Assessing universal health coverage for breast cancer management

About the Book

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women that affects mostly those in middle and older age groups in most parts of the world. The incidence is showing an increasing trend affecting younger women and the cost to prevent, treat and manage this chronic disease is continuously escalating. Universal Health Coverage (UHC) is an initiative by World Health Organisation that encourages policy makers in all countries in the world to organise their health systems that are responsive in providing access to quality health care to every citizen in need of health services without facing the financial hardship. Malaysia health system has been well developed and was said to have achieved universal health coverage based on the easy access to primary and secondary health care services in the public sector. In this book, we present our effort to assess if Malaysia provides UHC for preventive, curative and palliative to breast cancer patients . At the inception of the study, we embarked on the development of a composite index to assess the overall status of UHC. This is followed by an extensive research to explore the extent of financial coverage for management of breast cancer. Over 300 patients in various stages of the breast cancer attending the selected public tertiary hospitals were interviewed and their medical records reviewed to assess their health spending and to estimate the incidence of catastrophic health expenditure. The book is the first of its kind that provides comprehensive real-world data on universal coverage for breast cancer patients in the world.

About the Author

Dr Syed Mohamed Aljunid is the Founding Professor and Chair of Department of Health Policy and Management, Faculty of Public Health, Kuwait University. He served for more than 30 years as Professor of Health Economics and Public Health Medicine in Faculty of Medicine National University of Malaysia. He was also appointed as the Founding Senior Research Fellow of United Nations University –International Institute for Global Health. He is the current President of Malaysian Health Economic Association (MAHEA) and Malaysia Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcome Research (MYSPOR). Dr. Aidalina Mahmud is a Senior Medical Lecturer and Public Health Specialist at the Department of Community Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM). She is also the Head of the Public Health Unit of UPM Teaching Hospital. She served in the Ministry of Health for more than ten years as a Medical Officer at major hospitals, then as Assistant Director in the Medical Practice Division of MOH. Dr. Aidalina holds major posts in various organizations and committess related to public health and health economic