HISTORY

September 2000 : United Nations Millennium Summit

Health issues are prominent among the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which the international community committed itself to achieving by 2015 at this Summit: reducing in- fant mortality, improving maternal health, combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, putting in place a global partnership for development (notably in order to improve access for all to essential drugs). Health coverage can contribute to the achievement of each of these MDGs.

June 2003 : The launch by the International Labour Organization (ILO) of the “Global Campaign on Social Security and Coverage for All” in Geneva

This campaign defined the following goals :

• To gather precise data on social security around the world and to provide expert evalua- tions of the best mechanisms in order to put forward health insurance models that reach out to workers in the informal economy and extend entitlement to basic healthcare services to the greatest number;

• To make concrete improvements in the coverage of social protection on the basis of tech- nical assistance projects focused on diagnosis of unfulfilled social security needs and de- velopment of ways to meet those needs. In this connection, the participants committed themselves to organising training for the actors concerned, strengthening institutions and social dialogue, formulating action plans, establishing networks of supportive bodies, as well as monitoring and evaluating results;

• To raise the awareness of and to mobilise potential donors and partners to ensure the wid- est possible support for the execution of this campaign.

2004 : The creation of the GTZ / ILO / WHO Consortium on Social Health Pro- tection

Sharing the same ambition to make social protection universally available, the World Health Organization (WHO), the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the Deutsche Gesell- schaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) (German technical cooperation organization) decided to step up their cooperation on this topic. The agreement signed by them in Novem- ber 2004 has the declared aim of contributing to the achievement of the MDGs. As an exam- ple, the “Consortium” launched a research project, led jointly by ILO, WHO and the OECD Development Centre with a view to conducting a comparative study of the impact of health insurance protection on the take-up of healthcare services in Kenya, Senegal and South Af- rica. It transpired from this study that in those three countries insured individuals seek such services more often than those not insured. It can therefore be concluded that a person cov- ered by health insurance enjoys easier access to healthcare.
May 2005 : 58 th Session of the World Health Assembly

At this session of the World Health Assembly, the supreme decision-making body of the WHO, attended by the 192 WHO Member States, as well as by non-governmental organisa- tions and other observers, a resolution on sustainable health financing and universal coverage and social health insurance was adopted. This resolution calls for the development of health financing systems in order to guarantee access to the necessary services, while also offering protection against the financial risk. The Director-General was also asked to provide support to Member States in an evaluation of the impact of changes in health-financing systems on health services as they move towards universal coverage.

December 2005 : The Berlin Conference

The Berlin Conference on Social Health Insurance in Developing Countries was organised by the German technical cooperation organization (GTZ), the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the World Health Organization (WHO). It followed on from the creation of the “Consortium” in 2004. Three conclusions came out of the Berlin conference:

• It is necessary to develop scenarios for the extension of health insurance that are both po- litically acceptable for the various income groups and economically attainable by develop- ing countries;

• Health systems in developing countries must be strengthened to combat AIDS and part of the funds allocated to AIDS must be devoted to this;

• Governance of health financing systems in developing countries must be improved.

July 2006 : The G8 in Saint Petersburg

The G8 Summit in Saint Petersburg encouraged international discussions on practical ap- proaches to allow development of coverage by public, private or community-based health insurance systems in the developing world. It invited the OECD and the competent organisa- tions to work on this topic and welcomed the proposal of the President of the French Republic to host a high-level meeting on this theme.

March 2007 : Paris Conference “Social health protection in developing countries: Breaking the vicious circle between disease and poverty”

The Paris Conference could aim at :

• Offering a big picture of current theory and knowledge on the financing of health insurance mechanisms in developing countries;

• Adopting recommendations aimed at facilitating health insurance and pooling risks on an insurance basis in developing countries.