Analyzing Financial Protection Policies in the Western Pacific Region
The World Health Organization (WHO) is seeking offers for an experienced research institutions/teams to conduct a regional analysis to compare and interpret the financial protection performance across the countries and identify the driving health system features and/or socioeconomic factors that may have influenced financial protection towards universal health coverage
BACKGROUND
Moving towards universal health coverage (UHC) is one of the targets set by nations worldwide when adopting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015. Financial protection is a critical indicator (SDG3.8.2) for monitoring progress towards UHC, and it has received increased political attention in the Western Pacific region. The lack of financial protection may reduce access to healthcare, undermine health status, deepen poverty, and exacerbate health and socioeconomic inequalities.
Despite the progress made in the Western Pacific Region towards UHC, the 2021 Global Monitoring Report on Tracking Universal Health Coverage suggests that the region is experiencing a worsening trend of financial protection and variance in service coverage. There is an increasing incidence of catastrophic health spending, and growing risks of unmet needs in vulnerable populations. On average, in the non-Pacific part of the region, one in five people incurred catastrophic health spending due to out-of-pocket (OOP) payments when seeking care. Evidence suggests that medicine and outpatient spending are the leading drivers of OOP spending on health at the household level.
It is important to note that financial protection indicators are affected by a wide range of factors, including a country's level of socioeconomic development, the extent of public spending in the health system, the scope of health service coverage, and the public's health-seeking behaviors and expectations. In the Western Pacific region, the trend shows an overall increase in financial hardship for individuals seeking care in the past decade, but the performance of each country varies significantly. Some countries have been successful in improving financial protection levels despite limited fiscal space for health, while others have failed to address the growing trend of financial hardship, despite efforts to reduce the share of out-of-pocket (OOP) spending in total health expenditure. In some cases, improvements in financial protection may be attributed to a higher proportion of the population not seeking necessary medical services for various reasons, rather than positive policy effects. Even when faced with similar challenges, the solutions may not necessarily be the same across countries due to differences in political and economic conditions and resources.
WHO is committed to supporting its member states in developing and implementing sustainable, efficient, and equitable health financing policies to improve access and financial protection for UHC. The WHO team has completed primary data collection on financial protection indicators from countries in the region where data is available, as part of the efforts in monitoring SDG indicator 3.8.2. Disaggregated data analysis was performed to measure the distributional impact of financial hardship across household income and geographical locations. Drivers of out-of-pocket (OOP) payments at the household level has also been analyzed to inform policy-making. However, a more comprehensive study is required to take a closer look at the individual country health system and socioeconomic contexts, in order to understand the key influencing factors that drive financial protection performance, and identify policy characteristics of countries with exemplary performance to serve as a reference for countries currently lagging behind. Targeted policy recommendations based on the specific conditions of each country should be developed to reverse the negative trend of financial protection indicators by 2030.
REQUIREMENTS/WORK TO BE PERFORMED
Under the supervision of WHO, the research partner(s) is expected to carry out below research activities. WHO HPS team will share the available financial protection data and analysis with the selected partner(s) to supplement the research.
1. Conduct literature review to understand and identify established health system and socioeconomic factors that influence financial protection for UHC globally, and in the Western Pacific region.
2. Based on the main findings from the literature view, conduct an in-depth review and analysis on the specific policy arrangements and socioeconomic factors that may have positively or negatively contributed to the financial protection status in the priority countries in the region. Where applicable, 3-4 case studies and qualitative interviews should be conducted to further the understanding on drivers of financial protection performance within a country over time.
Where information is available, the review should cover the following:
- Priority countries and populations: China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Republic of Korea, Japan, Australia, Cambodia, Viet Nam, Mongolia, Lao PDR, etc, and a focus on the hard-to-reach and vulnerable populations in the Pacific
- Policies/factors under review: key health expenditure indicators, population entitlement, benefit package, user charges, level of health literacy, service utilization and care seeking pattern, etc
- Time span: where possible and applicable, the review should focus on the major policy and socioeconomic changes within a country in the past decade (2012-2022)
3. Work with WHO to develop a technical report to identify common features of best practice and lessons learnt about financial protection in the region and propose policy options for countries to strengthen financial protection in the future.
CHARACTERISTICS OF CONTRACTOR
The successful bidder is expected to demonstrate experience and list relevant projects as follows:
Mandatory experience:
- • The Principle Investigator / Team Lead of this research poses a Master’s degree or above in public health, health economics, health administration or related field;
- • Minimum 10 years of experience in health financing and health systems.
- • Demonstrated experience in conducting financial protection and UHC policy analysis in the Western Pacific Region.
SUBMISSIONS
Qualified and interested specialists should submit the following documents to the Supply Officer through WP RO UNGM at < wproungm@who.int > by 31 March 2023
- • Cover Letter
- • Company Profile {for institutional applications} and CV of team members
- • Technical proposal indicating approach, methodology and timelines, in addition to the below annexes
- Annex 2: Confidentiality Undertaking
- Annex 3: Vendor Information Form
- • Financial proposal (in USD)
Please use Tender Notice No. WPRO.HPS.HEF.2023.03 as subject to all submission. Only successful candidates will be contacted.
Last day of receiving queries for this tender is on 24 March 2023