Contribution of Mutual Health Organizations to Financing, Delivery, and Access to Health Care. Synthesis of Research in Nine West and Central African Countries. Technical Report No. 18

摘要

Mutual health organizations (MHOs) are community and employment-based groupings that have grown progressively in West and Central Africa (WCA) in recent years. With this growth has come interest from governments, nongovernmental organizations, and international organizations, particularly those interested in new and innovative approaches to the difficult issues of health care financing and access in the subregion. From mid-1997 to mid-1998 a consultative group led by the United States Agency for International Development-funded Partnerships for Health Reform, the International Labor Office-Appui associatif et cooperatif aux initiatives de developpement a la base/Strategies and Tools against Social Exclusion and Poverty, Solidarite Mondiale, and Alliance Nationale des Mutualites de Belgique, with participation from the Fonds d'aide a la cooperation, the United Nations Children's Fund, the Institut francais de recherche scientifique pour le developpment en cooperation, and the Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit undertook a one-year program of research into the actual and potential contributions of MHOs to the financing of, delivery of, and access to health care in WCA. The study represents an important step forward in documenting and understanding the MHO experience in the WCA subregion.