Laura Poy Solano
La Jornada Newspaper
Sunday, December 7, 2025, p. 8
The World Health Organization (WHO) warns that 2.1 billion people in the world face economic difficulties in covering medical care. Of them, 1.6 billion live in poverty or will face extreme poverty due to health expenses.
In the report “Monitoring universal health coverage: global monitoring report 2025”, released yesterday, it highlights that despite the advances in universal health coverage, they have not been rapid enough, which violates the right to health of millions of human beings.
He adds that 55 percent of health spending is allocated to the purchase of medicines, but among those who face poverty “the pressure is even much greater, since on average they allocate 60 percent of health spending to the purchase of drugs, which forces them to sacrifice other essential needs.”
The report, prepared in collaboration with the World Bank, also recognizes progress: between 2000 and 2023 the Service Coverage Index rose from 54 to 71 points, reflecting greater access of the population to essential health services, while the proportion of people facing economic problems due to medical care expenses fell from 34 to 26 percent.
However, international organizations warn that, without greater speed in universal access to health services, the global goal of achieving coverage by 2030 will not be achieved, and will even be far from the objective.
“At this rate, one in four people will continue to be in financial difficulties at the end of the period set for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals,” highlights the report, which points out that out-of-pocket spending on health services also affects non-low-income population segments, especially in middle-income countries, where it was detected that this group is growing.
The expansion of infectious disease programs, the report reveals, has been one of the key drivers of increased coverage. Interventions for chronic diseases have seen sustained progress, but advances in sexual, reproductive, maternal, neonatal and child health have been more modest.
The WHO emphasizes that despite the improvements achieved, inequalities are still deepening, since in 2022 “three out of every four people in the poorest quintile faced financial difficulties due to health expenses, compared to less than one in 25 among the richest quintile.”
Therefore, the WHO launched an urgent call for action with core activities, such as guaranteeing free essential health care to the poor or vulnerable, expanding public investment in health systems and addressing people’s high spending on medicines.
In addition, it proposes accelerating access to essential services for chronic diseases, strengthening primary care to promote equity and efficiency, as well as adopting multisectoral approaches that recognize that the determinants of health go beyond the health sector.
