MYANMAR
Low levels of public investment and poor coordination are some of the challenges that have slowed UHC’s progress in Myanmar. But the country’s latest plan could help overcome those issues.
DEMOGRAPHICS
Population
(Million)
53.3
GDP per capita
(annual)
$1,299
Human Development
Index ranking
148
UHC INDICATORS
UHC
service coverage
index
60.7%
Physicians
per 1,000
population
0.7
Catastrophic expenditure:
10% of household
consumption or income
14.4%
Source: World Health Organization: Tracking universal health coverage: 2019 Global Monitoring Report
OVERVIEW OF UHC DEVELOPMENTS
Recent political changes and economic reforms have brought in a new dawn of rapid growth in Myanmar. The country has also expressed strong commitment to achieve UHC, but it faces significant funding hurdles.
Key challenges include low levels of health spending, a dominant out-of-pocket payment situation, poor coordination between vertical channels of health funding, and inflexible government budgeting arrangements. There is also little financial protection for the majority of the population from catastrophic health spending.
To tackle those issues, the National Health Plan 2017-2021 provides a roadmap for achieving UHC in three five-year phases via the progressive roll out of an Essential Package of Health Services, guided by the principles of equity, inclusiveness, accountability, efficiency, sustainability and quality.
Click here to see country initiatives under the L4UHC programme.
VISIT THE P4H MYANMAR PAGE