The Philippines ranks around 40th and UK 6th in world Gross Domestic Products / GDPs ( total value of all goods and services produced in a country ). They are roughly 159 billion GBP and 1,521 billion GBP respectively. Populations are around 102 million and 63 million.
Philippines total health expenditure was around P 430 billion ( 7 billion GBP ) in 2011. This is about 4.4% of GDP. UK total health expenditure was around 143 billion GBP. This is about 9.4% of GDP.
These are not the only differences. World Health Organization / WHO recommends 5% of GDP be spent on health. Philippines spending is similar to Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia. But the Philippines Government’s SHARE of spending is little over a quarter, and " private sources " ( non-Governmental ) account for a majority. Household or " out-of-pocket " expenditure still accounts for more than half. " Social insurance " like PhilHealth, and grants from the rest of the world account for about a tenth.
In the UK, 50 years ago, the NHS consumed about 3.4% of GDP. The historic tendency has been for health spending to grow. In the next 50 years the UK could be spending about a fifth of its entire wealth on public provision of health and social care. Hopefully this will continue to improve health, well-being and quality of life. The population and life expectancy are increasing; other factors are costs of providing care and developing medical technology.
Over 4/5 of total UK expenditure on health care is public spending. A much smaller proportion than in the Philippines is " privately " funded, through out-of-pocket spending and/or insurance. It seems that the trend in expenditure will be upwards. This will either be by increased taxation and / or private spending / insurance. Many changes are being suggested or implemented. The reason we have a significant minority of foreign-trained doctors ( especially in hospital ) is because our graduates don’t want to work in certain essential specialties. Out-of-hours care by GPs is another problem requiring attempts to change their contracts, no easy task.
We are told that the UK economy has started to recover. Demands on the health service and therefore costs are rising faster.
Philippines economy has " grown respectably " in the past few years. However, health indicators there have largely stalled. More so than in the UK, there is " social inequity " in financing and delivery of health services. Metro Manila, Central Luzon, CALABARZON, and other urbanised areas are similar to other middle-income countries. At the other extreme, eastern Visayas and regions of Mindanao resemble countries in sub-Saharan Africa for health.
The gap between rich and poor Filipino households – for health financing, access to services, and health status - has not improved. Reasons for this include :-
• rapid population growth ( not helped by failure to implement the Reproductive Health Law ) compared to its neighbours ;
• political instability ( Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao has the worst health indicators in the country ) ;
• type of economic development – " jobless growth " ( insufficient in agriculture / manufacturing, reliance on business outsourcing and remittances from OFWs ) ;
• geographic nature of the country ( over 7000 islands ) ;
• frequent disasters - typhoons and volcanoes ;
• widespread corruption;
• more " non-communicable diseases " like heart disease and cancer ( just as in the UK ), rather than communicable diseases as in the recent past.
For both countries, boundaries between health care ( hospitals ) and social care ( community ) are likely to become increasingly blurred. They do need to be better integrated. Short-term fixes by the governments – and health ministers - of the day are not the answer.
I don’t have all the solutions, but as health inevitably concerns us all, the facts ( as I see them ) may be of interest to members.
http://www.nscb.gov.ph/pressreleases...S1-01_PNHA.asp
http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story...omic-boom-pids
http://www.pids.gov.ph/index.php
http://www.kingsfund.org.uk/sites/fi...0for%20web.pdf
http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/dcp171766_308689.pdf
Quote Reply
Same thing may apply in the UK.
Originally Posted by Jake
... excellent thread, Alan!
