Access to Health Fund 2019-2023 Access to Health Fund 2019-2023 - Access to Health Fund The support to Access to Health Fund aims to increase access to quality essential health services for underserved and vulnerable people in conflict-affected areas, and to enable the health system to sustain these gains.  

The Access to Health fund builds on two core priorities which are 1) focus on conflict-affected areas, and 2) focus on equity, adopting a human rights based approach to health promoting inclusiveness, and explicitly targeting underserved and vulnerable populations. The Fund is a multi-donor health fund, funded by Switzerland, United Kingdom, USA and Sweden. 

The thematic focus areas of the Access to Health Fund will be Maternal, Newborn and Child Health, Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights, Nutrition, Tuberculosis, HIV prevention, Health Consequences of Drug Use, Health in Prisons, Malaria, Infrastructure as well as Health Systems strengthening - all aligned to Myanmar's National Health Plan 2017-2021. The National Health Plan was developed with participation from all key stakeholders, including the health organisations of various ethnic groups.

The Access to Health Fund will concentrate its interventions in Rakhine, Kachin, Shan, Kayin, Kayah and Mon, all states affected by latent or active conflict and all with very low health indicators. The reason behind the Access to Health Fund is prioritizing services in these areas is because access to health services are extremely low. By focusing on these areas, the Fund will be targeting some of Myanmar’s least equitable access-to-health situations and some of the country’s most vulnerable groups, in places that the government often is not able to reach and support. Stödet till ”Access to Health Fund” syftar till att öka tillgången till grundläggande hälsotjänster för de mest sårbara människorna i konfliktdrabbade områden.  

Två grundläggande prioriteringar för Access to Health Fund är 1) fokus på konfliktdrabbade områden, och 2) fokus på jämlikhet genom ett rättighetsbaserat tillvägagångssätt som främjar icke-diskriminering och uttryckligen riktar sig till de mest sårbara människorna i konfliktdrabbade och svårtillgängliga områden. Access to Health Fund är en givargemensam fond där Schweiz, Storbritannien, USA och Sverige ingår. 

Tematiskt ligger fokus på mödra- och barnhälsovård, sexuell och reproduktiv hälsa och rättigheter, nutrition, malaria, tuberkulos, HIV, drogmissbruk, hälsovård i fängelser, infrastruktur samt stärkande av hälsosystemet. Alla insatser kommer att ligga i linje med Myanmars nationella hälsoplan (Myanmar National Health Plan 2017-2021). Den nationella hälsoplanen togs fram med deltagande från alla relevanta aktörer, inklusive etniska hälsoorganisationer.

Geografiskt kommer Access to Health Fund att prioritera insatser i staterna Rakhine, Chin, Kachin, Shan, Kayin, Kayah och Mon, samtliga drabbade av aktiva eller latenta konflikter och alla med mycket låga hälsoindikatorer. Genom att lägga fokus på dessa områden kommer fonden att nå de områden i Myanmar med sämst tillgång till hälsovård, inklusive områden där staten inte har kontroll, samt de mest sårbara grupperna. The objective of Access to Health Fund is to increase access to quality essential health services for underserved and vulnerable people in conflict-affected areas, and to enable the health system to sustain these gains. The foundation of the Access to Health Fund is to focus on conflict-affected areas and to focus on equity. The Access to Health Fund is adopting a rights-based approach promoting inclusiveness, and explicitly targeting underserved and vulnerable populations. This focus on equity defines, to a large extent, the population the Fund will strive to serve.
The desired impact of the Access to Health Fund is:
- Better overall health status of populations in remote and conflict-affected areas
- Reduced health inequalities
This will be achieved through focusing activities on 1) increased population access to and use of services (within MNCH, SRHR, Nutrition, Malaria, Tuberculosis, HIV prevention, Health Consequences of Drug Use and Health in Prisons 2) increased collaboration of Government and Ethnic Health Organisations 3) Strengthened Health Systems. 
The Access to Health Fund will concentrate its interventions in Rakhine, Chin, Kachin, Shan, Kayin, Kayah and Mon, all states affected by latent or active conflict and all with very low health indicators. The reason behind the Access to Health fund is prioritizing services in these areas is because access to health services are extremely low. By focusing on these areas, the Fund will be targeting some of Myanmar’s least equitable access-to-health situations and some of the country’s most vulnerable groups, in places that the government often is not able to reach and support. Universal Health Coverage, the country's goal for 2030, requires access to health for populations throughout the country, and can only be achieved through closer cooperation and coordination with EHOs and their partners as well as ensuring referrals within the overall health system. The recent participation of EHOs in the definition of the National Health Plan, and their explicit responsibility in the delivery of the plan, are indications on the role that these organisations can play. The Fund will continue to promote and support such participation. 
In the design of the program of the Access to Health Fund, an analysis at the State level, combined with stakeholder consultations (with MoHS, implementing partners, EHOs) has been carried out and will continue. The analysis aims to gage the specific and diverse population needs in program geographies, and to identify appropriate and effective interventions to deliver the outcomes. The program indicators will be revised in line with forthcoming discussions. For the majority of indicators under MNCH, SRHR, and Nutrition, results are based on the national Health Management Information System data as the Fund will be supporting a Township-wide outreach, planning, and commodity supplies to health volunteers. At this stage of the Access to Health Fund, this description is by definition general, lacking the specific indicators and targets that will follow detailed calls for proposals, grant negotiations, and the establishment of defined programs. Examples of indicators for SRHR are Modern Contraceptive Prevalence Rate (MCPR) among married women; Number of young people (aged 10 to 24) reached by SRHR education via interpersonal communication approach; and number of post-abortion care services provided to women through public sector service providers.  A result-oriented monitoring and evaluation framework will be finalized after grant negotiations with implementing partners.
Considering that the focus on conflict areas have significantly increased as well as the proportion of funds invested in conflict affected townships, it is important to have realistic expectations on health results, and to have a long-term approach. It is not uncommon that when inaccessible areas open up a "backlog" of health needs, long left unattended, is released. Therefore one should expect indicators to get worse before improving.