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60 Fighting the Diseases of Povertyhundred per cent of the funding will be from private sources, firstlythrough taxes, and secondly through voluntary medical aid or insuranceschemes and voluntary out-of-pocket payments.Citizens have the right to expect that the taxes they pay to fundthe health care of the poor will be used in a cost-effective, efficientand equitable manner. They can rightly demand that governmenthealth policy be conducive to the continued growth and developmentof private health care.South Africa’s health-care challenge will be best met if governmentexchanges its role in health-care provision for that of funderof health care for the poor, purchasing care from competing privatehealth-care providers. The most effective mechanism to achieve theempowerment of the poor is to provide them with resources topurchase health care directly from service providers of their choice.The implications for health-care reform are that government should:◆◆◆◆◆Refrain from unnecessarily interfering with and micromanagingprivate health-care provision and encourage thosewho can afford to pay for their own health care to do so.Direct its resources to ensuring that the poor receive adequatecare from providers of their own choice.Fund the needy directly through appropriate means such asvouchers, smart cards, or contributions on their behalf tocompeting medical aid funds, to allow poor patients topurchase quality health care.Encourage the development of health-care insurance productsfor the emerging market.Remove controls that increase health-care costs or prevent theprovision of care by scrapping all requirements for certificatesof need, price controls, compulsory community service,registration requirements for medicines already approved inthe European Union, the United States, Canada, Australia andNew Zealand, and such other countries that meet certaindefined standards.