Health-Care Reform in Georgia

A Civil-Society Perspective

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Summary

Oxfam and partner organisations in Georgia have been campaigning as part of the Georgian coalition ‘Future without Poverty’ for access to quality health care, in particular maternal health care, since 2005.

In 2006 the Government of Georgia launched a new health policy reform agenda, with the ultimate aim of privatising the whole Georgian health-care system. Aware of the potentially far-reaching consequences of such fast-paced health-care reform, and concerned by the lack of clear information about the strategy and the direction of these reforms, Oxfam and partner organisations decided to undertake an in-depth analysis of the reforms, using interviews with various stakeholders and detailed desk research.

This report identifies the following challenges arising from reform of the health-care system in Georgia:

• How to ensure universal access to services within the private health insurance context
• How to ensure quality of care
• How to ensure meaningful civil-society participation

In order to address these challenges, this report recommends civil-society monitoring of the current health-care reforms in Georgia should focus on:

• Ensuring effective access to health care for the poorest population, particularly by monitoring the state-funded programmes for people living below the poverty line;
• Demanding that the Georgian Government sets strict quality standards for health-care providers, and enforces them through regulation;
• Advocating for the creation of a space for civil-society engagement in the planning and decision-making processes concerning the health-care reforms.

Oxfam International Research Report

Authors: Tobias Hauschild, Essential Services Policy Adviser, Oxfam Germany, and Esmé Berkhout Health Policy Adviser, Oxfam Novib.

Date of publication: June 2009