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Ensuring effective access to affordable quality health care 

1.  What is an 'essential (basic) health package' (EHP)?

   The coverage of essential, or basic health services, is a concept commonly referred to, but a loosely defined one. An essential health package will include different interventions in different countries - reflecting variation in economic, epidemiological and social conditions.

2. What is the total cost of an essential health package for all?
3. How to finance essential (basic) health care for all?

While virtually all countries have introduced some method of providing access to health services for the poor, health systems in the poorest countries are still heavily underfunded. Out-of-pocket payments comprise still a high proportion of total health expenditure in low-income countries. According to ILO estimates, the access deficit to health care amounts to one third of the population worldwide. In many high-, middle- and low-income countries, given the large numbers of people lacking sufficient financial means to access health services, providing affordable health care is high on the development agenda. Worldwide, millions of people are pushed into poverty every year by the need to pay for health care. Increasing costs, financial constraints on public budgets, and economic considerations regarding international competitiveness have all made social health protection reform a political priority.

Extending social security coverage in health means creating effective access to health services that meet the needs of the covered population. Whereas legal coverage describes rights and formal entitlements, effective access refers to the physical, financial, and geographical availability of services. [More info]

The way a health system is financed is a key determinant of population health and well-being. This is particularly true in the poorest countries where the level of spending is still insufficient to ensure equitable access to needed health services and interventions. In many countries the price of health care services still pushes many people into poverty. Governments in the richer countries also constantly struggle with the question of how to raise sufficient funds to meet the ever increasing demands of their populations for quality health services.

All countries must make decisions about how best to raise sufficient funds for health, how to pool them together to spread the financial risks of ill health, and how to ensure they are used effectively, efficiently, and equitably.

Required data

• Mortality rates
• Morbidity rates
• Coverage data: Estimating Social Health Protection Coverage is a challenge in many countries because the related data is lacking.
• Healt Care Consumption data
• Cost data