In February, Ghana’s Ministry of Health, National Health Insurance Authority, USAID, and HFG convened a workshop in Accra, bringing together senior delegates from countries at various states of developing or expanding their health insurance programs. The workshop, “Financial Protection and Improved Access to Health Care Peer-to-Peer Learning Workshop: Finding Solutions to Common Challenges” provided a unique opportunity to bring together stakeholders from across the African continent to learn from each other. Participants deepened their knowledge and understanding of practical health financing concepts and promising solutions to common challenges such as: how to grow and use financial resources to increase financial protection, improve equitable access to priority health services, achieve financial sustainability in a universal health coverage (UHC) context, and strengthen coordination and partnerships across and within countries and between partners.

The workshop drew 167 participants from nine countries (Benin, Cote D’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Togo, and Uganda). Each country delegation included a mix of government representatives from Ministries of Health, Ministries of Finance, and national health financing agencies, as well as USAID mission staff, WHO representatives, and various nongovernment and private sector participants. Other participating partners included the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Joint Learning Network for UHC, the World Bank Group, and the Mexico Ministry of Health.

Reflecting on the meeting, country participants and partners alike were pleased with this innovative opportunity to come together and learn about the implementation successes and challenges of other countries from both Anglophone and Francophone Africa. Participants described the workshop as motivating, inspiring, and “electrifying;” and highly valued the peer-to-peer learning approach with a focus on implementation and governance challenges, and finding solutions to common problems. 93% of participants rated the workshop as very or highly useful to their work. The workshop helped participants identify a range of solutions and available resources to put their learnings into action, and move the UHC agenda forward on the ground in tangible ways.

Workshop resources are available in English and French.

Workshop photos and video recordings are also available.