Informing the design of policies aimed at increasing health financial protection to accelerate universal health coverage in West Africa

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The purpose of this research project is twofold. Firstly, we aim to provide up-to-date estimates of the incidence of catastrophic health expenditures and health insurance coverage in the eight countries of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU), where data are currently lacking. Secondly, we aim to explore the potential impacts of reforming public health insurance systems on the economic welfare of target populations by means of simulation studies. The overarching objective of the project is to inform the development of better-informed policies aimed at increasing financial health protection to accelerate universal health coverage (UHC) in the region.In 2022, we collected, cleaned, and analyzed the first wave of data on the living conditions of households in the WAEMU region, in close collaboration with our colleagues at Harvard University and at the WAEMU's Office of Statistics. In March 2023, the Principal Investigator visited policymakers from the WAEMU region in Dakar, Senegal, to present the preliminary research findings and to consolidate their interpretation. A manuscript intended to be submitted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal is currently in preparation to report on the abovementioned key UHC indicators over the period 2018-2022.