The 6th Community Health Financing Conference ended successfully and the participants agreed to build synergy for universal health insurance coverage for a healthy and productive population in Uganda.

Most importantly, they appreciated Community Health Insurance and Private Commercial Health Insurance Schemes for easing access to quality healthcare services and protecting vulneralbe families from catastrophic healthcare expenditure that would lead them to sell their life sustaining assets like land to pay medical bills, hence sinking them into abject poverty. Participants committed to advocate for their inclusion in the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).

The participants recognized Community Health Insurance Schemes due to their established and strengthened structures in the local communities that have existed and gained high level of capacity to promote, manage and sustain these schemes for over 20 years. Participants commited to support the inclusion of Community-Based Health Insurance schemes in the National Health Insurance Scheme in order to play three key roles which include;

1) Mobilizing and sensitizing the informal sector families to appreciate and enroll into the Nationa Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS)

2) Acting as premium collection agents to collect premiums from families in the informal sector and transfer the collected funds to the NHIS pool at national level.

3) Engaging families and gathering feedback on the satisfaction with services provided to clients by both healthcare providers and the scheme for the managers of the scheme to make informed decisions.

Save for Health Uganda (SHU) extends sincere appreciation to all our partners who contributed funds, material and human resources that made the 6th Community Health Financing Conference a great success.

These included; Bread for the World, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Parliament of Uganda, International Labour Organization, Ethiopian Health Insurancy Agency, World Health Organization, National Information Technology Authority of Uganda, National Planning Authority, Insurance Regulatory Authority of Uganda, Federation of Uganda Employers, Uganda Insurers Association, Smart Applications International, Health Partners Uganda, Uganda Protestant Medical Bureau, Uganda Catholic Medical Bureau, AIRTEL Uganda, Ishaka Adventist Hospital, ENABEL Uganda, Kitojo Integrated Development Action, ISER, Uganda Local Government Association, Rocket Health, District Authorities, all partner Healthcare providers, all participants in their individual capacity, NBS TV, BBS TV, UBC TV and CBS Radio.

We look forward for more engagements with stakeholders to ensure re-tabling and passing the NHIS bill into an act of Parliament soon.

We also look forward to the act being ascented to into law by H.E Gen. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni the President of the Republic of Uganda.

We can't wait for the implementation of the National Health Insurance Scheme for Uganda to ensure Universal Health Insurance Coverage for attainment of the Universal Health Coverage in Uganda.

For God and my Country.