According to the joint study, released Monday at the Chilean headquarters of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the island allocated 13 percent of its GDP to health that year.

It is followed by Uruguay and Colombia (seven) and El Salvador, Nicaragua, Argentina and Bolivia (six).

Both UN agencies recognize that in recent decades public resources for health care in the region have increased, reaching an average of 4.5 percent of GDP.

Although this is an improvement, it is less than the six percent target proposed by ECLAC and PAHO.

The report presented on Monday is the third prepared by the two institutions after the 2020 and 2021 documents dedicated to the analysis of the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic.

ECLAC and PAHO called on the countries in the area not to postpone health on the public agenda during the current post-pandemic period and to invest in this sector to reduce inequality and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

Overcoming the barriers to access to care, which today cause almost three out of 10 people have unmet needs, is essential to achieve universal health, said PAHO director Jarbas Barbosa.

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