Responding to the challenge of resource mobilization - mechanisms for raising additional domestic resources for health

Overview

There is no magic formula for defining what is the correct or sufficient level of health spending in  a particular country. Some  countries like  Rwanda, Sri-Lanka or Thailand have shown that a broad range of accessible and affordable  health services can be provided to the  population with a relatively low level of health expenditure at the other end of the spectrum,  certain  high-income  countries spend vastly more per head on the provision  of health services, yet arguably  do so in an inefficient and/or inequitable way, which implies that the same health outcomes could have been achieved with  lower spending levels.

This report is part of a series, The World Health Report 2010 Background Papers, which were written to inform the process of developing the key messages of the World Health Report 2010: Health systems financing: The path to universal coverage.