Reuters: Health care investment needed to curb out-of-pocket spending: WHO
“Governments must boost spending on primary health care by at least an additional 1 percent of their gross domestic product to widen coverage and stop impoverishing patients, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Sunday. Despite some progress, more people are having to pay out-of-pocket for often costly medicines and treatment, the U.N. agency said in a report compiled with the OECD and World Bank…” (Nebehay, 9/22).

U.N. News: With 5 billion set to miss out on health care, U.N. holds landmark summit to boost coverage
“Some five billion people risk missing out on health care in 2030, unless countries close glaring gaps in health coverage, a new report revealed on Sunday, as the U.N. prepares to host a landmark summit to speed up progress on universal health care. The study, “Primary Health Care on the Road to Universal Health Coverage”, estimates that around 60 million lives could be saved by upping annual spending on primary health care in low and middle-income countries by some $200 billion per year…” (9/22).

Additional coverage of the report is available from BMJ and Xinhua.