Essential Package of Health Services Country Snapshot

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.

Mali has an EPHS, which the government refers to as the paquet minimum d’activité (PMA). While the formal PMA is described in one national policy document, it appears that the government considers any service provided under a vertical program informally part of the PMA as well. The Ministry of Health’s document entitled Evaluation du Plan de Developpement Sanitaire et Social (2011) appears to discuss the PMA in a contradictory manner. First, the document states that the PMA has been defined and that it includes a minimum list of curative, preventive, and promotional services that must be available in a community health center (CSCOM). However, this document also states that the PMA has evolved with the evolution of national program strategies, but that there have been no formal updates to the PMA over time. This information suggests that the formal PMA remains that of the Plan Decennial de Development Sanitaire et Social 1998–2007, but that the government may consider the services provided by national vertical programs informally part of the PMA.

Essential Package of Health Services and Health Benefit Plans Mapping Brief

Resource Type: Brief
Authors: Jeena Mathew
Published: June 2017

Resource Description:

Many governments are scaling up health benefit plans, such as social health insurance, to increase population health coverage. This brief presents findings from a mapping between the services covered under the country’s prominent health benefit plan(s) to the country’s Essential Package of Health Services. The mapping analyzes the extent to which the plan(s) cover essential services.

This brief is for policymakers and program managers seeking to promote universal health coverage. It presents HFG’s findings and observations about the relationship between the services in an EPHS and the services covered in HBPs.