Out-of-pocket payments for health care push hundreds of millions into poverty, making it crucial for global leaders to address the global health financing emergency domestically and internationally to achieve universal health coverage, or UHC.
Today, 2 billion people experience financial hardship due to health expenses, which they have to pay out of their own pockets. In 30 low- and lower-middle-income countries, out-of-pocket expenses remain the primary funding source for health.
Prospects for future improvement are grim. Many LMICs have struggled to return to pre-COVID-19 economic growth and government spending trajectories. In nearly half of 78 LMICs surveyed in a report by the World Bank in 2023, the health share of general government spending in 2022 fell below the pre-COVID-19 levels of 2019. The global health financing gap threatens to worsen this worrying trend of health care impoverishment, impeding progress toward UHC. Yet despite these pressing challenges, some countries are already pursuing strategies to expand health investments, demonstrating that progress is possible.
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The UHC Movement Political Panel
This piece reflects the voice of the members of the UHC Movement Political Panel, which includes: Ambassador Minata Samaté Cessouma, commissioner for health, humanitarian affairs and social development of the African Union; Mr. James Chau, WHO goodwill ambassador and president of the China-United States Exchange Foundation; Dr. Mariam Jashi, UNITE chapter chair for Eastern Europe and Central Asia; Prof. Ilona Kickbusch, founding director at the Global Health Centre of the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies; Dr. Justin Koonin, former UHC2030 co-chair; Dr. Tlaleng Mofokeng, United Nations special rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health; Ms. Joy Phumaphi, co-chair of the Global Pandemic Preparedness Monitoring Board; Ms. Gisela Scaglia, UNITE chapter chair for Latin America and the Caribbean and vice governor of Santa Fe, Argentina; and Mr. Akihisa Shiozaki, member of the House of Representatives, Japan.
