UHC Forum 2017 Side Event

Institute for Global Health Policy Research (iGHP), National Center for
Global Health and Medicine (NCGM), in conjunction with P4H-Global
Network for Social Health Protection Coordination Desk, World HealthOrganization, and Asia-Pacific Observatory for Health systems and Policies(APO), is delighted to announce the upcoming UHC Forum 2017 side event,“Health System Financing and Social Health Protection for UHC: Role ofComparative Health System Analysis and Regional Collaborations in Asia”
which is to be held on December 15, 2017 in Tokyo.

Date & Time

Friday, December 15, 2017, 15:00-17:30

Topic“Health System Financing and Social Health Protection for
UHC: Role of Comparative Health System Analysis andRegional Collaborations in Asia”

Venue

Golden Cup Room, 3rd Floor, Tokyo Prince Hotel

Accesshttp://www.princehotels.com/tokyo/map-direction/

Language

English only (No Japanese interpretation will be provided)

Participation

Free of charge and open to general public. Advanceregistration is required.

UHC Forum 2017 in
Tokyo: http://universalhealthcoverageday.org/forum/

Provisional agendaPart One. 15:00-16:25 “Global Collaborative for Health Financing andProtection”
Presenter/Facilitator: Claude Meyer, P4H Coordinator, WHO/HQ
15:00-Health financing and social protection for UHC

15:15

•

Engaging with stakeholders to change health financing
policy•

Role of networking in the process of health financing andsocial protection reforms•

Importance of networking and stakeholder engagement on
shifting evidence to policy

15:15-

Questions and Answers

15:30
15:30-Country cases on networking and shifting evidence to policy

15:40

•

Use of health system reviews as a means to engage with
policy makers for improving health system performanceand financing (Walaiporn Patcharanarumol, IHPP,
Thailand)

15:40-

Questions and Answers15:55
15:55-Discussants:

16:10

Ms. Xenia Scheil-Adlung, ILO
Ms. Irina Nikolic, World Bank
Dr. Menkhanym Kaldybayeva, Ministry of Health,Kazakhstan
Mr. Heiko Warnken, BMZ, Germany

16:10-Questions and Answers

16:25
Part Two. 16:25-17:30 “Regional networking and collaborations for
UHC in Asia”
Facilitator: Kenji Shibuya, Director, iGHP
16:25-

Major health financing and social protection issues in Asia

16:40

(Soonman Kwon, Seoul National University)

16:40-

Asia Networking-P4H website presentation (D. Bayarsaikhan,

16:50

P4H)

16:50-

APO as another example of regional partnership (Nima

17:00

Asgari, APO)

17:00-

Questions and Answers

17:15

17:15-

Japan HiT Report (Haruka Sakamoto, University of Tokyo)

17:25
17:25-

Closing remarks (Eiji Hinoshita, Director-General, Bureau

17:30

of International Health Cooperation, NCGM)

Expected outputs/outcomes:•Validation of priority health financing and protection issues andchallenges to progress towards UHC in Asia including strategic policy
actions and responses.

•Consolidated views on regional networking initiative for UHC, particularly
health financing, in Asia, comments and feedback to strategize the next
step collaborative actions.

•Highlighting challenges and opportunities for using health system
research to generate evidence for policy change in Asia Pacific•

Sharing findings of “Japan Health Systems in Transition (HiT) report”
together with Asia Pacific Observatory (APO) as an example of healthcare financing for the ageing society as well as a collaboration model inAsia.

Potential contribution to the UHC 2030 key principles:
This side event will contribute to the principles related to evidence-based
health national strategies and leadership, a commitment to improve healthsystem for all, and international cooperation based on mutual learning.

Co-sponsor & Organizing partners:•Institute for Global Health Policy Research (iGHP), the Bureau ofInternational Health Cooperation, National Center for Global Health andMedicine (NCGM), Japan: http://www.ighp.ncgm.go.jp/en/•

P4H-Global Network for Social Health Protection Coordination Desk,
Department of Health Systems Governance and Financing, World HealthOrganization, Headquarters, Geneva: https://p4h.world/•Asia-Pacific Observatory for Health systems and Policies(APO): http://www.wpro.who.int/asia̲pacific̲observatory/en/

