The world needs to spend at least another 1% of its income on primary health care if it is to meet its health targets, experts have warned.
Without improvements, some five billion people will have no access to health care in 2030 – with provision failing to keep pace with population growth, the World Health Organisation said.
A special United Nations Assembly is due to issue a new declaration on universal health coverage today.
WHO calls for an extra 200 billion dollars of annual spending on primary health care in low and middle-income countries. This would save 60 million lives a year, it says.
Henrietta Fore, UNICEF Executive Director, said: “Too many women and children continue to die from easily preventable and treatable causes simply because they can’t get the care they need to survive.
“By working with communities to provide primary health care to the poorest and the most vulnerable, we can reach the last mile and save millions of lives.”
WHO director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said: “If we are really serious about achieving universal health coverage and improving people’s lives, we must get serious about primary health care.
“That means providing essential health services like immunisation, antenatal care, healthy lifestyle advice as close to home as possible – and making sure people do not have to pay for this care out of their own pockets.”
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