JICA GLO + UHC Project Phase 3

25/08/2025

Advancing Universal Health Coverage: Strengthening Collaboration between Thailand NHSO and Lao NHIB

From July 20–25, 2025, a delegation from Thailand’s National Health Security Office (NHSO) — including experts from the headquarters and the Udon Thani regional office — visited the National Health Insurance Bureau (NHIB) of Lao PDR. This mission was part of an ongoing exchange program designed to share expertise and build capacity to advance Universal Health Coverage (UHC) in both countries.

The visit focused on evaluating Lao PDR’s National Health Insurance (NHI) system, particularly the E-Claim (electronic medical claims) system and the Hotline Service Center. The joint assessment highlighted notable progress in expanding UHC, while also identifying opportunities to enhance human resource development, technological infrastructure, and long-term financial sustainability for more efficient service delivery.

Key technical exchanges included:
• E-Claim: advancing staff training, improving connectivity and hardware, strengthening system security.
• Hotline: exploring AI and FAQ solutions, building knowledge management tools, and developing strategies for workload distribution and service decentralization.

The NHSO delegation commended the remarkable progress and strong commitment of the NHIB team in developing systems that bring Lao PDR closer to achieving UHC. These efforts demonstrate not only technical innovation but also a shared determination to deliver better health services for all.

As a next step, the NHIB team will visit NHSO headquarters in Thailand to continue hands-on technical exchanges and share practical experiences to support the nationwide scale-up of these systems.

18/08/2025

On August 15, Ms. Naruomon Chairangsinant, Director of Policy and Strategic Planning Division,delivered the Report Back Session for the JICA KCCP Program, “Strengthening Social Health Protection towards UHC (July 22 – August 1),” with active participation from NHSO colleagues and a special contribution by Dr. Kodama from Japan’s National Institute of Public Health.

As NHSO’s participant in the training course, Ms. Naruomon shared insightful comparisons between the UHC systems of Japan and Thailand, highlighted future challenges, and provided thoughtful recommendations for advancing UHC in Thailand. Her reflections offered valuable lessons and inspiration for NHSO’s ongoing efforts to strengthen UHC.

Looking ahead, the GLO-UHC Phase 3 Project remains committed to fostering mutual learning and collaboration, contributing to sustainable UHC in Thailand and globally.

05/06/2025

08/12/2023

The 4th Joint Coordinating Committee (JCC) Meeting of GLO+UHC Phase 2
Date: 7 December 2023
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The 4th Joint Coordinating Committee (JCC) Meeting was held on the 7th of December 2023 at the Ministry of Public Health (MOPH), Thailand in a hybrid format. From the Thai side, MOPH, the National Health Security Office (NHSO) and other related stakeholders joined. From the Japanese side, the Embassy of Japan in Thailand, JICA headquarters, and JICA Thailand Office attended. The 4th JCC meeting was chaired by Dr. Somsak Akksilp, Advisor to the Office of the Permanent Secretary on Global Health, MOPH.
This meeting was the final JCC meeting of GLO+UHC2 Project. GLO+UHC2 Project presented the activities, achievements, impact, lessons learnt, etc. to the JCC members. The Project Completion Report was approved by the JCC members.
At the end of the meeting, the representatives from JICA Thailand Office, MOPH and NHSO provided closing remarks with the hope of further strengthening the partnership between Thailand and Japan on Global Health and Universal Health Coverage.
The GLO+UHC Project would like to express sincere gratitude to everyone who was involved in and cooperated with the Project. Thank you so much for your continued cooperation with JICA!

