Health Policy Watch

Public Health Spending in Low Income Countries Stagnates – Out of Pocket Costs Soar

After an early surge of COVID pandemic spending, public health layouts by countries at all income levels declined in 2022 as compared to 2021.

Meanwhile, there has been a 60% increase overall in per-capita health expenditures between 2000 and 2022 – but this translated into a sharp rise in out-of-pocket spending (OOP) in low income countries, according to WHO’s 2024 report on global health expenditures, released on the eve of Universal Health Coverage Day, 12 December.

In low income countries, as well, public spending on health has stagnated since the turn of the millennium, with governments deprioritizing health budgets while international donor aid made up for an increasing share of the shortfall.

By the end of 2022, as countries emerged from the COVID pandemic, out-of-pocket spending, per capita, in low-income countries stood at 40% of health expenditures – and overall spending averaging $40 per person annually was less than half of the minimal baseline WHO estimates is needed to run a health care system. (...)

“We cannot achieve UHC by 2030 without addressing these things. And as we look forward, we also face three big challenges: economic headwinds are going to be worse for countries for this next period, the debt burden, debt servicing burden is huge. Some 3 billion people live in countries where they’re spending more on debt than they are on these kind of [health] services, which are crucial.

“And of course, there are other priorities emerging post pandemic for countries. So what are we going to do with this report? Well, the very first thing who is going to do is act on it, and we’re hoping all member states, all partners, will do the same thing. On UHC day [Thursday], the theme this year is ‘Health- it’s on the government’ and that’s a wonderful theme.”

Read more:https://healthpolicy-watch.news/public-health-spending-in-low-income-countries-stagnates-out-of-pocket-costs-soar/