Strengthening primary health care financing: policy considerations for Kyrgyzstan
Abstract
Development of the primary health care (PHC) system has been the core part of transformative health system reforms in Kyrgyzstan. Following various strategies, the country has made progress towards establishing a PHC-centred health system. Reflecting international evidence on PHC financing, this policy paper aims to describe the status of PHC financing in Kyrgyzstan and to provide policy options for strengthening PHC financing, in order to improve health outcomes and increase the value for money of public spending. Public spending on PHC services in Kyrgyzstan is comparable to that of other countries with a similar income level. Although PHC spending is prioritized in the health budget, per capita public spending on PHC is among the lowest in the WHO European Region. Kyrgyzstan has made efforts to grant universal access to basic PHC services. However, the complex multilevel PHC organizational structure and heavy reliance on narrow specialists do not allow maximum value to be extracted from the limited PHC budget. To strengthen PHC financing, Kyrgyzstan should consider reviewing its PHC benefits package to better align it with population health needs and the available level of public funding, redesigning the PHC provider payment system, and improving the provider monitoring mechanism.Citation
World Health Organization. Regional Office for Europe. (2023). Strengthening primary health care financing: policy considerations for Kyrgyzstan. WHO Regional Office for Europe. https://iris.who.int/handle/10665/373013. License: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO