1. CONCEPT OF UNIVERSAL ACCESS Dr Michel Thieren (WHO/EIP/MHI)
Technical Meeting for the Development of a Framework for Universal Access to Prevention, Care, Treatment and Support in the Health Sector WHO Executive Board Room Geneva, October 2005
CONCEPT OF UNIVERSAL ACCESS
Dr Michel Thieren (WHO/EIP/MHI)

2. Objectives of the session
What are the lessons learnt from the conceptual debate and where does this debate currently stand?
What does "universal" mean?
What does "access" mean?
What determines and influences "universal access" and how to build a measurable framework upon them?
What are the possible applications for universal access to HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care?

3. Objectives of the session1
What are the lessons learnt from the conceptual debate and where does this debate currently stand?
What does "universal" mean?
What does "access" mean?
What determines and influences "universal access" and how to build a measurable framework upon them?
What are the possible applications for universal access to HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care?

4. Building up on the "coverage" debate
Models or frameworks to explain / communicate but also to measure the concept of coverage
Piot - Fransen Model for STI
Tanahashi Model for Health Services
Phillips & Morisson Model of Access to Health Care
Model or framework to track progress and measure achievement on coverage
Health System Effective coverage
Service Availability Mapping

5. Piot – Fransen Model for STI
Source: C.P. Hudson. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 2001, 79 (1)

6. Tanahashi: Health Service Coverage Diagram
Goal of service achievement
Effectiveness Coverage
Contact Coverage
Acceptability Coverage
Accessibility (geo. & fin.) Coverage
Availability Coverage
Target Population
Source: Tanahashi T. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 1978, 56 (2)

7. A Model of Access to Health Care

8. New definition of coverage
Effective Coverage Model
New definition of coverage
The probability of receiving a necessary health intervention conditional on the presence of a health care need
New definition of effective coverage
The magnitude of the realised health gain from the intervention relative to the potential health gain possible with the optimal performance of the providers for a given health system
We define coverage as ….

9. Service Availability Mapping

10. Lessons learned Low level of agreement internationally
Some models are more complex than others
Some are more convincing to convey a comprehensive message on access and coverage, others are more useful to monitor progresses on access and coverage
The concepts are defined but there is broad space for flexibility
It is not useful to push the conceptual debate further
It is more important to focus on how to take the various concepts on board, agree on what they means for HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care and develop the framework accordingly

11. Objectives of the session2
What are the lessons learnt from the conceptual debate and where does this debate currently stand?
What does "universal" mean?
What does "access" mean?
What determines and influences "universal access" and how to build a measurable framework upon them?
What are the possible applications for universal access to HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care?

12. how much a population can reach health services
The concepts (1)
Health supply terms
Availability
Affordability
Health demand terms
Utilisation
Acceptability
Access =
how much a population can reach health services
Coverage =
the share of a population eligible (beneficiaries) for a set of interventions

13. Concepts (2) Universal Target Scaling-up Intervention vs. services
Qualitatively, it gives a sense of equality, indivisibility
Quantitatively it can be "all" or "enough for everyone to get a chance"
Target
Can be an outcome, prevention, or treatment target
Scopes of target (global, country)
Targeted entity: % of population, population group, group at risk, a group in need, districts, facilities … (measurability!!!!)
Scaling-up
Expand geographically
diversify
Intervention vs. services

14. Key points on the concepts (1):
Use the term universal "access" instead or universal "coverage"
Avoid benchmarking "universal" in absolute terms
Use of the term "coverage" associated with outcome (intervention) indicators
The term "universal access" can be completed by its target expressed in "universal access at 80% of coverage" for a specific intervention

15. Key points on the concepts (2):
Measuring "access" may actually measure just one or a few domains of access (like availability, affordability and/or acceptability), but rarely all of them
Define country targets in national context instead of focusing on global targets
Define target taking into account the measurability of the targeted entity (e.g. district or population)
Overall, the concepts of access, coverage and associated terms are not standardized across programs, so there is room for flexibility.

16. Objectives of the session3
What are the lessons learnt from the conceptual debate and where does this debate currently stand?
What does "universal" mean?
What does "access" mean?
What determines and influences "universal access" and how to build a measurable framework upon them?
What are the possible applications for universal access to HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care?

17. DATA COLLECTION & MEASUREMENT !!!
What determines effective coverage?
Price of intervention j offered by provider k – Bjk
Disposable income of individual i - Ii
Geographic location of a provider k offering intervention j in relation to individual i - Qijk
Cultural and social acceptability of intervention j offered by provider k to individual i - Zjik
Availability of necessary technology to provider k for delivering intervention j - Rjk
Expected health gain from intervention - HGij
Performance of provider k in relation to intervention j - Pjk
Adherence of individual i to intervention j - Yij
DATA COLLECTION & MEASUREMENT !!!

