This paper describes the functioning and performance of Argentina's Provincial Maternal and Child Health Investment Program, commonly referred to as Plan Nacer. The program is aimed at increasing access - for uninsured pregnant women and children under six years old - to a basic set of health...

This case study summarizes the responses to the questionnaire on The Nuts and Bolts of the Program Expanding Health Coverage to the Poor, developed within the framework of the World Bank's UNICO - Universal Challenge Program. By so doing, it assesses the key features and the achievements and...

This case study provides an overview of the contribution of Colombia's compulsory health insurance, particularly its Subsidized Regime (SR), to universal health care coverage in the country, and the current challenges the SR faces. The case study is based on discussions with stakeholders from...

The objective of this paper is to assess the key interventions Costa Rica has developed to expand health coverage for the poor and other vulnerable groups, with an emphasis on its approach to primary health care. Universal health coverage in Costa Rica is provided through a single national...

Ethiopia has made substantial progress in improving health outcomes during the last decade and is on track to achieve some of the health Millennium Development Goals. Innovative strategies to improve household behaviors and coverage of basic health care services contributed to Ethiopia's...

India's health sector continues to be challenged by overall low levels of public financing, entrenched accountability issues in the public delivery system, and the persistent dominance of out-of-pocket spending. In this context, this case study describes three recent initiatives introduced by...

This paper focuses on recent and significant health reform implemented in 2005, known as Universal Access with explicit guarantees (Acceso Universal con Garantias Explicitas - AUGE or GES), which mandated SHI insurers to adopt a broad benefits package defined via explicit legal guarantees for...

Georgia launched its Medical Insurance Program (MIP) for the poor in 2006. This program draws from general tax revenues to provide comprehensive, means-tested health insurance to the poorest 20 percent of the population as identified by a proxy means test. The government contracts private...

Since the signing of the 1996 Peace Accords, Guatemala has made efforts to establish economic and political stability, and to improve its social indicators. The country's Constitution states that access to health care is a basic right of all Guatemalans. In practice, however, it has been...

Jamaica's primary health care system was a model for the Caribbean region in the 1990s. Because of it, Jamaicans enjoy relatively better health status than people in other countries of similar income level in the Caribbean region. However, Jamaica's health system is being severely challenged by...