On Thursday 4 July 2013, the RHAP held the first of its bi-annual Rural-Proofing Stakeholder Forum meetings.
The purpose of this meeting was to:
- Provide a platform for stakeholders to share their experiences in health budgeting, expenditure and the provision of services in rural areas;
- Share the RHAP’s progress on the rural health financing aspects of its RPP; and
- Provide a space for stakeholders to give input on how this work could be strengthened and taken forward.
The meeting provided a number of rural health stakeholders with an opportunity to share their knowledge and experience in the area of health financing and how it could be better mobilized to advance rural health.
Presentations by the RHAP, TAC activists, rural health care workers, the National Department of Health and Treasury, all highlighted the urgent need to address inequities in public health financing and to find ways to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of health care resourcing in rural settings.
A number of important issues were raised and discussed at the meeting including:
- The need for better coordination between government, civil society and academe in understanding and addressing barriers to equitable health financing for rural areas
- The active participation of all stakeholders in monitoring the allocation and use of resources for health in rural settings; and
- How to make better use of existing capacity within civil society and academe to develop and contribute to the development of models and systems that will lead to greater equity, efficiency and effectiveness of financing for rural health services
All the presentations from the meeting are included as links below and a full report will follow in the next week.
The date and details of the next Rural-Proofing Stakeholders Forum meeting will be published on our website towards the end of the year.
Links to Presentations:
- Rural-proofing health finacing: International best practice and opportunities for SouthAfrica presented by Daygan Eagar
(THE PDF IS TOO LARGE)
- “Show me the money”; Budget thoughts from a rural District Hospital presented by Dr Ben Gaunt
- National Health Insurance presented by NDoH
- Needs based budget allocations – Models for Rurality presented by Richard Cooke
- Provincial Health Expenditure Review presented by National Treasury