Health outcomes are usually
measured in terms of the ability of health systems to introduce improvements in
three areas: (i)
health status; (ii) financial protection; and (iii) client satisfaction and
dignity. The challenges related to these health
outcomes reflect an attention and priority to be provided to the poor and those
potentially who could fall in poverty, an opportunity for
adoption of a social justice agenda.
These challenges, which mainly
indicate unfairness to the least advantaged group of the society, could
be shortly summarized as follows:
In terms of health status, inequity that could be observed in disparities in achieving
MDG 4 (child mortality) and MDG 5 (maternal health) across geographic regions and income
quintiles. Inequity is demonstrated by the persistent prevalence of high level of stunting, strongly linked to poverty. With the expected increase of
non-communicable diseases and the high prevalence of hepatitis C, the burden of disease is
expected to increase on Egyptians, especially the poor and probably would drive
more people into poverty.
In terms of financial protection, the inability to protect the
Egyptians from the impoverishing effects of health expenditures especially
against catastrophic illness is significant. This is presented by coverage of about half of
the population with Social Health Insurance (SHI), inequity to access to Program
for the Treatment on Expense of State (PTES), and that three fourths of total
health expenditure is out of pocket.
In terms of client
Satisfaction and system responsiveness, a nationwide dissatisfaction with the health
care system presented by the high utilization rates and number of visits at
private sector providers and the very low utilization rates at public health
facilities. Further, utilization rates of the poor are the lowest among
different income quintiles for all types of health services, although the poor
are more likely to utilize public health facilities than the better off groups
emphasizing the phenomenon of inequity.
There are other cross cutting developmental
challenges that would affect the outcomes of the health sector that are important to
consider such as
stagnated fertility rates, high level of illiteracy, poor outcomes of the
education system, high unemployment rates especially among the youth and in
particularly among women, low rates and inequitable sanitation coverage, the
rise and potential endemicity of avian flu, lack of proper social safety net to
the poor, strong social and cultural factors expected to increase that would
affect women empowerment. These would emphasize that parallel attention should
be provided equally to the least advantaged in other sectors.
Positioning
social justice at the center of the health sector agenda, taking in
consideration the slogans that were raised by the January 25th
revolution and its context, would present a non-controversial theme to set
related goals for the next five-year strategy as part of Egypt’s transition in
the health sector. This theme would be
presented as Improving Health Outcomes of the Poor, as the least advantaged group of people in the society.
Improving
the health outcomes of the poor would significantly contribute to improve Egypt's
health goals and indicators in total, as the concentration of poor performance of the health system resides in poor areas.
Setting goals under this theme would then focus on three elements
that could be quantified:
(i) improving the health status of the poor in
specific regions (Regions such as Upper Egypt, Lower Egypt, Frontier governorates; or governorates such as Sohag, Assiut, Sharkia; or districts such as urban slums)
(ii) protecting the population and especially the poor from the impoverishing effects of
health expenditure and the near poor from getting poor
(iii) seeking
the poor’s satisfaction of service provision and treating them in a manner that preserves their dignity
If
we pursue that route, we should be looking for improvements to be achieved at
the health systems level to achieve the theme of improving health outcomes of
the poor that would represent a possible continuation to the earlier efforts of
reform of the health sector that started in 1996/1997 and hopefully coincides with
it but with a more sharpened focus on the poor. This will be the subject of future posts
Until we meet again....