In 2022, health priority declined globally from COVID-19 peak, says WHO

Health priority declined in all country income groups globally in 2022, a new report revealed.

The report Global spending on health: Emerging from the pandemic published by World Health Organization (WHO) on December 9, 2024 focused on health spending in 2022, the third year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The report detailed the financial responses of various countries globally to the health and economic impacts of the pandemic. It indicated that in high-income countries, the average health priority decreased as overall government expenditure reduced.

In both upper-middle and high income countries, average health priority remained around 1 percentage point above pre–COVID-19 pandemic levels. In low and lower-middle income countries, average health priority fell close to pre-pandemic levels. 

There are variations in the patterns of health priority between 2019 and 2022 within each income group, said the report.

While health spending remained elevated in 2022, it declined from its peak during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Aggregate global health spending in 2022 was $9.8 trillion, or 9.9 per cent of global gross domestic product, down from 2021 and the first decline in real terms since 2000 but still well above that in 2019.

Global spending on health in 2021 was $9.8 trillion, or 10.3 per cent of global gross domestic product.

By the third year of the COVID-19 pandemic, the proportion of government spending allocated to health (an indicator of its priority) stayed almost one percentage point higher than the pre-pandemic level in upper-middle and high-income nations.

Government scheme trends

In all country income groups, government schemes responded most quickly to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020, government scheme spending per capita rose in real terms in 132 of 163 countries.

In 2021, government scheme spending per capita continued to rise, on average, in all income groups except in low income countries. 

In 2022, in line with the general decline in domestic public spending on health, government scheme spending fell by 7 per cent; 107 of 162 countries had lower spending than in 2021 and 75 of them recorded a decline of more than 10 per cent.

But in 116 countries, government scheme spending per capita remained higher in real terms in 2022 than in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.

The end of the COVID-19 pandemic presents an opportunity to review how countries channelled funding through different schemes within health systems. Most of the increase in public spending on health was channelled through government schemes (mainly budgets) to fund the pandemic response.

The report stated that meeting global health objectives in the upcoming years will require robust political dedication and enhanced cooperation between health and finance ministries to guarantee sufficient public health funding.

Collaboration among development partners will be crucial in helping low- and lower-middle-income countries enhance their health systems, making them more sustainable and resilient.