08/12/2023

Proceedings of PMAC 2023 and Report of Online Workshop Series on Continuing Professional Development for Nurses will be uploaded to the Resource Center soon!
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GLO+UHC Project summarized its activities in proceedings and a report as follows:
• Proceedings PMAC 2023 Side Meeting – Scale up the Health Professional Development to Protect Health From Climate Change -
• Report of the Online Workshop Series on Continuing Professional Development for Nurses

Both materials will be uploaded to the NHSO Resource Center soon!
NHSO Resource Center: https://eng.nhso.go.th/view/1/GLO_UHC_Project/EN-US
IHPP Resource Center: https://www.resourceihpp.com/site/home

08/12/2023

Final Report of GLO+UHC Project Phase 2 at NHSO Directors’ Meeting
Date: 29 November 2023
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The final report of GLO+UHC Project Phase 2 was presented at the NHSO directors’ meeting on 29th November 2023. JICA experts presented the activities, achievements, impact and lessons learnt to the NHSO executive members and directors at the NHSO directors’ meeting chaired by the Secretary-General of NHSO.
The Secretary-General of NHSO appreciated GLO+UHC Project Phase 2 and stated the hope for further partnership between Thailand and Japan on Universal Health Coverage.
The GLO+UHC Project would like to express sincere gratitude to everyone in NHSO involved in the Project. The Project wishes for continuous further collaboration between Thailand and Japan.

08/12/2023

Project’s activity on Continuing Professional Development (CPD) was referred in a paper published in BMC Medical Education
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The online workshop series on continuing professional development (CPD) for nurses, one of the GLO+UHC Phase 2's activities, was referred as an example of partnerships between low- and middle-income countries and high-income countries or international organizations in the paper 'Continuing professional development (CPD) system development, implementation, evaluation and sustainability for healthcare professionals in low- and lower-middle-income countries: a rapid scoping review'* published in BMC Medical Education. It is our pleasure to be referred in the paper and contribute to global academic study!

*Merry et al. BMC Medical Education (2023) 23:498

Background Policymakers and program developers in low-and lower-middle-income countries (LLMICs) are increasingly seeking evidence-based information and guidance on how to successfully develop and implement continuing professional development (CPD) systems. We conducted a rapid scoping review to map...

08/12/2023

Global Health Professional Education Conference (GHPEC) in Bangkok
Date: 1-2 November 2023
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Global Health Professional Education Conference (GHPEC) was held at Asawin Grand Convention Hotel, Bangkok, on 1st-2nd November 2023. The theme of the conference was “Strengthening Primary Health Care (PHC) Professionals for Future Pandemics.” Over 300 participants from 10 countries (Brunei, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Maldives, Singapore, Thailand, and the United Kingdom) joined.
The National Health Professional Education Foundation (NHPE), one of the main organizers of GHPEC, invited Prof Bumsuk Lee, Professor of WHO Collaborating Centre for Research and Training in Interprofessional Education (IPE), Gunma University, Japan, as a speaker and panelist with support of GLO+UHC Project. NHPE, Gunma University, and GLO+UHC Project have worked closely since Phase 1. When GLO+UHC Project held a 4-day IPE Training Course in the early September 2023, Prof Lee was one of the principal lecturers of the training course.
In GHPEC, Prof Lee presented “Advancing preventive interprofessional education for future pandemics.” He introduced IPE and Collaborative Practice (CP) before the COVID-19 pandemic. He shared the influence of the pandemic on IPE and CP seen among the students and hospital staff members, and he explained how to prepare students to respond to future pandemics through IPE and CP. Prof Lee also joined the panel discussion on “How to sustain good practices of primary health care professionals post COVID-19” with Prof I Gede Putu Darma Suyasa, Rector of ITEKES Bali, Indonesia, and Asst. Prof. Dr. Weerasak Putthasri, Thailand. Prof Lee emphasized the importance of IPE in strengthening PHC professionals.
GLO+UHC Phase 2 is pleased to support and participate in GHPEC, international conference organized in Thailand. We hope NHPE and Gunma University will continue collaborating in IPE and expand their network beyond the two countries.

