The press strengthened for its mission in the implementation of Universal Health Insurance

---

Extract from the article: The Ministry of Access to Healthcare and Health Coverage organised a press training workshop on the fundamentals of Universal Health Insurance (UHI) on 22 November 2014 in Agbodrafo. The session brought together around sixty journalists from the publ

---

The Ministry of Access to Healthcare and Health Coverage organised a press training workshop on the fundamentals of Universal Health Insurance (UHI) on 22 November 2014 in Agbodrafo. The session brought together around sixty journalists from the public and private sectors. « This training aims to get media professionals to identify the importance of Universal Health Insurance in strengthening the social protection system. This will enable the media to relay information on UHI and its impact on social protection effectively and accurately », said Jean-Marie Tessi, Minister for Access to Healthcare and Health Coverage.

Two training modules were presented to journalists. The first, «Fundamentals and requirements of health insurance», presented by Adéyémi Abdou-Djalilou, a specialist in health insurance and risk management, focused essentially on traditional health insurance as practised in several countries, including Togo, where the beneficiaries are primarily workers in the official sector or government employees.

 

The 2nd module, «Specificity of AMU, a social insurance» was presented by Prof. Bagny Aklesso, National Coordinator of the ‘Quality Essential Health Services for Universal Health Coverage’ (SSEQCU) project. Unlike traditional health insurance, AMU covers everyone in the country without exclusion. It provides an opportunity for everyone (poor, rich, men, women and children) to have equitable access to healthcare. The AMU is an initiative in which the solidarity and responsibility of every citizen is one of the keys to success.  

A rich exchange took place between the officials and the journalists on a number of notions, including: the availability of medicines, the company and employee quota, the INAM and the CNSS, the rate of coverage or reimbursement, the effectiveness of the AMU, and health facilities.

At the end of this training, it was recommended that a network of journalists and media professionals be launched as a federating framework for the role of the press in informing and educating the public about the promotion of Universal Health Insurance (UHI) in Togo.

Gamé KOKO