The NEWS (Monrovia)
C. Emmanuel Johnson
25 March 2008
Monrovia — The Ministry of Health and Social Welfare has embarked on a proposed National Health Account Plan to track spending on health care.
The plan is expected to address important policy issues that would enhance the financing of the health sector.
Speaking at the end of a three-day NHA plan workshop Saturday, Deputy Health Minister for Planning, Research and Development, Tornopah Varpilah said Liberia does not have a plan for financing the health sector as such, it becomes important to develop policies that would give government first hand information on the segment of the sector that needs more attention.
He said they have already begun the community financing study at the county level to come out with such policy.
Varpilah said a health team would shortly visit various counties to collect data on how people seek medical attention, where they go for treatment and who will finance it.
Also speaking at the workshop, the National Health Accounts Coordinator for USAID Health System 20/20, Susna De said the activities of the plan would track all health spending in Liberia including expenditures of households and donors.
She said the plan would identify key policy issues that would positively impact the health sector.
Ms. De noted that the policy would also include decision to increase the number of medical doctors in the counties to reduce mortality rate and enhance child health care delivery.
For his part, the Head of the Health Financial Secretariat at the Ministry of Health, Benedict Harris said besides understanding the total resources envelope for health, the NHA plan would also increase coordination among health partners as well as foster greater accountability and transparency.
He said it would increase government's capacity to serve as steward over the health sector with a better informed resources allocation decision.
Mr. Harris further indicated that the NHA would enable government to serve as an advocacy tool to lobby for increased resources.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 The NEWS. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