08/12/2023

Knowledge Co-Creation Program: “Strengthening Social Health Protection Towards Universal Health Coverage”
Date: 27 August - 9 September 2023
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JICA’s "The Knowledge Co-Creation Program (KCCP) for Group and Region Focus" is a program that aims to transmit Japanese strengths to developing countries as well as to enhance further co-learning among participating countries, including Japan. This “Strengthening Social Health Protection Towards Universal Health Coverage” training course is one of the courses in the KCCP program organized by JICA. It was held in Japan from 27 August to 9 September 2023, with participants from more than ten countries. Two participants from Thailand, one from the Ministry of Public Health (MOPH) and the other one from the National Health Security Office (NHSO), participated in this course with the support of GLO+UHC Project.

This course aims to develop capacities to meet the challenges through analyzing Japan's experiences and current situations in participants' countries and discussing methods to strengthen social health protection systems for Universal Health Coverage (UHC).

The overall goal and objective of the course are as follows.
●　Overall Goal: In each country, the policies will be made to achieve UHC
●　Objective: By sharing various countries' experiences, the participants will gain basic knowledge of health systems to achieve UHC

Through this course, the participants from Thailand were able to learn about Japan's experience with UHC and different health policies in different countries and gained knowledge on how to achieve, maintain, and improve UHC. They also gained valuable experience in learning from each other by sharing their experiences in Thailand with participants from different countries.

Thailand has already achieved UHC in 2002 and is actively supporting neighboring countries in the global agenda to achieve UHC in the world by 2023. The GLO+UHC Project supports such activities in Thailand by strengthening the partnership between Thailand and Japan on global health and UHC. It would be our greatest pleasure if Thailand's participation in this course could contribute to the maintenance and improvement of UHC in Thailand in the future and support neighboring countries aiming to achieve UHC.

Finally, the GLO+UHC Project would like to express our sincere gratitude to all those involved in supporting Thailand's participation in this training course.

07/12/2023

Monitoring and Evaluation Workshop on Improving Health Financing in Thailand
Date: 21-23 Aug 2023.
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The GLO+UHC Project Phase 2 organized the “Monitoring and Evaluation Workshop for Improving Health Financing in Thailand” from 21-23 August 2023.

The GLO+UHC Project Phase 2 has been working on health financing with the National Health Security Office (NHSO) to improve the Universal Coverage Scheme (UCS), a national health insurance scheme that covers approximately 70% of the population, managed by NHSO. In particular, the development and introduction of the Fee Schedule (FS) based on the Japanese fee schedule system and the improvement of the Claim and Audit (C/A) system have been addressed through several training courses in Japan (country focus training, invitation program, and other training program) and inviting Japanese resource persons to Thailand for lectures, exchange of opinions and knowledge sharing. These interventions have been implemented over GLO+UHC Project Phase 1 and 2.

As a result of these interventions, FS was gradually introduced at the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) from the Phase 1 implementation period, and by 2022, more than 90% of all fee-for-service items in the BMA had been replaced by FS. Based on these experiences in the BMA, the FS was rolled out across Thailand starting in October 2022.

Various attempts are also underway for C/A system, including the development or revision of guidelines, improvement of regulations and system management methods, introduction of Artificial Intelligence (AI), and training personnel in the C/A system with the support of Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Health Insurance Claims Review and Reimbursement Service, etc.

The workshop conducted a monitoring and evaluation of the activities related to FS and C/A with the aim of promoting further development of UCS in Thailand and the partnership between Thailand and Japan on Universal Health Coverage (UHC) beyond the end of GLO+UHC Project Phase 2 in December 2023. The workshop was attended by Japanese resource persons who have experience and in-depth knowledge of the topics and have been involved in supporting the development of FS and C/A in Thailand. NHSO staff, university faculty members and other resource persons from Thailand also attended the workshop.

