Overview

Key points

• Armenia is working towards universal health coverage by expanding the basic benefits package (BBP) and by increasing public spending on health, improving quality of care and enhancing primary care.
  
• The BBP covers the whole population for primary care. While inpatient care and outpatient medicine coverage has expanded since 2019, it remains limited. A significant proportion of the population continues to rely primarily on out-of-pocket (OOP) payments which compromises financial protection and access, especially for low-income groups.
  
• The health budget nearly doubled between 2018 and 2022, but public spending on health as a share of GDP is still one of the lowest in the WHO European Region and the share of total government expenditure spent on health has remained static.
  
• Armenia faces a shortage of health workers, particularly nurses. Much of the health workforce is concentrated in the capital, Yerevan, but the Ministry of Health (MoH) is trying to address regional staff shortages.
  
• The government is expanding the use of innovative technologies to increase access and accountability and empower patients.
  
• Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) account for more than 83% of all deaths (2022) and the burden is rising. Main risk factors are high blood pressure, smoking and unhealthy diet. In response, the MoH is working on public health, screening and tobacco control.
  
• Routine childhood vaccination rates remain high, and infant and maternal mortality rates have been declining.
  
• There has been a reduction in infectious diseases overall, but Armenia faces challenges in containing multi-drug resistant tuberculosis.