THE ROLE OF SUBSIDIES AND GOVERNMENT INTERACTION WITH NON-PROFIT PROVIDERS IN EXTENDING UNIVERSAL HEALTH COVERAGE GOALS IN UGANDA FROM 2000-2013

Overtime, the government of Uganda has supported the PNFP sector through various subsidies in an effort to extend goals for Universal Health Coverage. However, there is limited documentation on how these government resource contributions (GRC) have evolved. There is also limited knowledge regarding how they have contributed to extension of the universal health coverage goals. Additionally, response of the PNFPs to such subsidies over time has also not received much attention in the research arena.

Research aim:
To understand how government subsidies to PNFP sub-sector contributed to extension of Universal Health coverage UHC goals (coverage, quality and access and user costs) over the past 13 years.

The study seeks to answer the following questions:

1. How have government subsidies to the PNFP sub-sector evolved between 2000-2013?
2. What factors are responsible for the evolution of the government subsidies to influence the PNFP sub -sector?
3. How have the government subsidies to the PNFP sub-sector influenced coverage, quality, access and user costs over the last 13 years?
4. How has the PNFP subsector responded to the government subsidies to extend coverage, access, quality and user costs over the last 13 years?

Project/Study Design & Setting
Study design: mixed methods research that will utilize quantitative and qualitative data
Setting: The private not for profit sector (PNFP), particularly the Uganda Catholic Bureau (UCMB) which is the umbrella organization of the Catholic Church founded health facilities and four districts (Kampala, greater Gulu, Arua and great Mukono) in Uganda

Principal Investigator: Assoc. Prof. Freddie Ssengooba
Co-Investigators Dr. Sam Orach
Funder/s WHO