Absence of financial protection in health is a recently diagnosed "disease" of health systems. The most obvious symptom is that families face economic ruin and poverty as a consequence of financing their health care. Mexico was one of the first countries to diagnose the problem, attribute it to lack of financial protection, and propose systemic therapy through health reform. In this article we ...

BACKGROUND Direct out-of-pocket payments for health care are recognised as limiting access to health care services and also endangering the welfare of households. In Uganda, such payments comprise a large portion of total health financing. This study assesses the catastrophic and impoverishing impact of paying for health care out-of-pocket in Uganda. METHODS Using data from the Uganda Nationa...

Background: Lack of sustainable and affordable health financing mechanisms in India has exposed the poor in informal sector to iatrogenic poverty. Hardship financing of health services has negative financial consequences on the future income of these households. This can be mitigated through micro health insurance (MHI) because it aims to remove financial barriers to access and utilize health s...

Improved sanitation access is extremely low in rural Cambodia. Non-governmental organizations have helped build local supply side latrine markets to promote household latrine purchase and use, but households cite inability to pay as a key barrier to purchase. To examine the extent to which microfinance can be used to facilitate household investment in sanitation, we applied a twopronged assessm...

BACKGROUND A key objective of universal health coverage is to address inequities in the financial implications of health care. This paper examines the level and trend in out-of-pocket spending (OOPS) on health, and the consequent burden on Nepalese households. METHODS Using data from the Nepal Living Standard Survey for 1995-1996 and 2010-2011, the paper looks at the inequity of this burden a...

In this paper, we construct a dynamic general-equilibrium overlapping-generations model with heterogeneous households and analyze the macroeconomic, budgetary, and welfare effects of introducing tax-deferred retirement saving accounts similar to the U.S. 401(k) plans. We solve the model for equilibrium transition path to show both the long-run and short-run effects under several different finan...

BACKGROUND Financial protection against the cost of unforeseen ill health has become a global concern as expressed in the 2005 World Health Assembly resolution (WHA58.33), which urges its member states to "plan the transition to universal coverage of their citizens". An important element of financial risk protection is to distribute health care financing fairly in relation to ability to pay. Th...

Little is known about health system equity in Tanzania, whether in terms of distribution of the health care financing burden or distribution of health care benefits. This study undertook a combined analysis of both financing and benefit incidence to explore the distribution of health care benefits and financing burden across socio-economic groups. A system-wide analysis of benefits was undertak...

Childhood stunting, being short for one's age, has life-long consequences for health, human capital and economic growth. Being stunted in early childhood is associated with slower cognitive development, reduced schooling attainment and adult incomes decreased by 5-53%. The World Health Assembly has endorsed global nutrition targets including one to reduce the number of stunted children under fi...