Health spending in Latin America & the Caribbean (LAC) was about USD 1,000 per person in 2017, only ¼ of what was spent in OECD countries.
At the same time, health systems’ capacity is also considerably lower, including the ability to provide access to services of good quality to the most vulnerable groups. In addition, much is left to be done to improve efficiency, effectiveness and targeting of health spending.
While the LAC region is struggling to respond to the major challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, a serious reflection is needed not only on how to secure more funding but also on how to spend resources better, according to a new joint OECD – World Bank report, the first Health at a Glance publication entirely dedicated to the LAC region.
Health at a Glance: Latin America & the Caribbean 2020 says that total health expenditure across LAC countries is 6.6% of GDP, lower than the 8.8% in OECD countries. Spending varied from 1.1% in Venezuela to up to 11.7% in Cuba and 9.2% in Uruguay in 2017.
Government spending and compulsory health insurance represent an average of 54.3% of total health spending in LAC, significantly lower than the 73.6% in the OECD. This shows that health systems in the LAC region are heavily dependent on out-of-pocket expenditures or supplemental private insurance from households. Honduras, Haiti, and Guatemala have the highest proportions of private spending, while Cuba and Costa Rica have the lowest.
Health systems in LAC have fewer resources and less capacity than OECD countries to confront the COVID-19 pandemic. The LAC region has an average of two doctors per 1,000 population, and most countries stand well below the OECD average of 3.5, with only Cuba, Argentina, and Uruguay having more. The average number of hospital beds in LAC is 2.1 per 1,000 population, which is less than half of the OECD average of 4.7. Barbados, Cuba, and Argentina have more hospital beds than the OECD average, whereas the stock is below one hospital bed per 1,000 population in Guatemala, Honduras, Haiti, Venezuela, and Nicaragua.
The report highlights that poor allocation of health spending is slowing down, if not halting, progress towards universal health coverage in LAC.
Read the report: Health at a Glance: Latin America & the Caribbean 2020.
Original source: OECD
Published on 16 June 2020