News
Democratic Republic of Congo strengthens its technical capacities to achieve universal health coverage
The ILO, the ITC-ILO and the Health Solidarity Fund (Fonds de Solidarité Santé) organised a capacity strengthening activity in Kinshasa between the 4th and 7th of December 2023 for 29 officials and directors of the institutions facilitating Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and Universal Social Protection. The training focused on social health protection and governance of the UHC. During the training, participants endorsed a roadmap outlining specific steps to facilitate the effective implementation of the National Strategic Plan for Universal Health Coverage. The training was convened as part of the ILO Flagship Programme on Building Social Protection Floors for All, funded by the Governments of Belgium and Luxembourg.
The Government has expressed its commitment to ensuring health for all through access to quality health services and care without financial hardship for all, in accordance with article 47 of the Constitution and ILO recommendation n° 202 and to date, in the framework of the National Strategic Plan implementation, the government has established the National Council for Universal Health Coverage and six facilitating institutions, including the Health Solidarity Fund. Strengthening these institutions' technical capacities has been identified as a priority for implementing the new health insurance scheme.
The training session equipped attendees with a deeper understanding of social health protection, including its underlying principles, options and priorities for coverage expansion, the identification and development of the benefit package, and strategic purchasing. The need for reforms in the governance and management of the social health protection system has been identified, particularly with regard to extending social health protection to workers in the informal economy and achieving universal health coverage. This capacity-strengthening activity will support better coordination of the actions of the various institutions for the successful achievement of UHC in the DRC.