Universal Health Coverage for Inclusive and Sustainable Development
A low-income country, Ethiopia has made impressive progress in improving health outcomes. The Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation reported that Ethiopia has achieved Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 4, three years ahead of target, with under-5 mortality at 68 per 1,000 live births in 2012. Significant challenges remain, however, with the maternal mortality ratio at 420 out of 100,000 live births. The government has introduced a three-tier public health care delivery system to deliver essential health services and ensure referral linkages, with level three as specialized hospitals (one per 3.5 million 5 million population), level two as general hospitals (one per 1 million 1.5 million), level one as primary hospitals (one per 60,000 100,000) with satellite health centers (one per 15,000 25,000) and health posts (one per 3,000 5,000). One initiative contributing greatly toward universal health coverage (UHC) is the Health Extension Program (HEP) that provides free primary care services at health posts and communities. The country is at its early stage initiating insurance schemes to provide financial protection for its citizens: Social Health Insurance (SHI) for formal sector employees and Community-Based Health Insurance (CBHI) for rural residents and informal sector employees. Public facilities are expected to provide exempted services for free, and there is a fee-waiver system for the poor.
Summary: | A low-income country, Ethiopia has made
impressive progress in improving health outcomes. The
Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation reported
that Ethiopia has achieved Millennium Development Goal (MDG)
4, three years ahead of target, with under-5 mortality at 68
per 1,000 live births in 2012. Significant challenges
remain, however, with the maternal mortality ratio at 420
out of 100,000 live births. The government has introduced a
three-tier public health care delivery system to deliver
essential health services and ensure referral linkages, with
level three as specialized hospitals (one per 3.5 million 5
million population), level two as general hospitals (one per
1 million 1.5 million), level one as primary hospitals (one
per 60,000 100,000) with satellite health centers (one per
15,000 25,000) and health posts (one per 3,000 5,000). One
initiative contributing greatly toward universal health
coverage (UHC) is the Health Extension Program (HEP) that
provides free primary care services at health posts and
communities. The country is at its early stage initiating
insurance schemes to provide financial protection for its
citizens: Social Health Insurance (SHI) for formal sector
employees and Community-Based Health Insurance (CBHI) for
rural residents and informal sector employees. Public
facilities are expected to provide exempted services for
free, and there is a fee-waiver system for the poor. |
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