Better Spending, Better Care : A Look at Haiti's Health Financing

This report seeks to formulate a long-term vision for Haiti’s health sector to accelerate progress toward universal health coverage (UHC), a key objective of the government’s National Health Policy (Politique Nationale de Santé, PNS)–MSPP (2012). Progress toward this goal has been hindered by political instability and frequent natural catastrophes. Most recently, in October 2016, Hurricane Matthew wreaked havoc on Haiti’s health system. It has been estimated that at least 1,000 people died and 1.4 million Haitians were directly affected by the hurricane. Such disasters have influenced Haiti’s government and development partners by demanding a short-term focus on acute need priorities. This study aims to take a step back, assess Haiti’s health financing system, and identify critical constraints and opportunities to accelerate progress toward UHC and the health-related United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the long term. The report compiles existing studies and information, and it provides new analysis of larger data sets, as well as hospital financing data. To our knowledge, it is the first attempt to assess systematically the health financing system in Haiti.