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- Carapinha, J. (2003) Rational Self-Medication within a South African Context. The Journal of Modern Pharmacy, February 2003.
- Carapinha, J. (2005) Ethical Decision Making in Managed Health Care. South African Pharmaceutical Journal, 72 (2).
- Carapinha, J. (2005) Evidence-Based Pharmacy Practice. South African Pharmaceutical Journal, 72 (4).
- Carapinha, J. (2006) The Value of Medicine in Improving the Quality of Care. Journal of South African Family Practice, 2006;48(10):6-10.
- Carapinha J. Producing Affordable Medicines in South Africa. In: Cohen JC, Illingworth P, Schuklenk U, editors. The Power of Pills. Maryland: Pluto Books; 2006. 251-259.
- Carapinha, J. (2008) Setting the Stage for Risk-Sharing Agreements: International Experiences and Outcomes-based Reimbursement. Journal of South African Family Practice, 2008;50(4):62-65.
- Carapinha, J. (2008) Policy Guidelines for Risk-sharing agreements in South Africa. Journal of South African Family Practice, 2008;50(5):43-46.
- Carapinha, J. (2008) Private pharmacies in an integrated approach to HIV/AIDS services. Journal of Social Aspects of HIV/AIDS, 2008 December; 5(4): 206-209.
- Carapinha, J. (2008) An Integrated Approach to HIV/AIDS Services in South Africa: Private Pharmacies and Policy Recommendations. Africa Policy Journal, Spring/Summer 2008 Edition. Volume 4. Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
- Carapinha, J. Ross-Degnan, D. Desta, AT. Wagner, A. (2011) Health insurance systems in five Sub-Saharan African countries: medicine benefits and data for decision making. Health Policy, 2011; 99(3): 193-202.
- Carapinha, J. Ross-Degnan, D. Vialle-Valentin, C. Wagner, A. (2012) Gender and treatment for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria in LMIC: A systematic review. (In Press)
The second poster concerns Health Insurance Systems in Five Sub-Saharan African Countries.
We found:
- There is a lack of comprehensive information on medicines benefits in Sub-Saharan Africa
- There are challenges with providing effective and efficient medicines benefits
- Fraud is a serious issue which requires improved record management systems and provider/member education
- Questions about the design, implementation, and outcomes of medicines benefit policies remain unanswered
- Questions about the impacts of corporate status, revenue sources, structural relationships with health care facilities and dispensaries, and membership profiles remain unanswered
Download a copy of the abstract and poster 213Poster
Access to care and medicines, burden of health care expenditures, and risk protection: Results from the World Health Survey
Anita K. Wagner, Amy Johnson Gravesa, Sheila K. Reissa, Robert LeCatesa, Fang Zhanga and Dennis Ross-Degnan
Objectives: We assessed the contribution of health insurance and a functioning public sector to access to care and medicines and household economic burden.
Methods: We used descriptive and logistic regression analyses on 2002/3 World Health Survey data in 70 countries.
Results: Across countries, 286,803 households and 276,362 respondents contributed data. More than 90% of households had access to acute care. However, less than half of respondents with a chronic condition reported access. In 51 low and middle income countries (LMIC), health care expenditures accounted for 13–32% of total 4-week household expenditures. One in four poor households in low income countries incurred potentially catastrophic health care expenses and more than 40% used savings, borrowed money, or sold assets to pay for care. Between 41% and 56% of households in LMIC spent 100% of health care expenditures on medicines. Health insurance and a functioning public sector were both associated with better access to care and lower risk of economic burden.
Conclusion: To improve access, policy makers should improve public sector provision of care, increase health insurance coverage, and expand medicines benefit policies in health insurance systems.
Health Policy, Article in Press, Available online 9 September 2010.
Discovery Holdings, which owns South Africa’s largest medical insurance administrator, is seeking to duplicate its successful Discovery Health/ Discovery Life model in the UK. The company on Tuesday announced the acquisition of the UK’s fourth-largest private medical insurer Standard Life Healthcare for R1.56 billion (about £138 million). Discovery chief executive officer Adrian Gore said during a conference call that he planned to integrate the Standard Life Healthcare business into Prudential Health (PruHealth), its joint venture with Prudential Assurance Company in the UK, on to what he referred to as the Discovery chassis.
Source: Business Report
TAIPEI: Taiwan’s health insurance system may have earned international acknowledgement, but it’s now stirring up a political storm after the health minister left in a surprise resignation.
And ironically, opinion polls have put Mr Yaung Chih-liang as one of the most popular members of President Ma Ying-jeou’s administration.
Taiwan’s premier has rejected the resignation not once, but twice.
But Taiwan’s former health minister Yaung is equally determined to step down.
In a statement to the media, Yaung blamed the frequency of elections for a lot of problems in Taiwan.
He said politicians were only concerned about losing votes, and this has stop them from making necessary changes which may not be popular.
Yaung had proposed higher premiums for 41 percent of the population to help reduce the budget deficit at the health insurance bureau.
But Premier Wu Den-yih only wanted 25 percent of its people to pay more.
The contradiction has again raised questions about President Ma’s weak and inconsistent leadership.
Analysts said it was inevitable that public policies are influenced by electoral consequences.
Hu Chong-Hsin, Senior Political Analyst, said: “You can’t say the Ma administration is weak on this, as premium hikes are very likely to affect elections. The KMT lost one million votes last December, it can’t afford another one million losses. In that case, the KMT and the DPP will compete on a 50-to-50 basis. It’s critical and out of Yaung’s consideration.”
Read the full story here by Christina Lo
By Gillian Wong. Full article available here
Improving basic medical services through better training of staff is crucial to fixing and restoring public trust in China’s ailing health system, senior experts said Sunday.
The high cost and poor availability of health services are among the biggest complaints of the Chinese public. China last year announced it would be pumping in 850 billion yuan ($124 billion) to reform the system over three years to provide basic medical coverage and insurance to all of the country’s 1.3 billion people.
“The current problem is that many people think that community health facilities have increased, but the ability of doctors to treat illnesses has not strengthened,” Gao Chunfang, director of the No. 150 Hospital of the People’s Liberation Army, said on the sidelines of the annual meeting of China’s legislature. “The level of distrust that patients feel toward community health facilities has grown.”
That distrust has led to serious overcrowding at city-level public hospitals where the treatment is perceived as better. Gao said such hospitals should deploy doctors to assist community medical staff in treating patients and receive lower-level health workers for training at hospitals.
Health reform is under scrutiny at the ongoing meetings of the legislature and its advisory body, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, of which Gao and four other health experts who briefed reporters Sunday are members. Premier Wen Jiabao has made boosting social security for lower-income Chinese a priority, pledging to address concerns about education, affordable housing and jobs.
The government plans to build thousands of county and township hospitals and ensure that each of the country’s nearly 700,000 villages has a clinic. It also seeks to expand state health insurance, control prices for essential medicines, and reduce unnecessary prescriptions.
