The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA

Abstract #45398

Susna R De, MSc, MPH, Abt Associates Inc., 4800 Montgomery Lane, Suite 600, Bethesda, MD 20814, 301 347 5608, susna_de@abtassoc.com, Tania Dmytraczenko, PhD, Abt Associates Inc, Suite 600, 4800 Montgomery Lane, Bethesda, MD 20814, and Marie Tien, MHS, Partners for Health Reform Plus, Abt Associates Inc, 4800 Montgomery Lane, Suite 600, Washington, DC 20008.

National Health Accounts (NHA) has provided policymakers with comprehensive data on their countries’ health spending patterns. In most cases, NHA has provided new insight into health systems, both in the public and private sectors. Health accounts aim to serve as a policy tool – to provide health sector expenditure information that contributes to “evidenced-based” policymaking. To date, NHA has been conducted in approximately 60 middle- and low-income countries. Forty-nine of these countries have embarked upon NHA for the first time in only the past 5 years. These numerous and recent adoptions of health accounts have been driven in large part by donor support for this policy tool. Given the external motivating factor for NHA implementation, some concern has been raised as to whether NHA findings have actually been used and embraced by policymakers in their decision-making processes. This paper investigates the contribution of NHA to health policy in over 30 countries in 4 regions (Latin America, Asia-Pacific Region, Middle East and North Africa, East and Southern Africa). Country experiences demonstrate numerous policy uses of health expenditure data, such as the monitoring of decentralization policies, and the provision of evidentiary support for restructuring government health care services to reduce financial burdens on households. In conclusion, NHA has affected many aspects of the policy process, including policy dialogue and advocacy, design and implementation, and finally the monitoring and evaluation of health care policies.

Learning Objectives:

• · Articulate how expenditure data has contributed to the policymaking process in the health sectors of a number of countries.
• · Recognize and appreciate the numerous uses of National Health Accounts (NHA) findings in health policy dialogue, formulation, and monitoring and evaluation.

Keywords: Policy/Policy Development, Financing

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.