November 29, 2012
The Special Rapporteur’s annual report to the UN General Assembly focuses on health financing in the context of the right to health. According to the Rapporteur, Anand Grover, full realization of the right to health is contingent upon the availability of adequate, equitable and sustainable financing for health, at both the domestic and international levels.
The present report thus discusses the obligation of States to ensure adequate, equitable and sustainable domestic funding for health. The report addresses three critical areas in health financing:
- how States ensure adequate funds are available for health and the sources from which they raise these funds;
- how these funds are pooled; and
- how funds and resources are allocated within health systems towards ensuring universal access to good quality health facilities, goods and services.
The Special Rapporteur also explores a number of substantive issues in this regard, including taxation and international funding for health; pooling mechanisms including social health insurance; and allocation of health funds and resources between primary, secondary, and tertiary health care and the resource divide between rural, remote and urban areas. The Special Rapporteur concludes his report with a set of recommendations on ensuring availability of adequate resources for health, pooling funds and allocating health funds equitably.