ANTWERP - When politicians show leadership, it is possible to implement a health care system without insurmountable medical bills for the patients, even in poor countries. This is the most important conclusion of research by scientists from the Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp, commissioned by Unicef. The researchers also produced a policy document with 18 tips for developing countries on how to discontinue patient contribution.
Good access to health care is needed to achieve the Millennium Goal, and the political willingness to provide it seems to be growing. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown told the General Assembly of the United Nations in September 2009 that health care should be free for all – as it is in Great-Britain. Several African countries try to make health care free, at least for some vulnerable groups of population. The Antwerp experts examined the modalities of such measures.
"The experience in Uganda showed that more patients started to use the health services", says Bruno Meesens, one of the authors. "Moreover, researchers have observed that particularly the poorest benefited", his colleague David Hercot adds.
The scientists investigated the way free health care has been introduced in six African low income countries. Most important lesson: the leadership that actually is shown by some African countries offers a unique chance to demolish barriers hindering access to health care. But in some cases the implementation was insufficiently prepared, and the reform came short of expectations.
Unicef supports governments opting to provide free health care for pregnant women and children. Unicef commissioned the study and makes the guidelines available.