingdom
- ITM : Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium
- TISS : Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, India
- IPH : Institute of Public Health, Bengaluru, India
- CREPOS : Research Centre for Political and Social Science (Centre de Recherche sur les Politiques Sociales), Senegal
- ISSER : Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research, Ghana
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