Sagaing Civil Society Organizations Meet to Discuss Universal Health Coverage

As part of an ongoing series of forums to raise awareness of and engagement with Universal Health Coverage (UHC) among civil society organizations (CSOs) in Myanmar, Pyi Gyi Khin and Community Partners International (CPI) organized a CSO Health Forum in Sagaing Region on June 5-6, 2018. The forum brought together 116 representatives of 79 CSOs implementing health care activities in Sagaing Region, and 9 members of the Sagaing Region Hluttaw (Parliament).

To lay the groundwork for discussions, CPI staff outlined the concepts of health equity and Universal Health Coverage, and unpacked the key components of the National Health Plan, 2017-2021 (NHP).

In the next section of the forum, Pyi Gyi Khin facilitated discussions to explore the role of Sagaing Region CSOs in NHP implementation. Participants worked together to establish the foundations for a formal Health CSO Network in Sagaing Region and developed a roadmap, objectives, and a plan of activities for this network.

The network will help to coordinate activities and unite the efforts of the many CSOs working in the health sector in Sagaing Region as part of a common platform to represent communities and advocate for their health service needs at the township and state levels. Participants nominated key representatives to lead network advocacy and coordination efforts across Sagaing Region and the Naga Self-Administered Zone.

The next in the series of CSO forums on UHC organized by Pyi Gyi Khin and CPI will occur in Kayah State in July 2018.

The Sagaing Region CSO Health Forum was supported under a Three Millennium Development Goal Fund (3MDG) grant.