ABSTRACT
It is clear that health financing is central to providing the different components of health systems vital to making progress in the implementation of universal health coverage (UHC). However; there are several constraints on health financing systems throughout the African Region which are impeding this progress. These include: insufficient financial resources; heavy reliance on out-of-pocket health expenditure; inefficiency in management of health systems; levels of governance and accountability; harnessing stakeholder contributions in health financing; and weak research; including monitoring and evaluation. Progress is being made on the last issue with the rolling out of the revised System of Health Accounts 2011. The article concludes with a list of the Region's key requirements which would facilitate strengthening health financing and thus improve UHC