Timor-Leste

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Asia

11.4%CHE/GDP

5.9%OOP/CHE

7%GGHE-D/GGE

2BGDP (USD)

1.3MPopulation

2.6%Catastrophic Health Spending

Timor-Leste is a lower middle-income country with a population of 1.34 million people, 42% of whom live in poverty. In 2017, government health expenditure accounted for 86.63% of current health expenditure. Of this figure, out-of-pocket (OOP) spending accounted for 8.3% and voluntary health care payment schemes accounted for 5%. The health sector budget accounts for only 5.4% of the national budget and 3.88% of GDP. External financial sources also contribute to strengthening the health system through vertical programmes.

Island nation with a strong resolve for social protection

The health system in Timor-Leste is predominantly public with a national health system that covers all citizens under the country’s ministry of health (MOH). A range of additional social health protection schemes and programmes is designed to expand health coverage to hard-to-reach populations as well as vulnerable population groups^[1].

Low OOP due to low utilization

Health services in Timor-Leste are mainly financed and provided by the government. In principle, health care in public facilities is free at the point of service, with direct OOPs lower than in most countries in the region. However, the low OOP rate is linked to lower use of health services and required reallocation to increase the accessibility and availability of health services.

In 2019, Timor-Leste launched the Health Financing Strategy 2019–2023 to “ensure financial protection for the population; increase health funding to cover unmet needs; reduce inequities across territories and population groups; and improve system-level allocative and technical efficiency”. The MOH aims for a strategic approach to sustainable health financing to ensure that people have universal access to health services without impoverishment.

References

[1] International Labour Organization. Extending Social Security to Workers in the Informal Economy: Lessons from International Experience. Nov. 2019.