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Global Health Centre

Health Systems in Transition Policy Notes

  • Researcher: Andrew Cassels, Senior Fellow at the Global Health Programme
  • Project Owner: Asia Pacific Observatory, WHO Office for the Western Pacific Region
  • Project Status: Concluded 2015
  • Publication: Myanmar Health Systems in Transition Policy Notes Series
  • Key Words: health system, transition, universal health coverage, financial risk protection


The Asia Pacific Observatory on Health Systems and Policies (the APO) is a collaborative partnership of interested governments, international agencies, foundations, and researchers that promotes evidence-informed health system policy regionally and in all countries in the Asia Pacific region. It identifies priority health system issues across the Asia Pacific region and develops and synthesizes relevant research to support and inform countries’ evidence-based policy development. In this context, APO has initiated a Health Systems in Transition (HiT) review that is a systematic and comprehensive review of the health system of specific countries in the region and assesses their core components – organization and governance, financing, physical and human resources, service provision, and health reforms.

The Myanmar Health Systems in Transition Policy Notes Series draws on the Myanmar Health System in Transition review of 2014. The Policy Notes Series provides clear and concise information for policy makers at a critical time in Myanmar’s transition to more open government. The set of four policy notes address the following topics: