Understanding the global measure of primary health care expenditure

Overview

The aim of this document to broaden the understanding of the global Primary Health Care Expenditure (PHCE) measure to nontechnical audiences. It is organized around a set of critical questions about PHC and the global PHCE measure, which help to explain the global PHCE measure methodology, application and utility.

The aim was to devise the measure with three primary aims, which are to: reflect the PHC definition and to be relevant to policy; use the System of Health Accounts 2011 methodology – the only systematic and internationally recognized framework for tracking healthcare spending; and inform cross-country comparisons of PHCE – regardless of countries’ service delivery architectures or health system configurations.