Objectives:

• To roughly assess the established knowledge about the organization and the status of both community and public communication systems as well as the level of community understanding about aims and objectives of the health care system;
• To elaborate more formal communication and collaboration mechanisms which ensure that the community’s opinion is recognized and that community needs are met.

Content:

The principal objective of the World Bank funded Health Care Financing Development (HCFD) Project was to support the Ministry of Health of The Provisional Self-Government of Kosovo in identifying and implementing a sustainable and affordable model for the financing of the health care system, based on the values of equity and solidarity.

The Health Care Commissioning Agency (HCCA) established within the Ministry of Health (MoH) had been responsible for purchasing health care from both public and private sector health care providers. Limited public health care budgets implied to restrict the scope of publicly financed health care services to urgent health priorities of the Kosovar population. When the MoH/HCCA had been defining a package of elementary health care services, the HFCD project assisted in a consultative capacity.

Up to this particular consultancy, only professionals and academics from different institutions and key stakeholders at different public levels had been consulted in the context of the health system reform. The community, civil society or the consumers as such had not been included in the process. After having identified the lack of community participation, this consultancy was requested to encounter this shortcoming.

• Discussions on the relevance of the basic package of health care services and the implications of the co-payment and essential drugs systems on the community and consumers;
• Assistance in identifying relevant community groups and NGOs;
• Identification of existing lines of communication;
• Consultancy mission in close collaboration with the HCCA;
• Study implementation;
• Mission report.