The organization “Together for Life”, which fights for social justice in the country, published the findings of the report titled “Monitoring Health Sector Expenditures” for 2025.
The report aims to shed light on deviations from the plan and objectives of the National Health Strategy 2021–2030, as well as to present a clear overview of the actual expenditures made in the health sector during 2025 by the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare.
One of the most worrying findings of the report highlights that public spending on health and social protection in 2025 in Albania marks the lowest level measured over the last 9 years.
“Actual healthcare expenditures in 2025, including FDSKSH revenues, reached 76.6 billion lekë, constituting 2.9% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and 9.6% of total public expenditures,” the report’s findings cite, categorizing these values as the lowest since 2016.
According to experts at “Together for Life”, this downward trajectory suggests that budget priorities have gradually shifted towards other sectors.
The analyzed data further reflects another downward trend, that of per capita spending in the country.
“Albania presents the lowest level of health expenditure per capita in the region, at around $590 per capita, significantly lower than other Western Balkan countries,” the monitoring report quotes.
This low level of financing of expenditures per capita causes citizens to cover their health problems out of pocket.
“The level of out-of-pocket spending remains very high (around 48% in 2022–2023), signaling that public coverage of health services and medicines continues to be insufficient,” emphasizes the analysis by Together for Life experts.
On the other hand, personally covering health expenses significantly increases the risk of catastrophic spending for families and deepens inequalities in access to health care, especially for low-income groups and vulnerable categories.
Another worrying finding of the monitoring relates to the fact that the budget planning for the Primary Health Care program has not foreseen any funds for the Home Health Care service.
“The non-inclusion of this product is considered problematic, especially considering that this nationally extended service constitutes an essential component for providing care to the most vulnerable groups,” the monitoring cites.
Regarding the product “Persons who benefit from check-ups”, the report emphasizes that the costs are fixed and paid under concessional terms, even though the initially planned number of patients who should receive the service has not been met.
“35.3 million were paid from the state budget despite the fact that 19,151 patients did not show up to benefit from the service,” the TFL monitoring findings cite.
Also, transparency on the use of funds, especially for public investments, remains low.
Experts from “Together for Life” emphasize that reports from public institutions do not provide sufficient information on the costs, achievements and impacts of projects, making it impossible to assess the effectiveness of public investments in health.
“Failure to reflect the factors that led to budget cancellations, postponements, or revisions weakens institutional accountability and limits the ability to improve the process of planning and managing public investments in the coming years,” the monitoring report quotes.
Another challenge remains gender reporting, which is almost non-existent in the documents of public health institutions.
“Despite a clear legal obligation, gender reporting is completely absent from the Ministry of Health and Social Protection, which is the lead institution for the implementation of the Gender Equality Strategy,” the TFL report quotes. (BIRN)