PHSSR Saudi Arabia 2025

20 Sustainability and Resilience in the Saudi Arabian Health System The Partnership for Health System Sustainability and Resilience Saudi Vision 2030 was launched on 25 April 2016, under the leadership of His Majesty King Salman, with a roadmap drawn up by His Royal Highness Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 2016). This initiative was driven by three overarching goals: (1) creating a vibrant society, (2) creating a thriving economy and (3) creating an ambitious nation. The objectives of the programme included promoting economic growth, raising living standards, and achieving operational distinction in public services through accelerated deployment of digital infrastructure and improved stakeholder engagement. Large-scale reforms have been initiated across the public sector, in the wider economy and across society. Despite challenges, signi ficant progress has been achieved, and this has enhanced the country’s experience and its con fidence in pursuing more meaningful and sustainable goals. The health system is no exception to this, and this report embodies a shared ambition for a more resilient, more sustainable health system in Saudi Arabia. As part of Vision 2030 , signi ficant steps are being taken in the health sector with the aim of improving health service quality, e fficiency and safety (Chowdhury S et al., 2021). The reforms underway seek to promote the financial sustainability of the health system through innovative financing mechanisms, ensure equitable access to care, and secure continuous improvements in the quality of services for Saudi Arabia’s population. Saudi Arabia is the largest economy in the Middle East and North Africa region. Its population of 36 million is growing rapidly. In 2022, it accounted for around 60% of both the total population and total health expenditure of Gulf Cooperation Council countries. The health sector is one of the government’s three top priorities, alongside education and defence, and accounts for approximately 15% of total government spending, which continues to be derived predominantly from revenues from oil and gas rather than taxation. Saudi Arabia’s demographic pro file poses certain challenges for the health sector. Striking a balance between providing adequate healthcare for a growing older population while meeting the needs of a sizable adolescent population that exhibits comparably higher levels of chronic health conditions and other youth health problems than many other developed countries is one of the biggest challenges. This report has been undertaken in collaboration with the Partnership for Health System Sustainability and Resilience (PHSSR), a global, cross-sectoral collaboration that works towards improving health systems. PHSSR has supported the report authors, a team of experts and health system stakeholders based in Saudi Arabia, in undertaking a critical assessment of the sustainability and resilience of the health system in the aftermath of the unprecedented local, regional and global challenges presented by the Covid-19 pandemic. By disseminating the findings, we hope to forge solid worldwide connections for knowledge exchange and to seek the most appropriate organisational and executive approaches to respond to our findings. Eventually, we aim to utilise the findings to improve the sustainability and resilience of our own health system and health systems globally. Health system sustainabilityA sustainable health system improves population health by continually delivering the key functions of providing services, generating resources, financing and stewardship, incorporating principles of financial fairness, equity in access, responsiveness and efficiency of care, and does so in an environmentally sustainable manner. Heath system resilienceA resilient health system is able to prevent, respond to, manage the health system impact of, and recover and learn from, acute and chronic crises (including, but not limited to, pandemic threats, climate change and economic and technological shocks), minimising their short- and long-term impacts on health, social and economic wellbeing.PHSSR definitions of health system sustainability and resilience