Asia Peer Review Workshop on Sustainable Immunization Financing Practices
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P a g e | 1 Asia Peer Review Workshop on Sustainable Immunization Financing Practices Phnom Penh, Cambodia July 21-23, 2014 Report Prepared by the Sabin Vaccine Institute P a g e | 2 Contents Introduction ................................................................................................................................................ 3 Workshop Goals .......................................................................................................................................... 3 Methods ...................................................................................................................................................... 3 Proceedings ................................................................................................................................................. 3 Day One .................................................................................................................................................... 3 Opening remarks ........................................................................................................................ 3 Theme I: Budgeting and Resource Tracking ............................................................................... 5 Theme II: Immunization Legislation ........................................................................................... 8 Day Two .................................................................................................................................................... 9 Theme II: Immunization Legislation, continued ........................................................................ 9 Peer Review Exercise ............................................................................................................... 13 Day Three ................................................................................................................................................ 15 Theme III: Advocacy in Practice ............................................................................................... 15 Workshop Evaluation ............................................................................................................... 15 Closing Remarks ....................................................................................................................... 16 Annex A ..................................................................................................................................................... 17 Annex B ..................................................................................................................................................... 19 Annex C ..................................................................................................................................................... 23 Annex D ..................................................................................................................................................... 25 Annex E ..................................................................................................................................................... 29 Annex F...................................................................................................................................................... 31 Annex G ..................................................................................................................................................... 34 Annex H ..................................................................................................................................................... 35 P a g e | 3 Introduction Since 2008, the Sabin Vaccine Institute has been working with fifteen lower and lower middle income (LLMICs) in Africa and Asia through its Sustainable Immunization Financing (SIF) Program. The focus of the Program has been on nurturing innovations- new ways of working- by national counterparts within the key public institutions concerned with health financing. In August 2013, peers from the SIF countries reviewed their innovations in a Sabin-organized SIF Colloquium in Dakar, Senegal. Since then, the six Asian SIF countries have made further progress toward the sustainable immunization financing objective. To assess this progress, Sabin and the Government and Parliament of Cambodia organized the “Asia Peer Review Workshop on Sustainable Immunization Financing”, which took place on 21-23 July, 2014 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Representing the Parliament of Cambodia were Senators, Representatives and staff members from the Senate and National Assembly. Representing the Cambodian Government were officials from the Ministry of Health (MoH), Ministry of Economy and Finance (MoEF) and the National Development and Planning Agency (NDPA). Joining them were parliamentary counterparts from Mongolia, Nepal and Sri Lanka and ministerial counterparts from Indonesia, Mongolia, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Vietnam. The workshop was facilitated by counterparts from WHO (Cambodia and Indonesia), UNICEF (Cambodia, Nepal and Indonesia) and two Sabin Senior Program Officers. The list of participants is shown in Annex A. Workshop Goals The goals of the workshop were to: a) Identify and share best financing, budgeting, resource tracking and advocacy practices; b) Assess proposed immunization-related legislation c) Document institutional innovations to achieve sustainable immunization financing in the six countries Methods The workshop employed a peer-to-peer learning approach (Annex B). Delegates worked in small groups and interacted collectively in plenary discussions. External partner agency counterparts facilitated the small groups and documented the proceedings. A formal peer review exercise was carried out in which each delegate was asked to assess work in three other countries. A standard checklist was used. Upon completion of the workshop, delegates presented their results to parliamentarians in the Cambodian National Assembly. Proceedings Day One Opening remarks P a g e | 4 Mr. Hok Khiev, Director of the Department of Legislation, Ministry of Health of Cambodia, welcomed the participants and presented the workshop objectives. He then described recent developments regarding Cambodia’s draft immunization law. Dr. Devendra Gnawali, Senior Program Officer, Sabin Vaccine Institute, summarized the evolution of SIF Program advocacy work with the Asian countries, highlighting the periodic peer exchanges through which peers from the countries learned from one another. The parliamentarians engaged in these exchanges generated a series of influential parliamentary declarations which testify to the countries’ commitment to achieving the sustainable immunization financing objective. In the Dakar Colloquium, recalled Gnawali, the innovative work undertaken by the Asian peers was plain for all to see. The SIF Program has since grown to twenty-two countries with the Asian countries setting the pace so far. In his remarks, Dr. Shafiqul Hossain, representing WHO/Cambodia, emphasized the importance of sustainable immunization financing to health systems. This is an area where WHO is committed to supporting ministries of health, he added. WHO works as well with UNICEF, Sabin and many other development partners, at national, regional and global levels to accomplish this goal. Dr. Chheng Morn, Deputy Manager of Cambodia’s National Immunization Program (NIP), provided an overview of national immunization financing. The Program budget has steadily increased in recent years, he stated, indicating the government’s growing financial commitment to the Program. Complementing Dr. Morn’s presentation, Mr. Kim Phalla, Deputy Director General, Department of Public Finance Policy in the MoEF, explained the policy basis for the government’s increasing support to immunization. The country’s national health and development plans squarely recognize the important contributions immunization that makes to the nation’s health and prosperity. H.E. Mr. Ouk Damry, Senior Advisor to the National Assembly and General Secretary of the Cambodian Association of Parliamentarians on Population and Development (CAPPD), noted the important complementary role external partners and civil society organizations have played in the development of the NIP. Their efforts have helped the Royal Government of Cambodia to build the program. He then described how the Cambodian Parliament has also emerged as a key NIP supporter in recent years, reflecting the leadership of Prime Minister Hun Sen who has revitalized the country’s health sector through the Government’s Rectangular Strategy for Growth, Employment, Equity, and Efficiency. Following these opening remarks, the workshop took up three technical themes, the results of which are summarized towards the end of this report. P a g e | 5 Theme I: Budgeting and Resource Tracking Plenary session (Chair: H.E. Mr. Ouk Damry) Dr. Shafiqul Hossain, WHO/Cambodia, summarized the Global Vaccine Action Plan (GVAP). He said that WHO/WPR has developed a Regional Framework for Implementing the Global Vaccine Action Plan which translates the strategies and activities recommended by the GVAP into the Western Pacific Regional context. Dr. Hossain stated that GVAP charts a path for necessary changes in the immunization field. Particularly significant, he added, is the GVAP Monitoring and Evaluation/Accountability Framework, through which WHO Member Countries are annually reporting their progress toward the six GVAP strategic objectives. To fix ideas for this first technical