TOKYO, Japan – A new World Bank report has noted that people in developing countries, including the Caribbean, spend half a trillion dollars annually – over $80 per person – out of their own pockets to access health services.
The report, which was launched ahead of the G20 Summit in Japan, said such expenses “hit the poor the hardest.”
It noted that lack of universal access to quality, affordable health services threatens decades-long progress on health, endangers countries’ long-term economic prospects, and makes them more vulnerable to pandemic risks.
The Washington, D.C.-based financial institution said the report informed a first-ever G20 Finance and Health Ministers joint session hosted by Japan on June 28 in Osaka, after being discussed by G20 finance ministers last month.
“Globally, health is an important economic sector that accounts for 11 percent of GDP (gross domestic product) and generates millions of jobs, many of them for women,” the World Bank said.
