Policy-makers are faced with daily pressures of trade-offs between different types of investments to contain public expenditures and deliver improved outcomes. This is particularly true in times of crisis and recession, often synonymous with public budget cuts and disinvestment. This poses a risk to achieving universal health coverage and may increase health poverty.

There is a misperception that investments in the health sector are a drain on the economy. However, the health sector contributes to the economy and to social goals well beyond its primary objective of improving a population’s health. In fact, the health sector promotes economic growth and job creation, contributes to social cohesion and household level income, and is important to fiscal stability and resilience during times of crisis.

In today’s context, marked by post-COVID-19 recovery and cost-of-living increases, it is crucial to be able to capture and quantify the direct, indirect, and induced economic and social benefits from investments in the health sector to ensure that decision-makers have the best knowledge to engage with ministries of finance and economy and to safeguard an appropriate level of investment in the health sector. This can be achieved through:

• country analyses and reports of the health sectors’ contribution to national economic performance and cohesion; and
• policy dialogues with health, finance and economy ministries and authorities on investment for health.