Problem: The challenge of implementing contributory health insurance among populations in the informal sector was a barrier to achieving universal health coverage (UHC) in Thailand. Approach: UHC was a political manifesto of the 2001 election campaign. A contributory system was not a feasible option to honour the political commitment. Given Thailand’s fiscal capacity and the moderate amount of additional resources required, the government legislated to use general taxation as the sole source of financing for the universal coverage sche...

Thailand achieved full population coverage of financial protection for health care in 2002 with successful implementation of the Universal Coverage Scheme (UCS). The three public health insurance schemes covered 98.5% of the population by 2015. Current evidence shows a high level of service coverage and financial risk protection and low level of unmet healthcare need, but the path toward UHC was not straightforward. Applying the Political Economy of UHC Reform Framework and the concept of path dependency, this study reviews how these factors in...

Universal health coverage (‎UHC)‎ is one of the targets within the Sustainable Development Goalsthat the Member States of the United Nations have pledged to achieve by 2030. Target 3.8 has twomonitoring indicators: 3.8.1 for coverage of essential health services, for which a compound index from16 tracer indicators has recently been developed; and 3.8.2 for catastrophic expenditure on health.The global baseline monitoring of these two indicators in 2017 shows that the progress in many lowandmiddle-income countries is unlikely to be on track and ...

Depression is the most common form of mental disorder among prison inmates. The objective of this study is to determine the prevalence and socio-demographic determinants of depression among adult male inmates in a local prison in Malaysia. This cross-sectional study was conducted among 460 inmates who were systematically selected. Depression was screened using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D) scale. Chi-square tests and multiple logistic regression were applied to determine the association between depression and associate...

Sustaining universal health coverage requires robust active public participation in policy formation and governance. Thailand’s universal coverage scheme was implemented nationwide in 2002, allowing Thailand to achieve full population coverage through three public health insurance schemes and to demonstrate improved health outcomes. Although Thailand’s position on the World Bank worldwide governance indicators has deteriorated since 1996, provisions for voice and accountability were embedded in the legislation and design of the universal covera...

Background: Unsafe abortion is one of the major public health problems in Thailand. Although the penal code of Thailand and the Thai Medical Council permit doctors to perform safe abortion in certain conditions, little is known about the attitudes that new medical doctors have towards abortion. The objectives of this article are to explore the attitudes towards abortion in certain conditions among new medical graduates and to identify factors related to those attitudes. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in 2018 among 2017 medic...

Background: Physical inactivity and sedentary behavior are significant risk factors for various non-communicable diseases. Bangkok, Thailand’s capital, is one of the fastest-growing metropolitans in Southeast Asia. Few studies have investigated the epidemiology of physical activity and sedentary behavior among Bangkok residents. This study aims to investigate the prevalence of combined physical activity and sedentary behavior patterns among Bangkok residents and examine relationships between participants’ characteristics and the combined mov...

The rapid economic growth in low and middle-income countries provides the opportunity of translating political commitment into action for achieving Universal Health Coverage. However, this is not straightforward. High donor dependence in low income countries; the lack of fiscal space; the inadequacy of attention to primary health care and under-developed pre-payment systems all pose challenges. Windows of political opportunity open up and ensuring that Universal Health Coverage makes it into the agenda of parties and subsequent holding them acc...

Objectives: Neonatal mortality remains persistently high in low-income and middle-income countries. In Cambodia, there is a paucity of data on the perception of neonatal health and care-seeking behaviours at the community level. This study aimed to identify influencers of neonatal health and healthcare-seeking behaviour in a rural Cambodian province. Design: A qualitative study using focus group discussions and thematic content analysis. Setting: Four health centres in a rural province of Northern Cambodia. Participants: Twenty-four fo...

Background: Neonatal mortality remains unacceptably high. Many studies successful at reducing neonatal mortality have failed to realise similar gains at scale. Effective implementation and scale-up of interventions designed to tackle neonatal mortality is a global health priority. Multifaceted programmes targeting the continuum of neonatal care, with sustainability and scalability built into the design, can provide practical insights to solve this challenge. Cambodia has amongst the highest neonatal mortality rates in South-East Asia, with rur...