In April, HFG supported the delivery of the Asia Regional Flagship Course on Health Systems Strengthening and Sustainable Financing: The Challenge of Universal Health Coverage in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Sponsored by the Asia Network for Capacity Building in Health Systems Strengthening (ANHSS), USAID, and the World Bank, the course was the second flagship course supported by USAID through HFG, following the 2014 course which was held in Bangkok.

Countries across the Asia region are at different stages of the process and can benefit from sharing their experiences. The course shared analytic frameworks to increase understanding of UHC policy reforms as well as offered a forum for information-sharing on best practices in developing and implementing reforms with the goal of universal health coverage.

Seventy participants attended the workshop from 13 countries, including: Bangladesh, Cambodia,  Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, India, Indonesia,  Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Myanmar, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Solomon Islands, and Thailand. Participants included officials from governments, non-profits, and donors.  The course was customized to be relevant to the practitioners and policymakers. Key topics included financing, benefits packages, leveraging the private sector, and public hospital performance.

In addition, a day-long “training-of-trainers” workshop on case method teaching and case writing was delivered to 10 ANHSS members as part of continuing efforts to enhance the organization’s teaching skills.

Participant feedback revealed that most participants (95 percent) found the course useful and gained a better understanding of UHC challenges and a strengthened competence in the analytic tools presented.