The World Health Organisation (WHO) has raised fears that governments’ less spending on health care has severe consequences for people’s finances, which could lead to increased hardship.
A recent WHO’s report which covered two years( 2020- 2021), explained the influence of the average per capita government spending on health sector across countries’ income groups during the years under review.
The published report titled, “Global Spending on Health: Emerging from the Pandemic,” aligns with the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) Day campaign held yearly on December 12.
This year’s campaign centred on improving financial protection for people everywhere to access the health services they need.
Explaining its importance on delivery UCH, WHO cautions that, “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.”
Also, the WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus stressed that, access to health has significantly increased globally, but acknowledged the effect of the services on people, leading to 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,” Ghebreyesus said.
To prevent financial burden on people,the WHO stated that recognising out-of-pocket spending will help achieve UHC.
The report further indicated, “that out-of-pocket spending remained the main source of health financing in 30 low- and lower middle-income countries.”
While, ‘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 added.
Furthermore, a recent data shows that over a third of high-income countries, and more than 20% of total health spending were paid out-of-pocket.
The global health organisation ,therefore urged world leaders to prioritise UHC and tackle health expenses, targeting 2030.
Among the effective strategies outlined by WHO to strengthen financial protection include, minimizing or removing user charges for those most in need, particularly people with low incomes or chronic condition.
The organisation also urged the adopting of laws to protect people from impoverishing health costs and establishing health financing mechanisms through public funding to cover the larger population.
The report also noted that, “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.”
