Public financial management related questions: the health financing progress matrix
Country assessment guide
Overview
The Health Financing Progress Matrix (HFPM) is the World Health Organization’s standardized qualitative approach to assessing country health financing systems. Together with estimates of revenues and expenditures provided through the Global Health Expenditure Database, and measures of service coverage and financial protection, the HFPM assesses the extent to which health financing arrangements support progress towards UHC. Nineteen statements of good practice in health financing, expressed as desirable attributes, form the benchmarks against which countries are assessed.
The HFPM comprises of thirty-three questions across seven assessment areas, with the Public Financial Management (PFM) section comprising of five dedicated questions looking at a country’s PFM processes and arrangements in the health sector. These are as follows:
- Is there an up-to-date assessment of key public financial management bottlenecks in health?
- Do health budget formulation and implementation support alignment with sector priorities and flexible resource use?
- Are processes in place for health authorities to engage in overall budget planning and multi-year budgeting?
- Are there measures to address problems arising from both under- and over-budget spending in health?
- Is health expenditure reporting comprehensive, timely, and publicly available?
In addition to five dedicated PFM questions, eight questions from other assessment areas are considered directly relevant to PFM. These thirteen questions are summarised in this document, to support country assessments focusing on PFM arrangements within a broader Health Financing Progress Matrix (version 2.0) assessment. Further background of the Health Financing Progress Matrix is provided in the Guidance Paper.