Second Conference of the African Health Economics and Policy Association: towards universal healthcare coverage in Africa.

This report discusses the key messages coming out of the papers presented at the second African Health Economics and Policy Association conference, with a particular focus on innovative and recent research results of interest to a wider audience. It also covers the scientific structure and organization of the conference, including the various sessions and key note speeches. The 3-day conference discussed the definition and scope as well as the key issues concerned, the challenges involved, and the role of leadership and country ownership in achieving universal health coverage in low-income countries. A special effort was also made to link the research outputs of the conference to policy-making in the region, through the participation of high-level decision-makers from countries as well as the production of policy briefs targeting policy-makers and based on the conference outputs and relevant research. Sub-themes of the conference included user fee removal and exemptions, covering those outside the formal sector, improved domestic funding of healthcare, purchasing of services and policy processes. The conference was attended by approximately 230 participants drawn from over 30 African countries as well as abroad, mostly from academia, research institutions, Ministries of Health and other relevant Government agencies, as well as donor and technical partners.