On 23 April 2026, the World Health Organization (WHO) Country Office for Thailand co-organized a national consultation with Prince Mahidol Conference Award Strategic Institute (PMAC SI) to build a shared understanding of the revised methodology for Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) indicator 3.8.2, which monitors financial hardship related to out-of-pocket health spending. The consultation aimed to agree on follow-up actions for applying the revised indicator to strengthen Thailand’s Universal Health Coverage (UHC), support the principle of leaving no one behind and better utilize national data for decision making.
Participants included representatives from the Ministry of Public Health (MOPH), the National Statistical Office (NSO), the National Health Security Office (NHSO) and the International Health Policy Program Foundation (IHPF).
Why SDG 3.8.2 matters
SDG 3.8.2 is a core indicator for tracking financial hardship, a key component of financial risk protection under UHC. It assesses whether households face financial hardship as a result of health spending and helps identify population groups that may remain vulnerable despite current universality approach of health service coverage. The indicator supports analysis of equity, benefit design and health system performance, alongside complementary assessment of unmet health needs.
Key deliberations
Participants reviewed the implications of the revised methodology and highlighted several considerations for national monitoring:
- The revised indicator measures financial hardship and should be interpreted together with analysis of unmet health needs and forgone care.
- Thailand’s National Poverty Line (NPL), together with national household microdata is central to domestic policy improvement, while the Societal Poverty Line (SPL) embedded in the revised methodology supports international comparison.
- Preliminary analysis suggests that most of the population who faced financial hardship groups are poorest quintile (Q1) of household expenditure, rural and people who live in the North, Northeast and South. Bangkok recorded the lowest levels of financial hardships; however, this may partly reflect underestimation where care is not sought, which is classified as unmet need.
National collaboration on data and policy
The consultation emphasized coordinated roles across stakeholders. NSO leads on household survey data, poverty measurement and SDG reporting. NHSO contributes system-level interpretation through its stewardship of the UHC. IHPP supports technical analysis of financial hardship and unmet need and provides policy-relevant interpretation linking financial hardship patterns with health financing and service use. Together, these roles support integrated use of SDG 3.8.2 for national policy and global reporting.
Agreed actions
Participants agreed on the follow-up action to:
- Validate key survey variables and adjustment of data collection design to align with the revised SDG 3.8.2 methodology.
- Develop visual comparisons between the previous and revised SDG 3.8.2 methodologies, including comparisons using SPL and NPL to support interpretation.
- Conduct further disaggregated analysis by income group and geographic area, with particular attention to the poorest quintiles.
- Present findings on national and international policy platforms and integrate results into UHC and SDG monitoring systems.
- Establish a national technical working group on financial risk protection.
- This marked the first occasion on which all key stakeholders convened to jointly review the revised SDG 3.8.2 methodology and agree on coordinated next steps for monitoring the indicator using national data.
- WHO supported and moderated the consultation to strengthen country capacity for UHC and SDG monitoring, promote alignment with internationally agreed methodologies, and support the use of national data for policy relevant analysis.
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