Spending targets for health: no magic number

Absolute levels of public funding are critical to progress towards universal health coverage (UHC). However, health systems vary significantly in what they can achieve for a given level of spending.

In a new analysis of core health service coverage rates relative to public spending on health, in 83 low and middle income countries, variation is particularly evident at levels below PPP $40 per capita (public).

While a range of non-health system factors influence a country’s performance, this analysis demonstrates the importance of focusing not only on raising more revenues for health, but also on ensuring available funds are spent efficiently. 

Read the report on spending targets for health here. 

Take the quiz and test your knowledge on how countries perform on selected service coverage indicators of UHC, given what they spend.