HEALTH AND SOCIAL PROTECTION: EXPERIENCES FROM CAMBODIA, CHINA and LAO PDR

Bruno Meessen, Xiaomei Pei, Bart Criel and Gerald Bloom, eds.

This is a challenging time for health policy-makers and researchers in Cambodia, China and Lao PDR. All three countries are experiencing big changes to their economic system, social organisation, demography and epidemiological profile. Their health systems are struggling to meet new patterns of need and adapt to a rapidly changing context.
Households in all three countries face major problems in meeting the high cost of health care and many face difficult decisions between denying a sick family member care and risking impoverishment. Governments are under growing pressure to ensure widespread access to necessary health care and protect households against the high medical costs. Policy-makers and health system managers face big challenges in managing these adaptations. Researchers have a special responsibility to support them by providing systematic evidence in a timely manner.
Authored by scholars and policy actors from Asia, Europe and Australia from a variety of academic disciplines this book addresses the challenge of applying social protection concepts to health. It explores the challenges of managing pro-poor health system development in the context of these countries' transition to a market economy. The book brings together the thinking and some preliminary findings of the POVILL consortium, which aims to contribute to policy responses to the growing problem of illness-related poverty.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface
Acknowledgement
1. Health and social protection in transitional Asia: Challenges and ways forward – Bruno Meessen and Bart Criel
2.What do we mean by ‘major illness’? The need for new approaches to research on the impact of ill-health on poverty - Henry Lucas, Shijun Ding and Gerald Bloom
3.Prevalence of Illness and Household Ill-Health Risk Coping Strategies in Rural China: A Chinese literature review - Shijun Ding, Yuping Chen, Li Feng, Zhe Li
4. Health policy processes in Asian transitional economies - Gerald Bloom, Lijie Fang, Kristina Jönsson, Chean Rithy Men, Bounfeng Phoummalaysith, Anonh Xeuatvongsa, Yunping Wang and Hongwen Zhao
5.Between Profit and Legitimacy: A Case Study of Two Successful Township Health Centers in Rural China - Lijie Fang and Gerald Bloom
6.The policy process and context of the Rural New Cooperative Medical Scheme and Medical Financial Assistance in China - Yunping Wang
7.Policymaking in transitional economies: poverty reduction and health care in Cambodia and Laos - Kristina Jönsson
8.Providing access to health services for the poor: Health equity in Cambodia - Peter Leslie Annear, Maryam Bigdeli, Ros Chhun Eang and Bart Jacobs
9.Moving towards greater equity in health: recent initiatives in the Lao PDR and their implications - Peter Leslie Annear, Kongsap Akkhavong, Jean-Marc Thomé, Frank Haegeman, Frédéric Bonnet, Chansaly Phommavong, Soulivanh Pholsena
10.Public interventions targeting the poor: An analytical framework - Bruno Meessen and Bart Criel
11.Medical Financial Assistance in Rural China: Policy design and implementation - Yuebin Xu, Xiulan Zhang and Xunke Zhu
12. Helping the poor against major illness: a comparative analysis of medical financial assistance in four counties of China - Juying Zhang, Xiao Ma, Kristof Decoster, Xiujuan Tang, Xia Gao, Bruno Meessen
13.A comparative analysis of public social assistance systems in Belgium and Health Equity Funds in Cambodia: an overview of lessons learned - Bart Criel, Wim Van Damme, Bruno Meessen and Por Ir
14.Challenges in identifying the poor: An assessment of household eligibility for Health Equity Fund after four years of pre-identification in Oddar Meanchey, Cambodia - Por Ir, Kristof Decoster, Wim Hardeman, Dirk Horemans and Wim Van Damme
15.Community Perceptions of Pre-identification Results and Methods in Six Health Equity Fund Areas in Cambodia - Chean Rithy Men and Bruno Meessen
16.A Comparative Study of the Effectiveness of Pre-Identification and Passive Identification for Hospital Fee Waivers at a Rural Cambodian Hospital - Bart Jacobs and Neil Price
17.Can public hospitals be pro-poor? The health equity fund experience in Cambodia - Bruno Meessen, Kannarath Chheng, Kristof Decoster, Thay Ly Heng, Seak Chhay Chap
18.When slum dwellers seek health care: Exploring a community-based Health Equity Fund’s impact on indebtedness for health care and on utilization of health services - Maurits van Pelt and Guy Morineau
19.Availability of essential drugs and sustainability of village revolving drug funds in remote areas of Lao PDR - Lamphone Syhakhang, Sivong Sengaloundeth, Chanthakhath Paphassarang, Solveig Freudenthal and Rolf Wahlström
Some final thoughts
Information about POVILL
Information about the authors