Our findings shed light on the need to better target health sector resources in Myanmar, including
for curative care, to specific population groups, including households with young children,
households living in rural areas and households with chronically ill members. However,
Myanmar’s public sector share of aggregate health spending is low relative to other countries in
the region and will adversely impact physical access and quality of health services for needy
groups.25 Limited budgets likely result in fewer personnel, shortages of drugs and other equipment
and overall quality of care in public sector facilities. In WHS data, nearly 15.5% of rural
respondents rated their outpatient care experience in the public sector as being moderate to very
bad (compared to 5.3% for urban respondents).12 Shortages of drugs and other equipment in
public sector facilities are reflected in high levels of OOP spending for drugs and diagnostics