Webinar series on Social Health Insurance systems

28 November 2025 10:00 – 11:30 SGT
Webinar

 

Inaugural session on improving governance of Social Health Insurance systems

Governance of social health insurance (SHI) systems plays an essential role in ensuring access to quality health services while protecting people from financial hardship.

 

While countries have made remarkable progress in advancing universal health coverage and the Sustainable Development Goals, recent trends reveal mounting fiscal constraints and increasing demand for health services in the Western Pacific Region and globally.

Many countries are also reforming their health financing systems, such as expanding coverage, revising provider payment systems, and managing donor transitions. A robust governance is key to achieve lasting success in these reforms.

This webinar provides a platform to examine governance of SHI more closely through experiences and lessons from countries, and to explore strategies that will enable SHI schemes to remain as trusted pillars of health financing systems.

This session is jointly hosted by the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for the Western Pacific and the WHO Collaborating Centre for Health Insurance Governance and Services at the National Health Insurance Service in the Republic of Korea.

    Programme

    Opening remarks
    • Dr Kidong Park, Director of Programme Management, WHO Western Pacific

    Setting the scene: Political economy of SHI governance 

    • Prof Soonman Kwon, Seoul National University

    Country experience: Republic of Korea

    • Dr Yanghee Kim, Research Fellow, National Health Insurance Service

    Country experience: China

    • Associate Prof Yuan Beibei, China Center for Health Development Studies, Peking University

    Panel and open discussion

    Closing

      The webinar is co-hosted by the WHO Collaborating Centre for Health Insurance Governance and Services at the National Health Insurance Service. Views or statements expressed during the webinar may not necessarily represent the decisions or policies of the World Health Organization.