Participants to continue working on action plans after leaving Salzburg
Fellows of the session, 'The Drive for Universal Health Coverage: Health Care Delivery Science and the Right to High-Value Health Care'“We have not covered the whole range of issues surrounding universal health coverage, but what we have been able to do is to highlight some of the essential principles,” said Program Director John Lotherington.He spoke to participants as Salzburg Global’s sixth session in its health and health care program came to an end on Thursday.Participants had been exploring how topics surrounding health care delivery science could improve health care systems in the move towards universal health coverage.The session, co-sponsored by
The Dartmouth Center for Health Care and Delivery Science, and the
World Bank Institute, ended with participants looking at how they could take their work forward.This included a video contribution from
Sanjay Pradhan, Vice President for Change, Knowledge and Learning at the World Bank Institute. This was followed by a question and answer session via video-link with Nicole Klingen, the World Bank’s Health Sector Manager.During the five-day workshop, 60 highly creative thinkers from around the world convened at Schloss Leopoldskron. This included politicians, health policy makers, health practitioners and providers, economists, and representatives of patient groups and civil society.It was Salzburg Global’s sixth session in its health and health care program, building upon the work in ‘
Innovating for Value in Health Care Delivery’ and ‘
Realizing the Right to Health’.Participants spent their final morning finalizing their change strategies and action plans, worked on earlier in the week in country and regional groups. They were then joined via video-link by Agnes Binagwaho, Minister of Health in Rwanda, who offered feedback and support.Ms Binagwaho shared wisdom gained by serving Rwanda where policies have been people centered and implemented with accountability.Participants heard how dialogue at a community level is key. In order for a consensus to be built, communities needed to be educated on what good health was.Within smaller communities, a level of trust could be built between community health workers and patients through monthly meetings.Other topics discussed included the role of a community health agent working within a big city, and how to best sell abstract concepts to the general public that lead to better health care.Following lunch, work began on setting out the core principles of a Salzburg Statement. After a healthy exchange of ideas, the group came up with 10 themes to be expanded upon.This included defining what was meant by a “right to health” and “high value health care”. It was argued that it should be mandatory that universal health coverage includes the participation of local communities – at a policy and legal level – throughout the care delivery process.Meanwhile, the link between health care and social and economic development was also touched upon, with the phrase, “Health is wealth” being coined.This was further expanded by looking at how developing agencies could help countries meet development goals.But to achieve a universal right to health for all, assumptions of rich world standards and rich world definitions need to be questioned.To ensure progress is being made, participants suggested we needed to measure the coverage. This could be through: personal and citizen level outcomes, financial outcomes, and/or distributional outcomes.These outcomes would then inform further reforms. Reforms could include new forms of innovation, but they must first be invested in and adapted to different contexts to work for all.Participants also highlighted the significance of vocational and clinical practice research, and the need to refocus capacity development to target all levels of health systems to incorporate a rights-based approach.The work of informing people what right to health means spans beyond the role of governments and policymakers, and requires transparency. This will help lead to a deliberate investment in communities and patient engagement, which will see a demand for quality and accountability.The session came to an end without a statement being drawn up, but that does not mean the work stops for all involved. Participants will now continue to work away from the Seminar and will iron out the key principles to ensure universal health coverage increases access to high-value care to progressively realize the right to health for all.
