In response to requests from governments to ‘invest more’ in health, Heads of Caribbean Social Security Organizations at their 17th General Meeting (Belize City, June 2006) agreed to establish a Caribbean-wide forum for advancing knowledge and expertise in designing, implementing and strengthening health financing initiatives to enhance health for all in the Region.

These Health Financing Conferences are organized to:

1. 1. Share knowledge;
   2. Test ideas;
   3. Build capacity; and
   4. Develop collaborative mechanisms on how best to advocate, plan, design, secure support and administer health financing initiatives.

The 17th Conference is jointly hosted by The University of the West Indies, HEU, Centre for Health Economics and The Bermuda Health Council.

As in previous Conferences which focused on selected themes, the 17th Conference will devote attention to ‘Resilient Health Financing Systems in the Caribbean: Confronting Change, Transition and Transformation’.

Particular consideration will be centered on:

• International, regional and national challenges and drivers of change in the policies and operations of national health financing systems and institutions (re: mix of demographic, epidemiological, environmental, technological, fiscal and social factors);
• Case studies of change preparedness and change management (‘what worked and what did not’) for systemic and institutional resilience from the viewpoint of policy advisors and frontline managers in national health financing institutions; and
• Emerging best practices in change management and sources of support to secure effectiveness and sustain health progress in the Caribbean.

PAPERS, PRESENTATIONS AND SESSIONS

We have a well-planned mix of:

• Feature papers, panel discussions, peer reviews, facilitated dialogues and leadership roundtables;
• Selected Caribbean and non-Caribbean speakers;
• New and experienced presenters; and
• The full benefits of open one-on-one sharing of insights, experiences and suggestions from participants during and outside Conference hours.

Recognizing there are multiple sources of knowledge on health and related health financing matters, participants include senior officials from Ministries of Health, Social Security Organizations, national health financing agencies, providers of health services (public and private), international organizations, health insurers, third party administrators, as well as health services providers, research agencies, IT companies, actuarial firms and academic institutions.