22-04-2021
Community pharmacists in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
A new report from the WHO Barcelona Office for Health Systems Financing has highlighted the need for governments to maintain a higher level of public spending on health for the wider benefit of society despite expected budgetary pressures following the pandemic.
The report, “Spending on health in Europe: entering a new era”, is the first in-depth analysis of health spending across all 53 Member States of the WHO European Region over nearly 2 decades.
In a foreword to the report, WHO Regional Director for Europe Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge and Director of WHO/Europe’s Division of Country Health Policies and Systems Dr Natasha Azzopardi-Muscat write: “To avoid the mistakes of the past, governments will need to invest more public funding in health now and in the years ahead – even as they face growing budgetary pressure – to address the backlog created by disruption to health services, mitigate the negative health effects of foregone care, unemployment and poverty, and strengthen preparedness for future shocks.”