By Roderick L. Abad / Contributor
SWISS pharmaceutical company Novartis has joined public- and private-sector stakeholders from the Philippines, Indonesia and Vietnam calling for universal healthcare in their countries.
The delegates converged at the recent Universal Health Care (UHC) Forum to exchange the views and knowledge they gained in their ongoing endeavor toward universal-health coverage.
This event was established following three previous fora, widening stakeholder involvement in the region, according to former Health Secretary and current Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health (ASMPH) Dean Dr. Manuel M. Dayrit.
“We learned new lessons from our Indonesian and Vietnamese colleagues while sharing our insights with them, as we all strive to achieve our common goal of universal health coverage,” he said.
Current Health Secretary Janette L. Garin said the UHC Forum series have been driven by the two flagship programs of the Philippine government—the public-private partnerships and Kalusugan Pangkalahatan (universal health care).
“Only through the collaboration of government and private-sector stakeholders can we ensure that all Filipinos are able to receive affordable and quality health services,” she said.
Among its main goals, the event aims to guarantee financial-risk protection to prevent people from being pushed into poverty when they have to pay for health services out of their own pockets.
“Novartis shares our partner-stakeholders’ belief that universal health coverage is a critical component of sustainable development and poverty reduction, and a key element of any effort to reduce social inequities,” said Jason Smith, head, Asia Cluster, Novartis AG.
While there may have been some headway done in reducing inequities in health-care access, Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) President and CEO Alexander A. Padilla said there are still many gaps and challenges that need to be addressed.
For Dr. Benjamin Lane, officer in charge of the World Health Organization Philippine Representative Office, the UHC Forum is one of the platforms for keeping the dialogue on universal health care in the region and following through on the actions that need to be done.
“We hope that priority can be put on ensuring access to the key interventions targeting the health Millennium Development Goals, i.e., births attended by a trained health worker, family planning, vaccinations, and prevention and treatment of diseases, such as HIV, malaria and tuberculosis,” he said.
“At the same time, we should also work together to address the growing problem of noncommunicable diseases,” he said.
All concerned stakeholders must continue to “work together in order to make universal health care a reality,” Padilla said.
Heeding this call, Novartis Healthcare Philippines President and Managing Director Dr. Nikolaos Tripodis said their company is “committed to collaborating with key stakeholders in the Philippines and the region in enhancing access to health services, strengthening health systems and finding innovative and sustainable ways of health financing.”
Now on its fourth year, the UHC Forum is a series of annual multistakeholder policy forums conceptualized and organized by the PhilHealth, ASMPH and Novartis.
It aims to gather the inputs of key stakeholders and galvanize their joint commitment in order to enhance access to health benefits, ensure financial protection, and safeguard quality of care.
Themed “Are citizens benefitting from UHC?” this event was co-organized by Universitas Indonesia School of Public Health; the Social Security Organizing Body, the lead UHC implementer of Indonesia; and the Vietnam Ministry of Health.
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The government should also promote free birth control as it is population growth that leads to poverty.