Supporting the establishment of the National Health Insurance scheme in Lao PDR and the extension of coverage The project will contribute to the Government’s goal of achieving universal coverage and the MDGs 4 and 5 targets through the extension of social health protection coverage and the progressive harmonization/merger of existing schemes. The project has three immediate objectives: Immediate objective 1: By the end of the project the policy and regulatory framework will have been further developed at the national level (support for the preparation/finalization and harmonization of all the decrees, laws, regulations, etc.) and costing of social health protection benefits will have been conducted. Immediate objective 2: By the end of the project a staircase approach, including the “harmonization” of benefits, operations and MIS & IT systems across existing schemes, support to new enrolments and the establishment of a fund to increase access to social health protection for the poor will have been demonstrated as feasible in one province. Immediate objective 3: By the end of the project the experience outlined in objectives one and two will be documented and evaluated and a second phase project proposal will be prepared and submitted to a pool of donors to further support the establishment of the National Health Insurance Agency and the extension of coverage in an larger number of provinces. The project will be jointly conducted by the ILO and WHO. The stakeholders of the project are the following institutions: - Ministry of Health and Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare, at the central level and in the province (and the districts) where the project will be implemented: provincial and district health and labour/social welfare offices, health care providers; - Existing social health protection schemes (SSO, SASS, CBHI, Equity funds) at central, provincial and districts levels; - Ministry of Finance; Ministry of Planning and Investment; - Employers and workers organizations; - Civil society and mass organizations; - Other UN agencies and development partners involved in the field of social health protection and health care: UNFPA, UNICEF, WFP, AfD, Lux Dev, Swiss Red Cross, GRET, ADB and the World Bank. The direct recipients are policy makers, administrators and technical staff involved in the design and operation of the social security and existing social health protection schemes (SSO, SASS, CBHI, HEFs), as well as the staff and administrators of the future national health insurance agency. Employers, workers, civil society and mass organizations are also direct recipients of trainings on social security / social health protection in Lao PDR. The ultimate beneficiaries are all the present and future insured persons and families of the social health protection schemes in Lao PDR (SSO, SASS, CBHI, HEFs) particularly in the areas where the project will be implemented. The project ensures that the benefits resulting from project activities will reach ultimate beneficiaries by assisting implementers of social health protection schemes in establishing their implementation plans in efficient and effective ways and also monitor such indicators as the extension of coverage and the satisfaction of beneficiaries. A special focus will be placed on mothers and children, by guaranteeing financial access to a minimum benefit package which takes into account their specific needs (i.e. institutional deliveries and care for children under five) in the districts where the project will be implemented as well as by linking up with safety net interventions targeted at them (e.g. vouchers schemes implemented by WHO, Lux-Dev and World Bank, awareness campaigns and empowerment sessions for women conducted by UNFPA).