Universal HealthCare — a team effort

With the success of Manny Pacquiao, the Azkals or the Gilas Pilipinas, ever more young and not so young Filipinos take up sports. They do so to have fun, to be active in a team and to stay fit. Clearly, sports is the best way to a long and healthy life.

This trend is a welcome complement to the Aquino administration’s Universal Health Care (UHC) program, which is one of the government’s major achievements. Through three strategic thrusts, the UHC aims to protect Filipinos against financial risk and does so by expanding PhilHealth enrolment and benefit delivery. Moreover, it seeks to improve access to quality hospitals and healthcare facilities. And finally, it seeks to attain the health-related UN Millennium Development Goals, particularly on maternal and child health.

Like every healthcare system, the Philippines faces challenges, most notably in providing equitable access to quality health services and medicines.

Since President Aquino took office, the funding of the Department of Health has grown significantly with a 2014 budget of almost P90 billion. PhilHealth coverage has likewise increased, providing more and improved benefit packages. With Public-Private Partnerships, the DOH is modernizing government hospitals and building new, modern health facilities to better serve Filipino patients.

Through the “Doctors To The Barrios” and the “RN Heals” programs, the DOH is deploying more physicians and nurses to underserved rural areas. Family medicine residency training programs have been set up in all DOH regional medical centers. The Philippine Congress has supported the President’s healthcare agenda through the passage of landmark legislation, such as the Reproductive Health Act and the Sin Tax Act. Evidently, these are encouraging developments in the right direction.

To assure its long-term success, the UHC program is based on a joint and sustained partnership between government – both national and local – and private sector stakeholders. Initiatives such as the Zuellig Family Foundation’s “Community Health Partnership Program” serve as an example. International organizations and national actors, civil society, the pharmaceutical industry and each and every Filipino have a role. Like in sport, success requires commitment and a team effort.

One important component of the UHC is equitable access to high-quality, cost-effective medicines. More than half of Filipino households’ health expenditures are paid out of pocket, and about 42% of these expenditures are for the purchase of medicines. It is through the involvement of the private sector, and the pharmaceutical industry in particular, that it can be ensured that these disbursements provide the best possible health benefits for the patients and the public.

Faced with a distinct set of health policy challenges, Switzerland also takes a collaborative approach. We have opted for a decentralized healthcare system in which the provision and funding of health services, among others, is the responsibility of each of the country’s 26 states (“cantons”). Stakeholder dialogue and participation is part of Swiss culture: the public and private sectors, including actors such as patient organizations or the pharmaceutical industry maintain a continuous, engaging dialogue to address the challenges facing the country’s healthcare system.

For its part – be it in Switzerland or the Philippines – the private sector has an important role to play. Through a dedicated dialogue with government and other stakeholders, it can contribute to identify and jointly address challenges in the healthcare field. One way to harness this potential can be through the formation of a multi-stakeholder consultative council with the task of pushing the implementation and enhancement of the UHC in the country.

The challenges faced by the Philippine health system may be formidable, but the rewards of further progressing towards and achieving UHC are significant. And just like in sports, reaching this goal is doable if all stakeholders work together as a team for the common good.

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(Ivo Sieber is the Swiss Ambassador.)