Course: Health Financing
MUSHIMIYIMANA Jacques Reg 219014543
Health systems: It is mechanism in which people and actions contribute to improve the health through promotion & disease prevention, restauration and maintenance activities. This include providing, financing and regulating health services to achieve the needs of the population.
-Health systems must be defined in terms of their functions ,including the direct provisos services whether they are medical or public health service but also other enabling functions such as stewardship ,financing and public health resource generation, including what is probably the most complex of all challenges, the health workforce health system consists of all organizations, people and actions whose primary intent is to promote, restore or maintain health. This includes efforts to influence determinants of health as well as more direct health-improving activities. A health system is, therefore, more than the pyramid of publicly owned facilities that deliver personal health services. It includes, for example, a mother caring for a sick child at home; private providers; behavior change programs; vector-control campaigns; health insurance organizations; occupational health and safety legislation. It includes inter-sectoral action by health staff, for example, encouraging the ministry of education to promote female education, a well-known determinant of better health. Health systems should not be expressed in terms of their components only, but also of their interrelationships. Health systems should include not only the institutional or supply side of the health system but also the population.
Health systems #health care systems
Health care system is the organizations of people ,institutions, and resources that deliver health care services to meet the health needs of target populations but Health systems must be seen in terms of their goals ,which include not only health improvement ,but also equity responsiveness to legitimate expectations ,respect of dignity, and fair financing ,among others. There is a wide variety of health systems around the world, with as many histories and organizational structures as there are nations. Implicitly, nations must design and develop health systems in accordance with their needs and resources, although common elements in virtually all health systems are primary health care and public health measures. In some countries, health system planning is distributed market participants. In others, there is a concerted effort among governments trade unions, charities, religious organizations, or other co-ordinated bodies to deliver planned health care services targeted to the populations they serve.
Universal health coverage: is defined as timely access to quality healthcare services satisfying the customer expectations without enquiring financial hardship.
Health, unequal asset: We have health and the health makes us as a person. In the article why do health systems matters, the health is considered to an asset differs from other in terms that it cannot be accumulated as knowledge or escape all many risks directed to it. None can insure against its loss or damage as it can be done for other assets.
This background explains why the health insurances remain more complex than other form of insurance. This character of irreplaceability for body parts and absence of value at markets make the health more special -thus requiring all efforts to protect it. Instead of violating it as it has been observed in some ways, health systems have an additional responsibility to protect the served population and ensure that each and every one is treated according to human rights.
Apart individual focus, the health system also focusses on non-personal, public health interventions which may include but not limited to education to promote healthy lifestyles, deworming campaign targeting the endemic community, protection of food and water. All these aspects enrich the responsibility and role of health system.
Considering the health as an important asset requiring special attention for protection, the main function of health systems will not only be to improve the health but also to treat them with dignity and to protect them against the financial cost of illness thus fulfilling universal health coverage concept. This gives to the health systems 3 main objectives to reach: 1) improving the health of the population they serve; 2) responding to people’s expectations; 3) providing financial protection against the costs of ill-health.
It has been demonstrated that the gap between poor and rich individuals is widening making denial access to poorest communities and children. 84% of the world population live in low and middle income countries where health systems receive 11% for health spending of all their budget. Therefore, there is a need to strengthen and render capable the health systems to protecting the population from risk and financial risks of illness. This need is not only related to ill-health but also to non-health setting by improving the health of the population (e.g.: safe roads and relevant laws: few accidents then prevent disability and deaths resulting in increased life expectancy thus prevent productivity losses; etc.).
In this discussion, the role of health systems towards Universal health coverage is accentuated along with important suggestions on how these systems should be more -accessible; -more responsiveness and -more efficient:
-Interventions against a particular disease: 1) improvement of individual and population health can be achieved using reasonable resources. 2) Changes in organization and delivery of available interventions can reverse the spread of diseases thus reducing the cost of saving diseased heath. -e.g.: malaria early case detection.
-Generation and utilization of knowledge (scientific or technical): progress in this area has contributed to great improvement of health status in countries.
The fact that all interventions are developed and implemented by the health system highlights that not only health systems can but also have a large impact to health even if it is varying from countries to countries independently. The achievements should rise along with decrease of errors in health system that are causing un-necessary deaths.
But raising incomes do not necessarily improve the health but efficient use with responsibility, knowledge and its application and review/rearrange of the functioning system can improve considerably. It is evident that acquired knowledge over time contributes to improved heal.