Financing healthcare in low-income developing countries: a challenge for equity in health

Low-income developing countries remain challenged by the increasing demand for essential healthcare combined with governments’ inability to mobilize and allocate adequate financing to health systems. According to their country specific contexts, they need to improve the equity and efficiency of their health systems, in particular their public sector management, and increase their governmental health spending through enhanced domestic resource mobilization and more efficiency in public spending. They need to sustain external assistance and implement social protection policies that decrease out-of-pocket payments, thereby preventing people with catastrophic illness from becoming impoverished. Economic growth and increased health spending alone are not enough to scale-up healthcare coverage and achieve better health outcomes. These must be combined with accountability of results, transparent management of public funds, and multisectoral efforts with community involvement at implementation level.