UHC Forum 2017 Side Event“Health System Financing and Social Health Protection for UHC:
Role of Comparative Health System Analysis and Regional Collaborations in Asia”
December 15, 2017 15:00-17:30
Tokyo Prince Hotel, Golden Cup RoomBackground
Universal Health Coverage (UHC) is about people getting the care they need, without financial
hardship. This side event focuses on two aspects of achieving UHC: Health financing and linking itwith changes in service delivery. In particular, health financing and social health protection is centralfor UHC. Health financing reforms suggest that high level political commitment and governmentactions with clear policies, strategies and implementation plans are necessary together withinclusive partnership collaboration at national and regional levels. Currently, many Asian countries
face challenges to improve health financing arrangements for revenue collection, pooling andpurchasing within their socioeconomic and fiscal contexts, as well as to ensure that health financing
reforms effectively respond to country and regional issues such as ageing, non-communicablediseases, technological advancements, globalization and growing inequalities in health.
In the past 10-15 years, many Asian countries implemented health financing and social healthprotection reforms to various extent and built considerable knowledge, experiences and learnt
valuable lessons to share with others. Some countries like Japan, the Republic of Korea, andThailand already have taken initiatives and shown interests in closer bi- and multi-lateralcollaboration and partnerships because of increasing needs and demands in the region.
Development partners like ADB, OECD, and World Bank are also keen to align their technical support
with national and regional development priorities. This new type of collaboration will graduallytransform the traditional donor and recipient model into more inclusive and equal partnerships.
These developments in Asia show that it is timely to discuss and support regional networking for
UHC in Asia.
Asia Pacific Observatory for health systems and policies (APO) is a clear example of suchcollaborative work between development partners and countries in the Asia Pacific region. By
reviewing the status of the health system in the countries, APO highlights challenges ahead and by
generating the evidence that the countries need to realize different components of UHC, it provides
the necessary arguments for policy makers to shape health architecture for achieving UHC including
linkages between health financing and service delivery.
1P4H Network Coordination Desk, Asia-Pacific Observatory for Health systems and Policies (APO),and iGHP have agreed that the UHC Day in December 2017 is a good opportunity to organize a side
event on regional networking for health financing and protection in Asia. Its main objectives are todiscuss, support and advance regional health financing and protection initiatives in Asia and toshow the role of locally generated evidence for policy linkages between health financing and service
delivery.
In addition, as an example of health care financing for the ageing society as well as a collaboration
model in this region, the University of Tokyo (U of Tokyo) and iGHP will present findings of “Japan
Health Systems in Transition (HiT) report” together with the APO secretariat. Japan HiT report is acomprehensive summary of Japanese health care system with strong focuses on health carefinancing and aging society, and based on this report, we will propose possible collaborations inhealth care financing in Asia. Finally, the organizing partners will discuss evidence-based knowledge
sharing, country experiences and also plan on presenting the utilization of evidence for changing
health system policy based on examples from the fields including the Philippines, (or Bhutan) andBangladesh.
Expected outputs/outcomes:Validation of priority health financing and protection issues and challenges to progress towards
UHC in Asia including strategic policy actions and responses.
Consolidated views on regional networking initiative for UHC, particularly health financing, inAsia, comments and feedback to strategize the next step collaborative actions.
Highlighting challenges and opportunities for using health system research to generate
evidence for policy change in Asia Pacific
Sharing findings of “Japan Health Systems in Transition (HiT) report” together with Asia Pacific
Observatory (APO) as an example of health care financing for the ageing society as well as acollaboration model in Asia.

Potential contribution to the UHC 2030 key principles
This side event will contribute to the principles related to evidence-based health national strategies
and leadership, a commitment to improve health system for all, and international cooperation
based on mutual learning.
Organizing partners
o Institute for Global Health Policy Research (iGHP), the Bureau of International HealthCooperation, National Center for Global Health and Medicine (NCGM), Japano

P4H-Global Network for Social Health Protection Coordination Desk, Department of Health
Systems Governance and Financing, World Health Organization, Headquarters, Geneva
2

Provisional AgendaPart One. 15:00-16:25 Global Collaborative for Health Financing and Protection
Presenter/Facilitator: Claude Meyer, P4H Coordinator, WHO/HQ
15:00-15:15 Health financing and social protection for UHC
 Engaging with stakeholders to change health financing policy
 Role of networking in the process of health financing and social protection reforms
 Importance of networking and stakeholder engagement on shifting evidence to policy
15:15-15:30 Questions and Answers
15:30-15:40 Country cases on networking and shifting evidence to policy Use of health system reviews as a means to engage with policy makers for improving healthsystem performance and financing (Walaiporn Patcharanarumol, IHPP, Thailand)
15:40-15:55 Questions and Answers
15:55-16:10 Discussants: Xenia Scheil-Adlung, ILO
Irina Nikolic, World Bank
Menkhanym Kaldybayeva, Ministry of Health, Kazakhstan
Heiko Warnken, BMZ, Germany
16:10-16:25 Questions and Answers

