Strengthening Universal Health Insurance in Tanzania

Strengthening Management and Implementation of Public Health Insurance in Tanzania

This project falls under the Improving Health Care Programme in Tanzania II (IHCP2), implemented by GIZ between April 2023 and March 2026, with a specific focus on expanding health insurance coverage, cost control, and enhancing institutional capacities. The programme operates within the broader policy framework of the National Health Policy and aims to provide technical assistance to NHIF, ZHSF, and regulatory bodies. The legal foundation for the project is grounded in Tanzania’s national health policies, with clear mandates for institutional collaboration between mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar.

The primary objective of this project is to strengthen the management and implementation of public health insurance in Tanzania. This aligns with the recently introduced respective UHI laws, which seeks to expand insurance coverage across mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar. For the IHCP programme this component has been an extension to the existing programme which had a specific objective that focuses on improving maternal, sexual and reproductive health and newborn health in specific regions. The TA assistance from Swiss TPH in the UHI project includes:

• Organisational assessments and implementation of selected measures with Ministries of Health and Finance, Presidents Office as well regulatory bodies like TIRA (Tanzania Insurance Regulatory Authority) both on mainland Tanzania and in Zanzibar in context of their future role in implementation of Universal Health Insurance (UHI).
• Capacity strengthening of government ministries and regulators on regulation of respective Universal Health Insurance schemes implemented in mainland and Zanzibar as well on costing of services and modelling of health sector needs in Zanzibar.
• Responsible also for development of the business case for the Equity Fund for the poor for Mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar suited to their respective contexts.
• Development of concept note for public insurers on price negotiations with the private sector and twinning arrangements for respective institutions part of UHI implementation.

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