The world's health systems are facing a full-blown crisis as funding dries up and countries slash budgets, the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned. In a stark assessment, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the organization is experiencing "the greatest disruption to global health financing in memory" - and the impacts are already being felt by millions of people around the world.
What this really means is that access to essential healthcare is being severely restricted, with the WHO reporting that in around 25% of countries, some health facilities have had to close completely due to funding cuts. Out-of-pocket payments for services have soared, while supply shortages and job losses in the sector are mounting.
A Cascading Crisis
The roots of this crisis lie in decisions by wealthier nations to scale back their health aid and development spending. WHO forecasts indicate that global health investment is likely to drop by up to 40% this year, down a staggering $10 billion from 2023 levels. And with many developing countries heavily dependent on external aid to fund their healthcare systems, the consequences have been severe.
In sub-Saharan Africa, for instance, the WHO says people in at least 70 countries are now missing out on vital medical treatment. In Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe, US-funded programs accounted for up to 30% of total health spending - a void that will be extremely difficult to fill.
Calls for New Funding Models
The bigger picture here is that the WHO and global health leaders are now urgently calling for new, more sustainable funding models. Tedros has warned that the agency faces "very painful" budget cuts of its own, including staff reductions and office closures, that will further impact services worldwide.
Their recommendations include boosting domestic health budgets, tapping new revenue streams like "sin taxes" on harmful products, and working with multilateral lenders to secure low-interest loans. Crucially, the WHO is also pushing for donor funding to be channeled through national health systems rather than parallel aid programs.
As Tedros put it, the world currently spends "vast sums protecting themselves against attacks from other countries, but relatively little on protecting themselves from an invisible enemy that can cause far more damage." The hope is that the looming health financing crisis will force a rethink on those priorities.