Challenges on the Path to Universal Health Coverage : The Experience of Azerbaijan
The objectives of this case study are to assess how the poor fared as a result of recent efforts toward universal health coverage in Azerbaijan, and to provide an overview of the government’s planned additional reforms, in the context of a difficul...
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| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2018
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/854751516196004430/Challenges-on-the-path-to-universal-health-coverage-the-experience-of-Azerbaijan http://hdl.handle.net/10986/29180 |
| Summary: | The objectives of this case study are to
assess how the poor fared as a result of recent efforts
toward universal health coverage in Azerbaijan, and to
provide an overview of the government’s planned additional
reforms, in the context of a difficult economic and fiscal
situation.The case study will first focus on how the poor
have fared as a result of Azerbaijan’s efforts in the last
decade to improve health coverage and population financial
protection in case of illness. These efforts occurred during
a period of strong economic performance driven by
natural-resource-based economic growth. Thanks to
improvements in oil and gas revenues, public expenditure on
health increased six-fold since 2000. Although the
organization and functioning of the system did not
significantly change during this period, the additional
resources were used to provide pharmaceuticals and medical
supplies at no cost to the population and to refurbish the
health care infrastructure. During this time, the number of
drugs and medical supplies provided at no cost in inpatient
care increased, while the list of outpatient care drugs and
medical supplies that were provided at no cost to eligible
population groups either increased or became more widely
available.The positive economic and fiscal outlook the
country enjoyed from the mid-2000s has significantly changed
in the last two years due to a sharp decrease in oil prices.
This difficult context, as well as continuous challenges in
ensuring financial protection and access to services, has
highlighted the need for health financing reform, as well as
reform of the functioning and organization of the health
system. In this context, the country recently renewed
previous efforts toward implementation of a Mandatory Social
Health Insurance scheme, which was mandated in 2007. To
contribute to the country’s policy debates, the second
objective of this case study is to discuss how this reform
plan could further contribute to universal health coverage,
and what challenges the country would face in its implementation. |
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