Fiscal Space for Health in Bangladesh : Towards Universal Health Coverage
A strong health financing system will be an important priority as Bangladesh seeks to meet theexpectations of its population and embrace its future as a middle-income country. The objective of this report is to present policymakers with a foundatio...
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| Format: | Report |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2018
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/268141537541184327/Fiscal-space-for-health-in-Bangladesh-towards-universal-health-coverage http://hdl.handle.net/10986/30521 |
| Summary: | A strong health financing system will be
an important priority as Bangladesh seeks to meet
theexpectations of its population and embrace its future as
a middle-income country. The objective of this report is to
present policymakers with a foundation for an informed
discussionabout government health spending and future health
financing options in Bangladesh. It analyzesalternative
sources of additional health financing and their potential
contribution to higher spending in the sector. The findings
will be relevant to both the Ministry of Finance (MoF) and
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) and can inform
a dialogue between the two Ministries as the government
seeks a way forward.Fiscal space for health is a
particularly important policy challenge for Bangladesh
because it currently has one of the lowest levels of
government health spending in the world.Fiscal space for
health refers to the availability of budgetary room that
would allow a government to increase health spending without
jeopardizing the sustainability of its fiscal position. In
general there are five potential sources of fiscal space:
(1) economic growth which translates into more overall
government revenues and, in turn, a larger health budget;
(2) a reprioritization within the budget in favor of health,
resulting in higher expenditures; (3) increased overseas
development assistance (ODA) for health; (4) an increase in
health-specific resources, such as earmarked taxation or
insurance contributions; and (5) greater efficiency in the
use of existing health budget resources such that additional
resources become available for new spending.The report also
presents illustrative scenarios to show the potential impact
that these channels can have on fiscal space for health in
Bangladesh going forward. In summary, financing health in
Bangladesh over the short to medium term will require a
combination of existing and additional domestic resources
that result from economic growth, improved tax collection,
and most significantly a moderate re-prioritization of the
budget in favor of the health sector. A longer-term agenda
will relate to the possibility of generating additional
resources through individual contributions starting with the
formal employed sector, if that is the path chosen. |
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