23
Jan

Universal Health Coverage (UHC) – one of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals -- requires that all people receive quality health services they need without facing financial hardship. The focus on both effective service coverage as well as financial risk protection under UHC implies that how countries finance their health systems matters. Financing for health in most low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) is dominated by high levels of out-of-pocket (OOP) spending, an inefficient and inequitable modality which contributes to foregone care among poor and vulnerable populations, reduces the ability of households to spend on other necessities, and puts them at risk of impoverishment from high illness-related expenditures. Globally, financial hardship – as measured the number of people facing catastrophic OOP spending for health, i.e., spending that exceeded 10% of their budget – continues to deteriorate: recent estimates indicate that more than one billion – 13.5% of the world’s population faced catastrophic health spending in 2019. In order to reverse this trend, there is a need for closer tracking of financial protection indicators that in turn will help inform the design and implementation of corrective policy interventions. There is therefore a need to improve capacity to routinely as well as frequently produce, interpret, and use credible timely data on financial protection to achieve UHC.