Today's Edition
GENEVA (ALETIHAD)
The World Health Organization (WHO) on Thursday unveiled the 2024 Global Health Expenditure Report, showing the average per capita government spending on health in all country income groups fell in 2022 from 2021 after a surge in the early pandemic years.
The report entitled, “Global spending on health Emerging from the pandemic” has been published in alignment with the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) Day campaign marked annually on December 12. The campaign’s focus for 2024 is on improving financial protection for people everywhere to access health services they need.
Government spending on health is crucial to delivering UHC. Its deprioritisation can have dire consequences in a context where 4.5 billion people worldwide lack access to basic health services and 2 billion people face financial hardship due to health costs, according to the report.
“While access to health services has been improving globally, using those services is driving more and more people into financial hardship or poverty. Universal Health Coverage Day is a reminder that health for all means everyone can access the health services they need, without financial hardship,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General.
Who’s Paying for Healthcare?
Protecting people from financial hardship due to out-of-pocket health costs is fundamental to achieving health for all. Yet, WHO’s report underscores that out-of-pocket spending remained the main source of health financing in 30 low- and lower middle-income countries. In 20 of these countries, more than half of total health spending in the country was paid for by patients out of their pocket, which contributes to the cycle of poverty and vulnerability.
The report highlights the challenges posed by the lack of financial protection for health are not limited to lower-income countries. Even in high-income countries, out-of-pocket payments lead to financial hardship and unmet need, particularly among the poorest households. Most recent health accounts data show that in over a third of high-income countries, more than 20% of total health spending was paid out-of-pocket.
On the occasion of UHC Day, WHO is calling on leaders to make UHC a national priority and eliminate impoverishment due to health-related expenses by 2030.
