Does health financing in Saudi Arabia need a national health accounts framework?

摘要

National health account (NHA) is considered as an effective tool to support policymakers in capturing financial flows within the health system and providing information required to develop effective health policies. Global experiences on NHAs have demonstrated a significant impact on health policy development for better health care. Many countries in the Arab region have already made efforts to institutionalize the NHA in their health systems. Based on extensive review of different reports, documents, and empirical studies in the field of NHA, the paper gives the concept and evolution of NHA and discusses the Saudi health system perspectives and the way forward for institutionalizing a NHA system. The findings indicate the significance of implementing the NHA framework for evidence-based decision-making as well as an aid to the development of a robust and effective policy for the health sector to achieve Saudi Arabia’s “Vision 2030.” The paper also offers a plan of action to be followed to institutionalize a NHA system in the Ministry of Health.