CONCEPT NOTE FOR FIELD TRIPS Tuesday 31 January 2017
Rationale Achieving universal health coverage (UHC) with the National Health Security Act in 2002 has enabled all Thai citizens to access to necessary health services as needed. However, accessing to necessary health service has been a key challenge to achieve the goal especially in people living in remote areas or having other socio-economic a
nd/or health conditions that prevent them from reaching their needs. After fifteen years of UHC implementation, efforts to improve accessibility to necessary health services, quality of health care, and financial protection for families have been introduced and implemented by related stakeholders, not only government agencies but also the non-government sector, civil societies and consumers. Evidences of these efforts include financial and non-financial interventions to promote the health status of vulnerable populations such as women and children, disabled people, the elderly, chronic disease patients, people living in rural areas, and other risk groups. High impact interventions include benefit package for HIV/AIDS and risk groups, rehabilitation services and instruments for disabled people, vaccinations and other prevention and promotion services for high risk groups, and other health services for specific groups such as palliative care, long-term care, and alternative and Thai traditional medicines. Other related interventions to enable accessibility to UHC include setting up a collaboration process and system with the Ministry of Interior to expedite the birth registration process so children will be eligible to UHC, setting up a community health fund in the local community to promote civil society participation in health care, setting up an integrated claim and reimbursement system among the three main schemes to reduce redundant processes. The Prince Mahidol Award Conference 2017 (PMAC 2017) will be organized under the theme “Addressing the Health of Vulnerable Populations for an Inclusive Society.” The PMAC 2017 field trip will be arranged to share experience in implementing health care initiatives to reduce barriers and enhance social inclusion of vulnerable populations in different settings and groups in UHC implementation.
