WHO estimates that more than 1.3 billion people worldwide do not have access to health services in a sufficient way- many of them because they can’t afford it. More than 100 million people are pushed into poverty each year because of costs incurred in paying for health care out of pocket (OOP) at the time of need. There is evidence that these challenges can only be addressed by creating a social health protection system as part of a national health financing strategy. Providing for health P4H as a global network is supporting countries in this endeavor in a coordinated way.

The goal of P4H is sustainable social health protection, particularly in low- and middle income countries. The purpose of P4H is to support countries in developing effective, efficient, equitable and sustainable health and social protection systems for better Social Health Protection (SHP), in particular for the poor and other disadvantage populations.

Direct: Governments and its partners in LMIC Indirect: Population in LMICs, with a special focus on people living in poverty or at risk to fall into poverty in LMIC.

P4H is expected to contribute to the following results:

• Social health protection is incorporated/expanded in national health plans/policies/strategies and programmes and aligned with the overall social protection system.
• Harmonization and alignment of external assistance for social health protection is enhanced
• Utilization of domestic and international resources for the development of equitable, efficient and sustainable social health protection structure is increased and improved
• Awareness and cross-country learning on SHP among countries, development partners and the public is increased
• Capacity in partner countries for evidence-based decisions and strategic orientations in SHP is enhanced.

Results from previous phases:  

P4H has evolved from its predecessor, a technical level consortium of WHO, ILO and GIZ, to a global network adding the WB, AfDB and the political level of German, French, Swiss, Spanish and American development cooperation. P4H support to countries has experienced constant growth reaching 21 countries by mid-2012. While the network has expanded to 8 members at global level, the open and inclusive network approach at country level has attracted many more development partners, including USAID, DFID, SIDA, AusAID, EC and BTC.

Phase 3 01.01.2014 - 30.06.2018   (Completed)