OBJECTIVE To evaluate the impact of health insurance on resource mobilization, financial protection, service utilization, quality of care, social inclusion and community empowerment in low- and lower-middle-income countries in Africa and Asia. METHODS A systematic search for randomized controlled trials, quasi-experimental and observational studies published before the end of 2011 was conduct...

Despite some progress, the current state of India's healthcare outcome leaves much to be desired. It has glaring challenges around high out-of-pocket spending, inequality of services, and fragmented social and regulatory standards. Since 2001, medical insurance has gained ground amid the proliferation of private health insurance (PHI) entities. However, it still remains a minor contributor in t...

Despite some progress, the current state of India's healthcare outcome leaves much to be desired. It has glaring challenges around high out-of-pocket spending, inequality of services, and fragmented social and regulatory standards. Since 2001, medical insurance has gained ground amid the proliferation of private health insurance (PHI) entities. However, it still remains a minor contributor in t...

BACKGROUND Evidence is emerging on the cost-effectiveness, quality and health coverage of social franchises. But little is known about the motivations of providers to join or remain within a social franchise network, or the impact that franchise membership has on client volumes or revenue earnings. METHODS (i) Uncontrolled facility based of a random sample of 230 franchise members to assess s...

BACKGROUND In Kenya, where 60 to 80% of the urban residents live in informal settlements (frequently referred to as slums), out-of-pocket (OOP) payments account for more than a third of national health expenditures. However, little is known on the extent to which these OOP payments are associated with personal or household financial catastrophe in the slums. This paper seeks to examine the inci...

BACKGROUND Examination of expenditures in areas where more universal application of effective injury prevention approaches is indicated could identify specific mechanisms and age groups where effective intervention may impact public injury-related expenditures. METHODS The Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project 2003 (KID-HCUP) contains acute care hospitalization data for U.S. children and ad...

background and objectives: pharmaceutical expenditures are responsible for a major part of health systems’ cost. according to the who’s statistics, iran is the first among the 20 countries in the world in terms of drug consumption. the first step in controlling consumption of a particular good is to identify factor inducing the relevant demands. hence, this study aimed to identify the pattern a...

A major independent inquiry into inequalities in health-and policies that would reduce them-was published in December 1998.(1) It identified >40 recommendations designed to reduce inequalities in health. Lifting children out of poverty is among the most important strategies to improve child health. If we want to change policies on health and poverty, then we have to consider the broad political...

This article provides estimates of health care expenditures by businesses, households, and governments for 1987-2003. Sponsors that finance public and private health insurance programs and other payers face increasing challenges as health care cost rise. Their capacity to support rising costs was particularly strained during the recent economic recession, with the Federal Government's burden me...

background : inequality in households’ payments on food and health expenditures presents the accessibility and utili-zation patterns between them. this study investigated the iranian rural and urban households’ inequality in payments on food and out-of-pocket health expenditures from 1998 to 2012. methods : this descriptive study was conducted through the analysis of iranian statistics centre d...