University of Glasgow Researchers Focus on Public Health (Health financing challenges in Southeast Asian countries for universal health coverage: a systematic review): Health and Medicine – Public Health

2023 AUG 31 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- Investigators publish new report on public health. According to news originating from the University of Glasgow by NewsRx editors, the research stated, “Universal Health Coverage (UHC) has received much attention and many countries are striving to achieve it.”

The news editors obtained a quote from the research from University of Glasgow: “The Southeast Asian region, in particular, comprises many developing countries with limited resources, exacerbating challenges around attaining UHC. This paper aims to specifically explore the health financing challenges these countries face in achieving UHC via a systematic review approach and formulate recommendations that will be useful for policymakers. The systematic review followed the guidelines as recommended by PRISMA. The narrative synthesis approach was used for data synthesis, followed by identifying common themes. The initial search returned 160 articles, and 32 articles were included after the screening process. The identified challenges in health financing towards achieving UHC in the Southeast Asian region are categorised into six main themes, namely (1) Unsustainability of revenue-raising methods, (2) Fragmented health insurance schemes, (3) Incongruity between insurance benefits and people’s needs, (4) Political and legislative indifference, (5) Intractable and rapidly rising healthcare cost, (6) Morally reprehensible behaviours.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “The challenges identified are diverse and therefore require a multifaceted approach. Regional collaborative efforts between countries will play an essential role in the progress towards UHC and in narrowing the inequity gap. At the national level, individual countries must work towards sustainable health financing strategies by leveraging innovative digital technologies and constantly adapting to dynamic health trends. Registration This study is registered with PROSPERO, under registration number CRD42022336624.”

For more information on this research see: Health financing challenges in Southeast Asian countries for universal health coverage: a systematic review. Archives of Public Health, 2023,81(1):1-12. (Archives of Public Health - http://archpublichealth.biomedcentral.com). The publisher for Archives of Public Health is BMC.

A free version of this journal article is available at https://doi.org/10.1186/s13690-023-01159-3.

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Ming Yao Lim, Health Economics and Health Technology Assessment, School of Health and Wellbeing, University of Glasgow. Additional authors for this research include Hanin Farhana Kamaruzaman, Olivia Wu, Claudia Geue.

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