18. SAM administration process
Questionnaire programmed in Palm Pilot
Availability of interventions ii
at district (or facility) levels?
Enter data in PDA and upload them in PC
Analysis of data and production of district mapping

19. Building the framework
Over-inclusive path
WHO : the concept of effective coverage and its measurement problems
Simplified path
WHO 2005: the Service Availability Mapping Program focusing on availability only (is this enough?)
Limit to what matters most
Availability  measured through SAM
Affordability  equated to "free of charge" (SAM)
Acceptability  population and/or facility based surveys

20. Key points: building a framework on Universal Access (1)
Set the objective of the framework:
Communication: a comprehensive framework displaying all the determinants of access and their inter-relationship is required.
Monitoring and evaluation: the framework should be limited to measurable determinants.
Consider a simplified (not simple!) approach to building a framework for universal access
Focus on "availability" of core interventions in the area of prevention, treatment and care, at least at district level (SAM concept)

21. Key points: building a framework on Universal Access (2)
Define the steps to be taken if additional factors are to be included:
"acceptability": could be measured for just a few countries using population or facility based surveys;
"affordability" could be measured through household surveys for a few countries or equated to the implementation of free services policies at districts level
Promote academic debate and undertake research on how to extract measures from geographical information (i.e. computation of SAM generated availability data)

22. Objectives of the session4
What are the lessons learnt from the conceptual debate and where does this debate currently stand?
What does "universal" mean?
What does "access" mean?
What determines and influences "universal access" and how to build a measurable framework upon them?
What are the possible applications for universal access to HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care?

23. Universal access in the context of HIV/AIDS treatment, prevention and care interventions
Universal access for treatment is treatment that is reachable, affordable and acceptable to all those in need
Universal access for prevention is along the same lines as for treatment: key prevention services should be reachable, affordable and acceptable to all those who need it: "all districts should have VCT, PMTCT, condoms, sex & AIDS education (general public, schools)", target population programs, which could be specified and could be measured
A core package of HIV/AIDS treatment, prevention and care interventions is defined, each one occurring in one of the four loci: hospital, health centre, community, home
The framework for universal access is target driven

24. Key points: building a universal access framework for HIV/AIDS (1)
Build a framework for HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care using a core set of interventions covering the four primary loci of delivery: hospital, health centre, community, home
Define country targets in terms of availability for these interventions at district level
Borrow preventive targets from the MDG and UNGASS

25. Key points: building a universal access framework for HIV/AIDS (2)
Propose "universal access at least 80% coverage" for a given intervention
Or propose even further, "all districts should have at least 80% coverage, all sub (risk) populations at least 80% coverage"
"Coverage" should be used primarily for "intervention" targeting; the number of targets should nonetheless be limited to avoid burdening measurement

26. WORKING GROUPS WG1: Concepts and definitions
WG2: Determinants of universal access and their measurement issues
WG3: Country and global targets for universal access and their measurement issues

27. WG 1: Concepts and definitions
In reference to the background paper, the glossary of terms and the presentation on the concepts of universal access, coverage and other associated terms:
Propose a set of terms that suits the context of universal access for HIV/AIDS treatment, prevention and care
Propose definitions of these terms in the context of HIV/AIDS treatment, prevention and care

28. WG 2: Determinants of access
In reference to the background paper, the glossary of terms and the presentation on the concepts of universal access, coverage and their associated terms:
Propose a set of determinants that suits the context of HIV/AIDS treatment, prevention and care
List the measurement issues associated with these determinants
Propose a measurement and data collection strategy for each of these determinants

29. WG 3: Principles for Setting Targets
In reference to the background paper, the glossary of terms and the presentation on the concepts of universal access, coverage and their associated terms:
Propose a set of principles that should guide the selection of targets that suits the context of HIV/AIDS treatment, prevention and care
Propose two global targets for treatment and prevention and examples for formulating them at country level
List the measurement issues associated with these targets
Propose a measurement and data collection strategy for each of these targets

30. WG 4: Principles for Prevention Targets
In reference to the background paper, the glossary of terms and the presentation on the concepts of universal access, coverage and their associated terms:
Propose a set of principles that should guide the selection of targets that suits the context of HIV/AIDS treatment, prevention and care
Propose two global targets for treatment and propose examples for formulating them at country level
List the measurement issues associated with these targets
Propose a measurement and data collection strategy for each of these targets