WHO technical brief on health financing for universal health coverage through primary health care
Since 2015, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have driven efforts to improve health protection and care across the world. But while the health sector has made steady progress on increasing the coverage of essential health services until 2015 (SDG indicator 3.8.1), at the same time financial protection worsened as tracked by SDG indicator 3.8.2 for catastrophic health spending. Tackling these problems is therefore a defining challenge for current efforts to achieving universal health coverage (UHC) following the COVID-19 pandemic and in a time of economic contraction. The priority is to substantively reorient health systems towards primary health care (PHC) and to strengthen universality while focusing on policies which protect the poor and vulnerable.
Key messages
- Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, global progress towards UHC was mixed.
- Deteriorating levels of financial protection is observed in many countries.
- Persistent inequalities remain in terms of access to essential health services.
- Health inequalities will be compounded by the currently constrained fiscal situation and limits on public spending on health in the near term.
- Fragmented, poorly designed health financing and coverage policies, and inadequate budgeting processes still dominate many health systems.
- Phasing out fossil fuel subsidies would support climate resilience with savings supporting UHC.
