Contextualising Sehat Sahulat programme in the drive towards universal health coverage in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

OBJECTIVES: To describe the evolution of the Sehat Sahulat Programme (SSP), a large-scale health insurance scheme launched by the provincial government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan and to contextualise it in the national discourse around Universal Health Coverage (UHC). METHODS: This review was based on peer-reviewed publications and publicly available grey literature over the last five years (2016-2020). We employed a combination of deductive and inductive approaches informed by the World Health Organisation's (WHO) UHC box framework. REVIEW: SSP was launched on 15 December 2015. It has been implemented in four phases, with a gradual expansion in the population, services and cost coverage. In 2015, SSP covered the poorest 21% of the population in four pilot districts. On 20 August 2020, the coverage was expanded to 100% of the population of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. SSP conferred free access to an expanding list of inpatient, secondary and tertiary care services. The scheme covered all expenditures during hospital admission, with a defined upper ceiling. The ceiling for secondary and tertiary care has improved, with marked changes in tertiary coverage, from PKR 0 in Phase1 PKR 400,000 in Phase 4. Despite the progress, SSP did not cover key health-related targets under Goal 3 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and partially covered Pakistan's UHC benefits package. CONCLUSION: SSP coverage of population, disease and financial protection has expanded over five years. However, SSP coverage was not aligned with the national UHC priorities and the SDGs.