37
Figure
21
suggests that OOP for health care is low in OICmember countries in Sub-Saharan African
and South Asia. This on its own is good news from health access point of view, as low OOP
encourages people to access health care when needed. Yet, from Figure 20 we know that these
same countries spend the least amount per capita on health, which implies that even though little
or no OOP is required to access health in these countries they may not have enough health
infrastructure/services to go around. In the other extreme countries like Saudi Arabia (SAU) has
a very high OOP spending for health which can make accessing health very difficult for the poor
even though Figure 20 suggests that the country has well-funded health infrastructure. Therefore,
to determine health access in OIC countries health spending and OOP should be considered jointly.