The workshop at the meeting venue, which lasted for two days from 21-22 June, first summarized the support provided by the GLO+UHC Project to the Thai side so far for each activity on FS and C/A. Then, the persons in charge of the respective activities in Thailand reported on how Thai side used the support from Japan for the development of systems, what the outcomes are, and remained challenges. Afterwards, based on those reports, the Japanese and Thai participants discussed future directions for the further development of the FS and C/S system in Thailand. During the discussions, there was a lively exchange of opinions on the need to further, strengthen the system related to the FS and C/S respectively, to strengthen the organization for operations, and to train and increase the number of essential personnel.

On the third day, the group visited Bang Pa-in Hospital and the health center under its jurisdiction in Ayutthaya Province to observe the implementation of the FS and C/A system discussed during the two-day workshop. At Bang Pa-in Hospital, the group was first briefed by the director of Bang Pa-in hospital on the hospital's role in the region and the situation of healthcare provision. After that, the group observed how the hospital and the health center provides healthcare and how claiming operations are carried out in accordance with the FS system. The Japanese resource persons and the staff of the hospital and health center had a lively discussion on the operation of the FS and the C/A system, as well as on the practical innovations and challenges in the field.

Through this workshop, participants were able to confirm the steady development of FS and C/A in the Thai UCS and exchange opinions on the future direction of FS and C/A. This is the result of the activities of GLO+UHC Project Phase 1 and 2, as well as the fruit of the outstanding efforts of NHSO officials involved in each of these activities. The GLO+UHC Project hopes that the discussions at this workshop will help improve health financing in Thailand in the future.

Finally, we would like to express our sincere gratitude to all the Thai and Japanese resource persons who attended the workshop and provided valuable advice, as well as to all those involved in the planning, organization and implementation of the workshop.

06/12/2023

The mutual visit between Thailand and Japan for collaborative research on Health Information System - Japanese researchers visit to Thailand -
Date: 11-13 September 2023
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Health Information System (HIS) is one of the building blocks to shape the healthcare system. GLO+UHC Project has conducted a variety of activities to build the research structure, develop the capacity of young researchers and officers and strengthen the relationship between Thailand and Japan on HIS in collaboration with the Institute for Global Health Policy Research (iGHP), National Center for Global Health and Medicine (NCGM).

GLO+UHC Project promotes the following two research topics by using Thai claim data, which Thai and Japanese researchers work together.
●　Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD)
●　Ischemic Heart Disease (IHD)

Based on this background, the GLO+UHC Project has planned mutual visits between Thailand and Japan to promote research activities further, improve the capacity of young researchers involved in ongoing research, develop policy-making capacity using health information, and strengthen the network between Thailand and Japan. This visit was part of mutual visits between Thailand and Japan, with two Japanese researchers visiting the NHSO for three days.

The program of the visit focused mainly on the research on CKD. The program was attended by NHSO staff from headquarters, including those in charge of handling claim data for the research and monitoring and evaluation of NHSO activities, as well as staff from the regional offices (one each from Regions 4, 5, and 8) who are members of the working team for policy development in relation to CKD. Researchers and supervisors involved in CKD research from the Prince of Songkla University (PSU) also participated.

On the first day, a Japanese researcher reported on the progress of ongoing research on CKD and the research challenges. The Thai side then presented a transition of policy on CKD and the current challenges. Based on this information, active discussions took place between the Japanese researchers and Thai participants on how to address the current research issues.

From the second day onwards, based on the discussions of the previous day, specific data analysis methods and discussion of preliminary analysis results of the research conducted by Japanese researchers were discussed, together with confirmation of the current situation in Thailand. By the last day, the discussion on the specific analysis methods of the research was completed. The three-day program also included a review of the progress and challenges of the research being conducted by the PSU researchers. This was in preparation for the visit to Japan by the Thai researchers, which was scheduled after this visit.

During this visit, relevant personnel involved in CKD research, in collaboration research, were able to meet together and spend time discussing research issues. This enabled the Japanese researchers to significantly advance their research activities and deepen their understanding of the NHSO's policy on CKD in Thailand. The Thai counterparts were also able to gain important insights through active discussions with the Japanese researchers to improve their work and research.

