Define your own key
Key
| 1 | Less than $15 |
| 2 | $15 to $53 |
| 3 | $54 to $99 |
| 4 | $100 to $299 |
| 5 | $300 to $999 |
| 6 | $1000 or over |
| 7 | no data |
General Government Expenditure on Health Per Capita expressed in PPP international Dollars
What does it mean ?
This indicator shows how much of the government's own resources are allocated to health per person. It is expressed in Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) international dollars. PPP is a hypothetical exchange rate that allows us to compare expenditure across countries while taking into account differences in the cost of living.
Why does it matter ?
This indicator can tell us whether a government spends enough of its own resources on health per person in order to guarantee universal coverage of essential services, particularly for vulnerable groups such as the poor, pregnant women and children. Universal coverage is unlikely to be achieved unless the government allocates sufficient funds to health so that everybody can access the health services they need regardless of their ability to pay. While other funding sources such as donor funds can also make an important contribution to the provision of equitable services, these funds may not be spent according to the country's priorities and may not provide a reliable source of funding in the long-term. There is no consensus on how much funding a government should allocate to health since different countries will have different needs and different contexts. However 54 (PPP) international dollars is often used as a benchmark - for example, this is the minimum amount required to achieve the health MDGs according to the 2010 Taskforce on Innovative International Financing for Health Systems.
How is it collected ?
The preferred source of data for this indicator is a National Health Account, which is an internationally agreed method for collecting information about all financial flows related to health in a country. Where a recent National Health Account is not available, the WHO's health financing team collects similar information using technical contacts in-country and publicly available documents.
2014 WHO World Health Statistics Report http://apps.who.int/nha/database
