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.png "Indonesia moves forward on universal health coverage while addressing remaining gaps")
Indonesia moves forward on universal health coverage while addressing remaining gaps
Indonesia has made significant progress toward achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC), with its national health insurance scheme, Jaminan Kesehatan Nasional (JKN), covering over 86% of the population. The country’s UHC Service Coverage Index stands at 67, reflecting both progress and remaining challenges.
Key Achievements:
- Expanded Health Coverage: Indonesia's JKN has registered over 253 million participants, representing 93% of the population.
- Improved Health Outcomes: The national stunting rate was reduced from 30.8% to 20.5% between 2018 and 2023.
- Increased Primary Healthcare Spending: Primary health care spending rose by 18.3% compared to pre-pandemic levels, expanding access to essential health services.¹ ²
Challenges:
- Financial Hardship: Around 26.6% of the population still experiences financial hardship due to health spending, with the poorest families disproportionately affected.
- Healthcare Disparities: Urban-rural gaps in healthcare access and quality persist, with remote areas facing limited access to healthcare facilities and personnel.
- Non-Communicable Diseases: Detection and treatment rates for hypertension and diabetes remain low, requiring increased focus on prevention and management.
Future Directions:
- Strengthening Health Systems: Indonesia aims to enhance its health system through the Health Transformation Agenda, which includes improving healthcare infrastructure, increasing the number of healthcare professionals, and leveraging digital technologies.
- Improving Financing Sustainability: The government needs to address funding deficits in the JKN system, improve compliance with premium payments, and explore sustainable financing models.
Most countries make progress towards universal health coverage, but major challenges remain, WHO–World Bank report finds
A recent report by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Bank Group reveals that while most countries have made progress toward Universal Health Coverage (UHC), significant challenges persist. Despite improvements in health service coverage and reductions in financial hardship, the poorest populations continue to bear the greatest burden of unaffordable health costs.
Key Findings:
- 1.6 billion people are pushed into poverty or further into poverty due to health expenses.
- 4.6 billion people worldwide lack access to essential health services.
- 2.1 billion people experience financial hardship accessing healthcare.
Challenges:
- Reduced international aid and increasing healthcare costs strain national health systems.
- The rising burden of non-communicable diseases demands more complex and expensive treatments.
- Inadequate primary healthcare infrastructure and lack of multisectoral collaboration hinder effective UHC implementation.
Recommendations:
- Ensure essential healthcare is free at the point of care for people living in poverty and vulnerable situations.
- Expand public investments in health systems to strengthen infrastructure and workforce capacity.
- Address high out-of-pocket spending on medicines through price regulation and generic drug promotion.
- Accelerate access to essential NCD services, including prevention, early detection, and treatment.
- Strengthen primary healthcare to promote equity and efficiency.
- Adopt multisectoral approaches, recognizing that health is influenced by factors beyond the healthcare sector.
WHO raises alarm over growing health inequality, financial barriers in Africa
The World Health Organization (WHO) has raised concerns over growing health inequality and financial barriers in Africa, highlighting the need for increased investment in healthcare. Key issues include¹ ²:
- Financial Hardship: Over 423 million people in Africa faced financial strain due to healthcare costs in 2022, with more than 384 million pushed into poverty.
- Limited Access to Healthcare: Many Africans rely on out-of-pocket payments for healthcare, which can be catastrophic for those who are already poor.
- Debt Burden: African countries are expected to service $81 billion in debt by 2025, surpassing anticipated external financing inflows and further eroding fiscal space for health investments.
- Healthcare Disparities: Only three countries - Rwanda, Botswana, and Cabo Verde - have consistently met or exceeded the Abuja Declaration target of allocating at least 15% of their national budgets to health.
To address these issues, experts recommend³:
- Increased Investment: Governments should allocate more funds to healthcare to reduce reliance on out-of-pocket payments and improve healthcare infrastructure.
- Debt Relief: Providing debt relief to developing countries can alleviate long-term economic harm and stop the cycle of disease outbreaks deepening inequality.
- Universal Health Coverage: Implementing universal health coverage and risk-pooling mechanisms can protect people from financial hardship.
- Strengthening Primary Healthcare: Investing in primary care can reduce healthcare costs and improve health outcomes in the long run.
- Targeted Interventions: Implementing targeted health policies that address the root causes of inequality, such as expanding access to healthcare and promoting gender equality in health.
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