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Health sector financing

Achieving the MDGs: at what cost?
M. Pearson
HLSP, February 2009
More spending is needed if progress towards the MDGs is to be accelerated, but extra funding can come with risks. Those working to achieve the health MDGs cannot ignore the macroeconomic implications of injecting additional external resources into weak economies. These issues remain relevant despite the challenges of the current financial and economic crisis. This paper provides an overview of the debates surrounding how much is needed to achieve the health MDGs, how such funds might be raised, and some of the impacts of scaling up.

Health & development - global update
HLSP, January 2009
HLSP's six-monthly review of current debates, events and publications.

International Experiences in Removing User Fees for Health Services - Implications for Mozambique
R. Yates
DFID HRC, June 2006
This report considers if user fees for health services should be removed and reviews the experiences of countries that have gone down this route.

Charting the path to the World Bank’s “No blanket policy on user fees”
G. Hutton
DFID HSRC, May 2004
A look over the past 25 years at the shifting support for user fees in health and education, and reflections on the future.

Medium Term Expenditure Frameworks
M. Pearson
DFID HSRC, 2002
An MTEF is a multi-year public expenditure planning exercise that is used to set out the future budget requirements for existing services, and to assess the resource implications of future policy changes and any new programmes. This paper describes the role and value of an MTEF, and how it links with other initiatives such as SWAPs, PRSPs and HIPC.

Allocating public resources for health: developing pro-poor approaches
M. Pearson,
DFID HSRC, 2002
This paper focuses on the allocation of public resources, and the extent to which different approaches enable poor people to access essential services. It attempts to set out how a country might begin to allocate public resources in ways which promote better access by the poor to essential services.

DFID Health insurance workshop
DFID HSRC, May 2002

Health financing: designing and implementing pro-poor policies
S. Bennett and L. Gilson
DFID HSRC, 2001
This paper outlines what is known about the effects of main health care financing systems, and how they can be designed and implemented to be 'pro-poor'.

National Health Accounts: what are they and how can we use them?
M. Pearson
DFID HSRC, June 2000
This paper provides a better understanding of the systematic approach in mapping the flow of health sector funds.

An introduction to health insurance for low income countries
C. P. Conn and V. Walford
DFID HSRC, 1998