The World Health Organization has stated that governments must boost spending on primary healthcare by at least an additional one per cent of their gross domestic product in order to widen coverage and stop impoverishing patients.

More people are having to pay out-of-pocket for often costly medicines and treatment and the answer is public investment in primary healthcare

According to Dr Peter Salama, WHO Executive Director of universal health coverage, it would cost an additional US$200 billion per year to scale up primary healthcare in low-and-middle-income countries. “We believe it is achievable and affordable,” he stated. “Even though it seems like a large sum, we know most countries can actually afford to do this based on their domestic resources. It is only a handful of countries that require international aid to scale up their primary healthcare.”

According to a report compiled with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and World Bank, although there has been some progress, more people are having to pay out-of-pocket for often costly medicines and treatment and the answer is public investment in primary healthcare close to home, including immunisation.

The report found that around $7.5 trillion is spent on health globally each year but barely half of the global population are covered by essential health services. It states that if current trends continue, up to five billion people will miss out on healthcare in 2030.

"It is quite shocking to see the increasing number of people which are at risk of poverty due to health spending," said Francesca Colombo, Head of the health division at the OECD. "Even in high-income countries ... there has been growth in the share and in the number of people who spend large prop