Progress towards universal health coverage in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic: monitoring financial protection 2007-2019

Overview

Financial protection is a key objective of the health system in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (‎Lao PDR)‎ to achieve the government’s goal of universal health coverage. The National Health Insurance (‎NHI)‎ scheme was introduced in Lao PDR in 2016. Population coverage was subsequently expanded to all provinces except Vientiane Capital in 2018, alongside the integration of other social health protection schemes into NHI in 2019. This transformation sought to remove financial barriers to equitable access to care. The report conducted by the government of Lao PDR with support from WHO presents key results of the analysis and policy options to expand and improve coverage based on data from the three most recent Lao Expenditure and Consumption Surveys (‎2007/2008, 2012/2013, and 2018/2019)‎.