By Anjali Sharma
UNITED NATIONS – World Health Organization on Thursday released its 2024 Global Health Expenditure Report, coincided with Universal Health Coverage Day has revealed troubling declines in government health spending.
The report, titled Global Spending on Health: Emerging from the Pandemic, shows a reduction in per capita government health expenditures in 2022 across all income groups, following a surge during the early COVID-19 pandemic years.
The agency said that this concerning trend undermines progress toward Universal Health Coverage, a goal enshrined in the Sustainable Development Goals.
Universal Health Coverage Day emphasized the urgent need for governments to prioritize financial protection, ensuring access to essential health services for all without risking financial hardship.
Some 4.5 billion people worldwide lack access to basic health services, and 2 billion experience financial hardship from healthcare costs.
The high price of medical care presents impossible choices between vital treatments and necessities like food and housing.
These challenges disproportionately impact vulnerable populations, including women, children, and adolescents, who face the greatest barriers to healthcare access.
WHO head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said “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 added.
The agency noted that reduced government health investments can have far-reaching consequences.
It stressed without sufficient funding, health systems waver, leaving populations vulnerable in both their routine health needs and crises.
The COVID-19 pandemic shed light on the connection between UHC and health security, underscored the need for resilient health systems that protect everyone, everywhere.
Investing in health is not just a moral imperative but an economic one.
Access to affordable healthcare improves workforce participation, boosts productivity, and fosters social cohesion.
On the contrary, when healthcare costs force people into poverty, the economic ripple effects can be devastating.
The global leaders have reaffirmed their commitments in multiple declarations since UN General Assembly’s endorsement of UHC in 2012. Yet, financial protection has worsened over the last two decades.
This Universal Health Coverage Day advocates are urging governments to meet their commitments by prioritizing health funding in national budgets.
The 2024 UHC Day theme, “Health: It’s on the Government”, underscored the role of governments in ensuring equitable and affordable healthcare for all.
Advocates have called on leaders to protect the poorest and most vulnerable from impoverishing health costs and to ensure no one has to choose between healthcare and basic needs.
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