Resource Type: Brief
Authors: Jenna Wright
Published: July 2015

Resource Description:

An Essential Package of Health Services (EPHS) can be defined as the package of services that the government is providing or is aspiring to provide to its citizens in an equitable manner.

This country snapshot is one in a series of 24 snapshots looking at the governance dimensions of Essential Packages of Health Services in the Ending Preventable Child and Maternal Death priority countries. The snapshot explores several important dimensions of the EPHS in the country, such as how government policies contribute to the service coverage, population coverage, and financial coverage of the package.

Malawi first developed its EPHS, referred to as the Essential Health Package, in 2004 under the Program of Work (2004–2010). The successor document to the Program of Work is the Malawi Health Sector Strategic Plan (2011–2016), which emphasizes improving coverage and quality of EPHS delivery throughout the country.