The COVID-19 pandemic revealed weaknesses in many health systems and highlighted the need for effective primary health care. The Asia and the Pacific Health Financing Forum, held in Bangkok on September 15-16, 2022, focused on how to adequately fund primary health care while managing budgets constrained by the economic wreck of COVID-19.
With the theme ¡®Financing Primary Health Care: Opportunities at the Boundaries¡¯, the Forum provided an opportunity for participants from 19 countries to share insights and practical examples of how they¡¯re expanding health care services to reach across their communities more effectively. A provided the springboard for the discussion. The study found that health services and medicines in lower-and-middle-income-countries were often limited at primary health care facilities; were of poor quality; and incurred considerable out-of-pocket costs to patients. To address this, the forum looked at investing more wisely in health service delivery, especially at the ¡°boundaries¡± where the best ways forward are still unclear.
The forum was co-hosted by the World Bank, Australia¡¯s Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade, the Global Financing Facility, and the US Agency for International Development. It also received support from the Global Fund, the Joint Learning Network, the Global Alliance for Vaccines & Immunization, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.