South Africa: The feasability of national health insurance

Universal health coverage, or National Health Insurance, is affordable and would have the greatest spin off for the vast majority of South Africans who do and will increasingly rely on the state health sector, a University of Cape Town modeling initiative has revealed. The Strategies for Health Insurance for Equity in Less Developed Countries (SHIELD) project critically evaluated existing inequities in health care in Ghana, South Africa and Tanzania and the extent to which changes in health care financing mechanisms could address equity challenges. The final phase was completed this week with the release of the findings.