WHO report: 150 million people across Africa driven into poverty by high healthcare bills

According to a new report by the World Health Organization (WHO), many African countries are relying heavily on out-of-pocket payments to fund their health services. WHO is urging governments to reduce the financial problems that high health-care costs create. The report, entitled “Towards Universal Health Coverage in the WHO Africa Region: Tracking Financial Protection,” says that between 2000 and 2019, the number of people spending over 10% of their household budget on healthcare rose from 52 million to 95 million. Half of all people affected by poverty globally, because of out-of-pocket healthcare payments, live in Africa, making it, according to WHO, a main focus to address issues such as patient fees and expanding health insurance, in the hope of reducing the financial burden.