WHO/Europe is pleased to announce that the next edition of the annual WHO Barcelona course on Health financing for universal health coverage will be held on 30 September – 04 October 2024.
This week-long intensive course, organized by the WHO Barcelona Office for Health Systems Financing, with generous support from the European Union and the Government of Catalonia, Spain, aims to equip policy-makers with the knowledge and skills needed to improve health systems financing and make progress towards universal health coverage (UHC).
Why a course on health systems financing?
UHC – ensuring everyone can use quality health care without experiencing financial hardship – is a Sustainable Development Goal, part of the European Pillar of Social Rights, and a core priority of the WHO European Programme of Work 2020–2025. Health financing policy plays a key role in moving countries towards UHC. By understanding the principles of health financing policy and assessing options for reform, policy-makers will be better able to design and implement effective strategies to improve affordable access to health care.
About the course
The course is designed for policy-makers in the health and social policy sectors, senior managers in organizations delivering health care, and experts engaged in health system reform.
Delivered in English, it has trained over 1000 experts since its launch in 2011, addressing policy questions, such as why some countries invest more in health care than others, how countries can make health systems more efficient, and how to ensure affordable access to services even when resources are limited.
The course reviews effective policy instruments to improve health financing policy through the following modules:
- Coordinating reform – aligning policy instruments with policy objectives
- Financial protection – securing affordable access to health care
- Raising revenues – thinking outside the box
- Pooling health revenues – reducing fragmentation
- Purchasing – getting more health for the money
- Re-designing coverage policy for equity, affordability and transparency.
How to apply
Applicants are invited to submit a completed online application form no later than 10 May 2024. Acceptance to the course is not automatic: participants will be selected based on several factors, including the relevance of course topics to applicants’ work functions, their level of prior training in health systems strengthening, and language abilities.
Please note that enrollment in this course is exclusive to participants from the WHO European Region and we can only accommodate a maximum of 50 participants.
For further information regarding registration, participation fee and programme, contact:
[email protected]
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