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 Lancet Commission study on Financing Primary Health Care: Putting People at the Centre 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.