Two years ago, as it struggled to contain the spread of the COVID-19 virus and get people vaccinated, the Government of Jamaica turned to private health care providers for help. The results went well beyond its expectations.

An estimated 170,000 people contract TB each year in Vietnam. The new e-LMIS system helps ensure a reliable drug supply for those who need treatment.

This Question-and-Answer (Q&A) document covers commonly asked questions and answers on TB exams, treatment, and reimbursement through Social Health Insurance (SHI). It provides guidance to TB treatment facilities as they integrate SHI and transition TB treatment services into SHI. The document also includes hyperlinks as additional reference sources for readers.

With a grant from LHSS, the Jamaican health care firm Online Medics is supporting the government’s COVID-19 vaccination effort while gaining valuable new business capacities. “LHSS allowed me to think in the long term – where I wanted my company to go and what I need to do to get it there,” says owner Alex Tracey.

The Vietnam government transitions funding of TB treatment to the SHI fund with support from LHSS. This transition marks a critical milestone, ensuring uninterrupted access to life-saving treatment.

This communications strategy outlines how the LHSS team will support the private sector providers in implementing their communication plans.

The LHSS Jamaica Grants Strategy guides implementation of the grants-under-contract component of the LHSS Jamaica activity, with the goal of increasing the capacity of local organizations to prepare, obtain, and manage successful health systems strengthening projects and activities.  

LHSS conducted this rapid assessment to better understand the current and potential role of the private health sector in Jamaica's COVID-19 response.

Vietnam is one of the 30 countries with the highest burden of TB and drug-resistant TB in the world, with more than 172,000 cases and 10,400 deaths from TB in Vietnam in 2020 (WHO).  On July 1, TB treatment facilities nationwide started providing TB drugs to patients through social health insurance, marking an important milestone for financial sustainability.

This rapid assessment aimed to determine which health facilities in seven high-TB burden provinces of Vietnam meet social health insurance (SHI) requirements for TB service provision and for reimbursement of TB services through the SHI scheme.

Lhss prepared this report, discussing procurement and payment considerations related to the transition of first-line tuberculosis (TB) drug procurement in Vietnam from the central state budget to the social health insurance fund starting in 2022.

This document provides a roadmap for Vietnam’s National Tuberculosis (TB) Program to transition procurement and payment for TB drugs to the country’s social health insurance scheme.

For the first time, Vietnam has procured TB medicines using its national social health insurance scheme. 

This video captures a November 6, 2020 ceremony in Hanoi which marked the formal start of the LHSS Project’s four-year effort to help the Government of Vietnam implement its social health insurance program. The program covers treatment services for people with HIV, among other essential health services.

Working closely with the Vietnam Social Security (VSS) agency, LHSS will help improve the agency’s capacity to manage the insurance program funds effectively, efficiently, equitably, and with accountability. LHSS will also support Vietnam’s transition to full financial ownership of its HIV and TB responses.

On Friday, February 25, LHSS Jamaica hosted a signing ceremony with the Jamaica Ministry of Health and Wellness and USAID to launch the Private Sector COVID-19 Vaccine Administration Partnership.