Assessing country progress in health financing for UHC

What does making progress in health financing in support of UHC mean? How do countries know whether they are heading in the right direction? How can we better demonstrate and shine light on efforts to strengthen health systems? How can qualitative information complement the SDG monitoring indicators to inform policy development in a timely manner?

To answer these questions WHO’s Department of Health Financing & Economics has developed a health financing progress matrix to conduct country assessments, with the aim of providing "real-time" monitoring of health financing policy making and implementation.

The progress matrix allows a structured qualitative assessment of the current status of policy and implementation in health financing; the assessment complements, rather than substitutes, quantitative measures such as financial protection, and benefit incidence analysis; ideally, the matrix is best used in conjunction with quantitative analysis. The progress matrix captures the key elements of progress, rather than all aspects of health financing in detail. Rather than duplicating, the assessment brings together existing analyses into a coherent framework.

WHO provides technical support to countries looking to apply the progress matrix, and increasingly, the approach is adopted by other technical agencies and partners. Guidance is available upon request. The tool is available in both English and French.