GLO+UHC Project would like to express our sincere gratitude to all those who supported this visit. We will continue to make an effort to ensure that this joint research leads to the further development of health information systems in Thailand.

05/12/2023

2nd Mutual site visit between Lao PDR and Thailand on “Quality healthcare service and health insurance management”
Date: 18-22 September 2023
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The second mutual site visit between Lao PDR and Thailand on “Quality healthcare service and health insurance management” (hereinafter referred to as 'mutual visit') was conducted from 18 to 22 September 2023 by the Ministry of Health of Lao PDR and the National Health Security Office (NHSO) of Thailand in collaboration with the JICA Technical Cooperation Project "The project for improving quality of healthcare services and financial management of the hospitals in Laos (QHCF)" and "The Partnership Project for Global Health and Universal Health Coverage Phase 2 in Thailand (GLO+UHC2)."

This was the second mutual visit, following the mutual visit in Vientiane and Udon Thani in December 2022. This time, the sites were Champasak Province in southern Lao PDR and Ubon Ratchathani Province in north-eastern Thailand. The visit focused on two aspects of health insurance management and the quality of health services.

A total of 30 participants from Lao PDR from the four southern provinces where QHCF Project bases (Champasak, Salavan, Sekong, and Attapeu provinces), as well as from relevant MOH departments, including National Health Insurance Bureau (NHIB), participated in the program. A total of seven officers from Thailand participated, including two from NHSO Headquarters and five from NHSO Region 10, which has an office in Ubon Ratchathani and hosted the mutual visit. Other participants included Japanese experts and project staff from QHCF and GLO+UHC2, a policy advisor from the Lao Ministry of Health as well as an officer from the World Health Organization in Lao PDR.

On the first day of the mutual visit, the participants visited the Provincial Health Office of Champasak Province in Lao PDR, where they received an overview of the health service delivery situation and the health insurance system. The participants then visited the Champasak Provincial Hospital, the District Hospital, and the Health Centre to observe the actual situation of health service provision and the health insurance system in the Lao PDR. On the second day, the group traveled from Champasak to Ubon Ratchathani, Thailand, to visit Sirindhorn District Hospital, which plays an important role to manage the “Border Health” in the area, to observe the provision of health services at the district level and gain a better understanding of border health. On the third day, the participants received lectures from NHSO officials on Thailand's UCS, quality management of services under the UCS, and the e-claim and audit system in Ubon Ratchathani Municipality. Based on the basic knowledge gained from the lectures, the participants visited the Provincial Hospital on the fourth day and the Health Center on the fifth day to observe the actual situation of service provision, quality management at health facilities, and the operation of the UCS. This was followed by a lively exchange of opinions based on the content of the visit during a warp-up session in the afternoon of the fifth day.

Throughout the five-day mutual visit, participants were able to deepen their understanding of both Lao and Thai systems. Through discussions among the participants and with the host officials on the Thai side, the Lao participants were able to gain important insights into future activities to improve the system in Lao PDR. On the other hand, NHSO plans to establish a "UHC learning hub" to share the experience and lessons learnt, gained through the process of the achievement and development of UHC in Thailand with other countries, such as Lao PDR, so as to achieve the global agenda of UHC achievement. The mutual visit helped Thai side develop the capacity of Ubon Ratchathani officials for the establishment of the UHC learning hub. And, as in the previous visit, the mutual visit has further strengthened the relationship between Thailand, Lao PDR, and Japan for the promotion of UHC. This was one of the most important outcomes of the mutual visit as well. GLO+UHC2 Project succeeded in conducting more effective and efficient “south-south/triangular” cooperation to support UHC achievement by using JICA’s wide and dense network.

GLO+UHC2 Project hopes that the results of this mutual visit will contribute to the maintenance of cooperation between the three countries and the further development of UHC in the future. Finally, we would like to express our sincere thanks to all those who have contributed to the realization of this mutual visit.