Expanding Access to Reduce Health Inequities Project (APL III)--Former Health Sector Reform - Third Phase (APL III)

The development objectives for APL III are the same as those of the previous two phases: increasing access to good quality and culturally appropriate health services to improve the health of the population in general and to mothers and children in particular. As a medium-term objective, the APL series pursues reducing the infant and maternal mortality rates by one-third, as per the proposed indicators for the Program. Under APLs I and II an important set of policies and interventions were developed to strengthen the performance of the public health services. These policies and interventions aimed to improve child and maternal health status, including expansion of the insurance system (the Universal maternal and child insurance, SUMI, at present), the investments in primary health care, and the strengthening of cost-effective health interventions (PAI, IMCI). APL I introduced a basic health insurance (the Seguro B?sico de Salud, today SUMI) to reinforce provisions to mothers and children, and a new vaccination system and set of new management tools. APL II is implementing an expanded version of maternal and child insurance, by supporting the deployment of mobile health brigades (EXTENSA) as a way of expanding service delivery to underserved areas, and new management tools (performance agreements, and demand-driven investment policy) are being used. The Government has provided sustainability to health insurance as well as to the EXTENSA program that is now being absorbed by the regional and/or municipal budgets. The EXTENSA Unit in the MOH that was part of the APL II PIU is being incorporated in the structure of the MOH. All regions benefited with support from investments, mainly in primary care. The proposed APL III aims to sustain the trend in improving the IMR and accelerate the reduction of the MMR, which a recent modeling exercise shows to be a challenge. APL III would consolidate the strategies implemented under APLs I and II by: i) strengthening the regulatory capacity of national, regional and local levels to perform critical EFPH; ii) promoting the demand of maternal and infant health services through developing and enhancing the culturally appropriate maternal and infant health referral network; and iii) supporting implementation of the new expansion of the insurance system (Universal Health Insurance - SUSALUD.