Part Two. 16:25-17:30 Regional networking and collaborations for UHC in Asia
Facilitator: Kenji Shibuya, Director, iGHP
16:25-16:40 Major health financing and social protection issues in Asia (Soonman Kwon, Seoul
National University)
16:40-16:50 Asia Networking-P4H website presentation (D. Bayarsaikhan, P4H)
16:50-17:00 APO as another example of regional partnership (Nima Asgari, APO)
17:00-17:15 Questions and Answers
17:15-17:25 Japan HiT Report (Haruka Sakamoto, University of Tokyo)
17:25-17:30 Closing remarks (Eiji Hinoshita, Director-General, Bureau of International HealthCooperation, NCGM)

3Report on UHC Forum 2017 Side Event

Institute for Global Health Policy Research (iGHP), the Global Network for Health
Financing and Social Health Protection (P4H), and Asia Pacific Observatory on Health
Systems and Policies (APO) had a pleasure of co-organizing a side event entitled“Health System Financing and Social Health Protection for UHC: Role of Comparative
Health System Analysis and Regional Collaborations in Asia” during the UHC Forum2017 held in Tokyo from 12th to 15th December 2017.
The aims of this event were to validate priority health financing and protection issues
and challenges to progress towards UHC in Asia, and obtain consolidated views on
regional networking initiatives for UHC to address region specific challenges andopportunities. The event also emphasized the challenges and opportunities for using
health system research in order to generate evidence for policy changes in Asia Pacificregion.
The P4H’s presentation included a several topics including its evolution over the past 10years with a transition from the MDG to SDG context, and a framework based on theintersection of health, social, finance – in line with SDG principles. A group ofpanelists that represented the steering group members of the P4H network also had
insightful and relevant dialogues on global collaborations for health financing andprotection. The APO’s presentation focused on the Asia Pacific Context, highlighting
the uniqueness of the regional and national landscape of political economy in Asia andthe implications it has on networking and partnership. The participants also learned
about the APO’s engagement with countries based on the above-mentioned realities andincreasing focus on policy dialogues and engagement with national health leaders
throughout the life cycle of APO publications. In addition, the Executive Summary of
the Japan Health Systems Review (HiT) report was launched as an example ofpublications that looks at the whole health system architecture at the national level
including health care financing for ageing society as well as a model of collaboration
between various partners in Asia. The Japan HiT presentation was all-encompassing thatit covered the history of Japanese health care system, various challenges Japan currently
faces as well as the newly proposed health-care vision in order to tackle challenges
beyond the “Japan Vision: Health Care 2035”.

Furthermore, we were honored to have two distinguished guests, Dr. Naoko Yamamoto,
WHO Assistant Director General for UHC and Health Systems and Dr. Agnes Soucat,
WHO Director of the Department for Health Systems Governance and Financing join asa speaker and participant, respectively, who delivered remarks during the event.
Assistant Director General Yamamoto congratulated all the partners for organizing thisimportant event during the Tokyo Forum. Dr. Yamamoto underscored the role of healthfinancing and social health protection in moving towards UHC. According to her, theTokyo Forum placed a special emphasis on health financing, and provided opportunities
at the highest political level to discuss UHC in the contexts of different countries, such
as Japan. Dr. Soucat also welcomed this event and expressed her active and full support
towards regional networking for UHC. The potential role of networking in improving
data and communication, sharing lessons and experiences and closing the knowledge
gaps across countries and regions was evidently presented in the WHO regional andglobal financing reports prepared for the Forum, namely health expenditures estimates
produced according to the new system of health accounts.
Despite the fact that the event was held during the last hours of the UHC Forum 2017,
we were fortunate to have many participants from various professional fields anddifferent regions of the world as well. The success of this side event clearly showed
how all the organizing partners value the collaborations and inputs provided fromdifferent fields. In conclusion, all the partners agreed that the side event was wellorganized and met its expected objectives and outcomes. The partners have genuineinterests and willingness to continue working together to promote and strengthen thepartnership platform and networking for advancing UHC including health financing andsocial health protection in the Asia and Pacific Region.

Speakers:
Naoko Yamamoto, Assistant Director General, WHO
Soonman Kwon, Professor, Seoul National University
Walaiporn Patcharanarumol, IHPP, Thailand
Claude Meyer, P4H Coordinator, WHO/HQ
D. Bayarsaikhan, P4H
Nima Asgari, APO
Haruka Sakamoto, University of Tokyo

Kenji Shibuya, Director, iGHP, NCGM
Eiji Hinoshita, Director-General, Bureau of International Health Cooperation, NCGM

Panelists:
Xenia Scheil-Adlung, International Labour Organization
Irina Nikolic, the World Bank
Menkhanym Kaldybayeva, Republican Centre for Health Development, Kazakhstan
Heiko Warnken, Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development,
Germany