South Africa, in its desire to secure national health insurance (NHI) for its people, should draw lessons from other countries who have implemented a similar project, a group of prominent people known as The Elders said on Monday.
As a group of global leaders working to forge world peace and human rights, the Elders were founded by former President Nelson Mandela in 2007 to campaign for universal health coverage throughout the world since 2016.
The Elders’ visit follows the recent introduction of the NHI bill to the South African Parliament in Cape Town.
According to the bill, through the NHI financing system, all citizens of South Africa would be provided with essential healthcare, regardless of their employment status and ability to make a monetary contribution to the NHI fund.
On Monday, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize and The Elders gathered to engage with stakeholders from government, health sector and civil society in an effort to understand South Africa’s journey to universal health coverage.
The Elders shared lessons learned from their respective countries, but urged South Africa to choose best practices from other countries and adapt them to make a uniquely South African experience.
A member of the Elders –former Chile Prime Minister Ricardo Lagos — shared lessons on how his country managed to achieve health insurance reforms.
Lagos shared Chile’s approach to universal healthcare which implemented its NHI: “We implemented the reform by firstly targeting certain diseases in the early stages of the NHI and gradually added more diseases as the system improved,” he said.
NM/as/APA