Extracts below. Full text here: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(25)02313-X/fulltext?dgcid=raven_jbs_etoc_email
'With drastic reductions in health aid threatening essential services and millions of lives, WHO issues new guidance for countries to safeguard health budgets, limit out-of-pocket payments, and mobilise domestic resources.
'With the sudden health aid cuts by the USA — the world's biggest donor — and other major donors severely impacting millions of people in low-income countries, global health leaders have hailed the new guidance by WHO as a timely wake-up call.
[ https://cdn.who.int/media/docs/default-source/health-financing/respondin... ]
'Foremost, the aid shock is putting access to essential health services, life-saving medicines, and vaccines at risk, and reducing health emergency preparedness and response, as well as hampering disease surveillance programmes that are crucial for global health security.
'Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, warned on Nov 3, “The world is now facing a global health financing emergency that demands urgent, coordinated action..."
'The WHO guidance includes a set of immediate policy measures to cushion the effect of the health aid cuts. These include a call for governments to increase and protect budget allocations for health; prioritise the health services accessed by the people living in poverty to avoid increased out-of-pocket payments; improve efficiency through better procurement, reduced overheads, and strategic purchasing; and integrate externally funded or disease-specific services into primary health-care-based delivery.'
From the report:
'The set of actions a country decides to take forward can be supported and further refined by the following analytics. Importantly, not all analytics are necessary in all contexts, and what is taken forward should be prioritized based on information needs and available resources.'
A glance through the report suggests a strong emphasis on primary health care 'to support the efficient organization and delivery of integrated, high-quality services based on a primary health care approach'.
HIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of HIFA (Healthcare Information For All), a global health community that brings all stakeholders together around the shared goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. HIFA has 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting in four languages and representing all parts of the global evidence ecosystem. HIFA is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK-based nonprofit in official relations with the World Health Organization. Email: neil@hifa.org