Institutionalizing Health Accounts in Madagascar to Accelerate Progress Towards Universal Health Coverage 

The Ministry of Health (MOH), in collaboration with USAID’s Local Health System Sustainability Project (LHSS) and the World health Organization (WHO), held a formal event to launch the 2022 Health Accounts (HA) exercise. This momentous event marks a key milestone in LHSS’s efforts to ensure regular production and use of health resource tracking data through HA. After a ten-year hiatus, the Ministry of Health, with technical support from LHSS and WHO, published results for 2019-2021 Health Accounts last year and is promptly launching production of 2022 data. Health resource tracking data informs decisions about how to better allocate health resources and ensure financial protection for the population.  

The successful event strengthened ties between the MOH and various health stakeholders including partners, NGOs, and private sector entities. It raised awareness about the HA process and its importance. With LHSS Madagascar's support, the MOH aims to institutionalize HA, enabling better identification of health financing challenges, evidence-based decision-making, and monitoring progress towards Universal Health Coverage. 

A few highlights from the launch: 

• Better coordination and collaboration among supporting partners who were all represented (World Bank, UNICEF, WHO, USAID).  A quote from the MOH’s Director of Studies, Planning and Information Systems states emphasized this collaborative effort - “Together, we have laid the foundations for a robust and inclusive process to develop accurate, relevant and decision-useful national health accounts”. 

• Concerted and coordinated technical support provided by LHSS and WHO for the preparation of the launch led to a commendable result, the involvement and ownership of the MOH’s technical team to produce HAs. 

• Better representation of private-sector structures, with the aim of involving this sector more closely in the 2022 HA exercise, as opposed to previous years. 

During the event, LHSS Madagascar also donated IT equipment (i.e.,  laptops, a printer, a camera, and voice recorders) to the MOH’s HA team to facilitate the collection and analysis of HA data.  "The provision of IT equipment is a testimony to USAID's strong commitment to continue supporting the production and institutionalization of the 2022 HA and the entire Malagasy health system," noted the General Manager of Resources in Madagascar.