Moves To Strengthen Health Financing In The Caribbean

Under the umbrella of the Alliance for Primary Health Care (A4PHC), the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the World Bank, and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) convened a two-day interactive event, the Caribbean Health Financing Forum, this week to explore avenues for strengthening health financing in the Caribbean. Representatives from health and finance ministries across the Caribbean, including those from the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, participated in the Forum at the World Bank Headquarters in Washington, D.C. During the Forum, Dr. Rhonda Sealey-Thomas, PAHO Assistant Director, highlighted the region’s leadership in Primary Health Care and stressed the need for comprehensive health financing strategies. She outlined challenges in ensuring sustainable health financing, including the Caribbean’s dependence on global tourism revenue, increasing climate change-induced natural disasters, and the disproportionate impact of external economic shocks. Currently, public health spending in the Caribbean is low (3.6% of GDP) and out-of-pocket expenses are high (nearly 31% of current health spending). This places a significant burden on households and frequently leads to catastrophic health expenditure and impoverishment. However, according to the PAHO Assistant Director, “fiscal space analysis, domestic resource mobilization, enhanced financial risk protection, and improved...