Governments deprioritizing health spending could lead to financial hardship – WHO report warns

The report highlights a drop in average per capita spending across all income groups, signaling a shift as countries adjust to post-pandemic fiscal realities.

The report titled, “Global spending on health Emerging from the pandemic” has been published in alignment with the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) Day campaign marked annually on 12 December.

The campaign’s focus for 2024 is on improving financial protection for people everywhere to access the health services they need.

Government spending on health is crucial to delivering Universal Health Coverage, “Its deprioritization 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,” WHO report warns.

However, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, emphasized that 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,” he stated.

The WHO report emphasizes the critical need to shield individuals from financial hardship caused by out-of-pocket health expenses, recognizing this as a fundamental aspect of achieving universal health coverage.

Recent health accounts data indicate that in over a third of high-income countries, more than 20% of total health spending is paid out-of-pocket.

On UHC Day, WHO is urging leaders to prioritize UHC and eliminate impoverishment due to health-related expenses by 2030.

“Public funding needs to budget for an affordable package of essential health services – from health promotion to prevention, treatment, rehabilitation, and palliative care – using a primary health care approach,” the report explained.

The report highlights that during the COVID-19 pandemic (2020–2022), public spending on health, primarily through government health budgets, enabled health systems to respond rapidly to the emergency.

“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.

“This reflects the advantage of government budgets in financing public health functions, particularly population-based public health interventions, during health emergencies,” WHO stated.

Government funding ensured more people were protected, and more lives were saved.

Emerging from the pandemic, countries are at a crossroads.

Emerging from the pandemic, countries are at a crossroads.

WHO stressed that governments are facing difficult decisions as they work to strengthen the resilience of health systems against future health threats while addressing the healthcare needs of their populations in a challenging economic environment.