Resource Type: Publication
Authors: Elizabeth Ohadi, Claire Jones and Carlos Avila
Published: June 2016

Resource Description: The goals for Universal Health Coverage (UHC) as defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) include equity in use of health services, quality of care, and financial protection. Therefore, key factors to consider in the development of approaches to UHC include expanding coverage of the population in terms of access to and quality of health service; equitable distribution of services; the types of services to be provided in the benefits package1; and the proportion of costs covered in terms of the affordability and the sustainability of the financing sources. Namibia’s Ministry of Health and Social Services (MoHSS) and Social Security Commission (SSC) are working in close collaboration to explore the way forward toward achieving UHC and have established the Universal Health Coverage Advisory Committee of Namibia (UHCAN) for this purpose. The objective of this Advisory Committee is to guide the MoHSS in the development of sustainable systems and policies for achieving UHC in Namibia with a focus on compiling evidence and developing alternative policy approaches specific to the Namibian context. The goals of UHC cannot be achieved without a well-functioning and sustainable health financing system, and therefore the Government of the Republic of Namibia has prioritized the identification of sustainable health financing options in order to ensure timely and equitable access of quality health services.