Global health financing is facing significant challenges, prompting a call for urgent reform. At the 2025 World Bank Group Spring Meetings, a high-level roundtable was held to address these issues. Ministers of Finance and Health, along with private sector leaders, foundations, and civil society from around the world gathered to discuss strategies for making health systems more effective and accessible globally.
The event was hosted by the World Bank and Wellcome Foundation. It emphasized moving from strategic planning to actionable steps. The World Bank aims to support 1.5 billion people with quality, affordable health services by 2030. A new leadership group has been established to promote solutions and reforms while mobilizing financing to build stronger health systems.
Investing in primary health care was identified as both a moral and economic necessity. According to World Bank Group President Ajay Banga, countries need to focus on smarter spending, workforce training, infrastructure resilience, insurance expansion, supply chain modernization, and regulatory frameworks to encourage private sector investments.
Speakers at the event highlighted the importance of sustainable financing led by individual countries rather than fragmented approaches. They argued that healthcare should be viewed as an investment in economic growth rather than just a cost.
Several countries shared their innovative approaches toward universal health coverage (UHC). Indonesia's initiative includes a nationwide health screening supported by $4 billion from the World Bank aimed at equipping 10,000 primary care centers. Ethiopia is integrating healthcare with broader development goals such as energy access and job creation through rural electrification and digital infrastructure investments.
Grenada emphasized climate-linked health vulnerabilities among small island states while Nigeria focuses on fiscal space created by subsidy reforms to expand basic services and create jobs in the health sector value chain. South Africa underscored the importance of durable investment in preparedness within its G20 Joint Finance and Health Task Force role.
Multilateral partners like WHO and bilateral partners such as the United Kingdom stressed supporting country priorities through sustainable financing aligned with economic development goals. Foundations called for shifting from aid dependency towards empowering catalytic investments that enable domestic resource mobilization.
Participants concluded that concrete implementation plans are needed leading into December’s Universal Health Coverage Forum in Tokyo. Japan pledged continued leadership in global health financing reform while highlighting its experience managing universal insurance systems.
The World Bank plans to tackle key constraints within healthcare systems using proven solutions scalable through lending policies partnerships across public-private sectors creating job opportunities scaling digitization technologies critical enhancing alignment multilateral development banks regional actors mobilize joint financing efforts momentum already translating action new leadership group ministers partners help champion reforms scale best practices investors philanthropies global actors aligning efforts provide capital co-financing policy support
World Bank President stated “We set a target of 1.5 billion because if you don’t aim high you don’t move far.” With ambition coordination commitment converging bold ideas can turn real impact building inclusive resilient ready challenges ahead