Midori Habich former Minister of Health Peru
Kara Hanson, Professor of Health System Economics London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
Maria Skarphedinsdottir, UHC2030 Core team, providing the secretariat
All countries face several critical pressures on their health systems. Some of these are particularly salient for countries that are currently or will soon be ‘transitioning’ to much lower levels of external financial support.
A common guiding principle is to maintain or even increase effective coverage for priority health services, including those currently supported with external funds.
This does however not mean simply channelling government revenues to pay for a previously donor-funded programme. Rather, transition provides an opportunity for countries to assess how governance, financing and service delivery are configured to ensure the sustainability of effective coverage for priority interventions.
Hence, health system strengthening (HSS) is at the core of the response to transition if progress towards UHC is to be sustained. It also emphasizes the importance of sustainability in the transition process, which should also extend to those countries that are not imminently facing declines in donor assistance.
The UHC2030 working group on sustainability and transition from external funding works towards building a consensus on the sustainability objective in relation to transition from external funding – to mean - sustained or increased effective coverage of quality priority interventions and outcomes for UHC and develop a collaborative agenda taken forward by different actors in support of this.
The membership of the group brings together country representatives, WB/WHO health system and disease experts, bilateral partners, global health initiatives, GFF, OECD, BMGF, academia think tanks and civil society. Country interest and participation in the group has been strong, with 15 countries actively engaging in the group, either through direct participation or country consultation.
The working group has held three face-to-face meetings – see below links for final reports and other documentation. The working group has developed a mapping of policies, definitions and ongoing work by working group members related to transition from aid. A country consultation paper on sustainability and transition has also been commissioned and a data set on key indicators on UHC context and transition timelines in all low income and middle income countries. The WG has also developed a paper on perspectives from health programs on sustainability and transition.
In 2018 the working group developed the UHC2030 statement on sustainability and transition from external funding. Statement was presented to the UHC2030 Steering Committee in June 2018 and launched following a wide consultation process. The statement serves as a basis for advocacy, political influencing- informing transition related coordination processes both at national and global levels. The statement includes ten recommendations/principles directed at governments of countries experiencing transition from external funding and the broad range of development partners working in these contexts.
Read: Launch of the Statement on sustainability and transition from external financing
Midori Habich former Minister of Health Peru
Kara Hanson, Professor of Health System Economics London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
Maria Skarphedinsdottir, UHC2030 Core team, providing the secretariat
Mark Blecher Chief Director of Health and Social Development Treasury South Africa
Ms Triin Habicht Senior Adviser to the Ministry of Health Estonia
Dr. Aquina Thulare Technical Specialist, Health Economics National Health Insurance Department of Health South Africa
Ms Regina Ombam Head, Strategy Development National Aids Control Council Kenya
Daniel Osei, Head of Budget, Ministry of Health Ghana
Toomas Palu Advisor Global Coordination Health Nutrition and Population WB
Somil Nagpal Senior Health Adviser WB
Agnes Soucat Director Health Governance and Financing WHO
Joe Kutzin Coordinator Health Financing WHO
Susan Sparkes Technical Officer Health Systems Governance and Financing WHO
Dr Anshu Banerjee Director Global Coordination WHO
Brian Tisdall Team Leader Polio Transition WHO
Huang Xiao Xian Technical advisor WHO EPI team
Nishikiori Nobuyuki Global TB program WHO
Diana Weil Coordinator Global TB program WHO
Gilles Forte Coordinator Essential Medicines and Health Products WHO
Dr. Zubin Shroff Alliance for Health Policy and System Research WHO
Tom O’Connell Health System Governance and Finance WHO
Matthias Reinicke Health Sector Adviser Europe Aid EC
Dan Peters Senior Program Officer Development Policy and Finance BMGF
Joanna Keatinge Health Advisor DFID
Lisa Fleisher Public Finance Advisor USAID
Susanna Baker Chief Health Finance and Economics Office of HIV/AIDS
Paul Rueckert Health Adviser GIZ
Dr Shin-ichiro Noda Center for Global Health and Medicine Japan
Arjun Vasan Senior Health Economist US Treasury
Michael Borowitz Head Strategic Investments and Partnerships GF
Mr. Matthew Macgregor Portfolio Manager GF
Santiago Cornejo Senior Specialist Immunization Financing GAVI Alliance
Nertila Tavanxhi Technical Adviser UNAIDS
Tim Poletti Health Adviser Permanent Mission of Australia to UN
Maria Eugenia Bonilla-Chacin Senior Economist Global Financing Facility
Piera Tortora Advisor on Development Finance OECD
Anderson Stanciole Health Financing Advisor UNFPA
Sara Bennett, Professor John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Mr. Mohamed Gad, Technical Analyst Imperial College UK
Gavin Yamey Director Center for Policy impact in Global Health Duke University
Osundu Ogbuoji Senior Policy Associate Duke Global Health Institute
Kalipso Chalkidou Director Global Health Policy Centre for Global Development (CDG)
Mr. Michael Chaitkin, Senior Program Officer Results for Development
Oanh Khuất Thị Hải, Executive Director, Centre for Supporting Community Development Initiatives
Craig Burgess, Senior Technical Advisor, JSI Research and Training Institute
Useful resources
Third meeting on January 2019 Bangkok
Second meeting on November 2017 in Montreux, Switzerland.
First face-to-face meeting on March 2017 in Geneva, Switzerland.
Online meetings minutes
Maria Skarphedinsdottir, WHO and UHC2030 Core Team: skarphedinsdottirm@who.int