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While the private sector demonstrated it’s role in maximizing efforts to advance Universal Health Coverage (UHC), it needs to be properly regulated and included in the health system for it to behave in accordance with national health principles. The heterogeneity of private actors in the health system has indeed exposed Ministries of Health to a more complex system to govern, as the growth in the private sector in health represents a multifaceted mixture of both opportunities and threats for overall health system governance and to progress in the achievement of UHC. In Asia, in some countries with mature health systems, the private sector is an integral part of their path to UHC. For instance, Japan achieved UHC in 1961 and is known to have a substantial private health sector engaged under the public health insurance. The Philippines and Thailand have achieved high levels of population coverage by financial risk protection schemes while engaging the private sector as well. The private sector plays an important role in these three countries, especially in the provision health services. This webinar presents findings from three countries on the services and nature of private providers in the country, their engagement with the public sector including public health insurance agencies to deliver health services. It also engages in discussions on health
system governance and regulation, especially towards financial and quality management of private providers. Furthermore, the webinar focuses on activities and tools to strengthen private sector engagement in Asian countries, following the framework formulated by WHO . SPEAKERS Nima Asgari is the director of the Asia Pacific Observatory on Health Systems and Policies. Prior to that, Dr Asgari coordinated WHO activities in Thailand, focusing on non-communicable diseases, health and trade, human resources for health and cross programmatic coordination. In Cambodia and China, Dr. Asgari focused on strengthening critical gaps of the health system to be able to respond to emerging diseases and comply with International Health Regulations. Before joining WHO, Dr Asgari worked in UK for the Health Protection Agency as a communicable disease control specialist as well as the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE).
Eduardo P. Banzon is a Principal Health Specialist in the Southeast Asia Regional Department (SERD) of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), and Honorary Visiting Associate Professor in the National University of SingaporeSaw Swee Hock School of Public Health. Before joining ADB in 2014, Eduardo worked for the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation, the World Health Organization and the World Bank. He is also a former faculty member of the University of the Philippines (UP) College of Medicine and the Ateneo Graduate School of Business. He completed MD Medicine and an MSc in Health Policy, Planning and Financing. Haruka Sakamoto MD MPH, PhD is a primary care physician and associate professor at the Department of International Health and Tropical Diseases, Tokyo Women’s Medical University. She worked, among others, at the international cooperation department, Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan. Her current research focuses on health system strengthening, health care financing, and politics in global health. She’s currently working as a consultant at the WHO Western Pacific Regional Office and a project researcher at Department of Global Health Policy, Graduate School of Medicine, the University of Tokyo. Aniqa Islam Marshall is a public health researcher focused on health financing, immunization policy and UHC. She has an MSPH in health systems from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health with certificates in Health Financing and Vaccine Policy. She has worked at the International Health Policy Program of the Thai MOPH as a researcher on CSO engagement in UHC, participatory and responsive governance, private sector engagement as well as COVID response work including guideline on the prioritization of critical care resources during pandemics. Manuel M. Dayrit is Professor and former Dean at the Ateneo de Manila University School of Medicine and Public Health. Prior to that he was, among others, Secretary of Health in 2001-2005 when health systems became an organizing principle for health care and Director of the Department of Human Resources for Health at WHO Geneva. He was also active in the private sector’s support to government-led control activities for COVID-19. He holds medical a degree from the University of the Philippines College of Medicine and a Master of Science from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine where he became an honorary fellow in 2006. |