WHO summarized Tajikistan’s efforts in transforming its health system to accelerate progress toward Universal Health Coverage (UHC). Significant reforms supported Primary Health Care (PHC) approach with a strong family medicine focus, thus strengthening the health system on the way to ‘health for all’.
Tajikistan’s transition from a highly centralized healthcare system to PHC began with legal reforms to establish new financing mechanisms to increase health spending and improve financial protection for the population. The Tajikistan government has, as a result, progressively increased funding for primary care services, resulting in higher government health spending and an overall increase in public health spending as a percentage of GDP.1Health financing reforms are underway to provide a more comprehensive and unified approach to healthcare financing, fostering a move from input-based resource allocations to strategic purchasing of primary healthcare services. Progressively increasing public resources available for PHC is pivotal to improving communities’ access to essential healthcare services.
WHO noted Tajikistan’s transition towards improving the demand for and access to primary care services and. WHO supports the country’s shift from a system heavily reliant on hospital-based secondary and tertiary care towards primary care and public health.
According to WHO, the portion of public health budget allocated to PHC has increased from 34.6% in 2010 to 40.7% in 2022. As a result, the number of PHC visits per person has been rising steadily from 4.8 in 2010 to 7.6 in 2022. Moreover,
To further improve access to essential health services, especially to the poorest and most vulnerable households, Tajikistan is also revising the Basic Benefit Package (BBP), using a phased implementation starting with priority groups alongside additional co-payment arrangements. As of 2021, the BBP covers 33.1% of the Tajikistan population,2 with ongoing efforts to expand coverage and harmonise different co-payment and fee-for-service arrangements to reduce financial barriers to healthcare.
The full text of the featured story describing Tajikistan’s progress toward UHC via PHC can be found at WHO webpage here.
