The Ministry of Health & Wellness (MOHW) of Belize is committed to strengthening primary healthcare across Belize. In line with this commitment, the MOHW has launched the Belize HealthSector Strategic Plan (BHSSP) 2025–2034, a comprehensive and forward-lookingblueprint designed to advance health and well-being for all Belizeans. This plan buildson the foundation of the previous strategic period while responding to emerging healthchallenges with innovative and inclusive solutions. BHSSP seeks to ensure that no one in Belize is left outside the purview of the Universal Health Coverage (UHC).
TheBHSSP sets goals, strategies, and outcomes to ensure equitable access to quality healthservices without financial hardship. The plan seeks to safeguard access to information aboutpeople’s health, whether individual or collective and establishes mechanisms for citizenparticipation in health-related decision-making. It also promotes state-driven information andaccountability mechanisms.
BHSSP contains three strategic objectives. The first strategic objective is “Strengthen MOHW Leadership and Stewardship.” This strategic objective provides clear policy direction by strengthening and consolidating MOHW leadership and stewardship under the principle of “One Plan, One Budget (decision-making), One Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning System.” It emphasizes enhancing the Ministry of Health and Wellness’ (MOHW) regulatory functions and capacities to safeguard public health, while promoting effective policy dialogue, coordinated stakeholder participation in decision-making processes, and legally binding commitments aligned with the “leave no one behind” agenda.
The second strategic objective is “Establish a Comprehensive, Equitable, People-Centered, and Responsive Health System Strengthened by a Solid Governance Structure.” This strategic objective aims to establish a comprehensive and equitable health system in which all levels of care are integrated and accessible through a people-centered approach that prioritizes the needs of vulnerable and marginalized populations. It focuses on reducing health disparities in line with the “leave no one behind” principle, placing individuals, families, and communities at the center of decision-making and healthcare service delivery, while ensuring the health system remains responsive to evolving challenges such as non-communicable diseases (NCDs), population ageing, pandemics, and emerging health technologies.
The third strategic objective is “Promote Healthier Choices and Behaviors among Individuals, Families, and Communities by Empowering Them to Understand and Actively Exercise Their Right to Health.” This strategic objective promotes healthier lifestyles through knowledge sharing and community empowerment by improving health literacy through appropriate information to enhance health knowledge. It also emphasizes fostering shared responsibility for health and reducing healthcare expenditures for both individuals and the health system, while supporting the development of a National Health Promotion Policy.
The MOHW through the Policy Analysis and Planning Unit(PAPU) is responsible for the oversight and implementation of the BHSSP 2025-2034 and has the mandate to lead the implementation process which must be dynamic, demanding close follow-up and good, systematic monitoring, evaluation, and learning processes.
The Implementation Plan is divided into three phases based on the efforts needed to achieve the expected outcomes stipulated in the Strategic Framework according to the timelines. Phase I: Foundational Setup (2025–2027) focuses on establishing the national legal framework to guarantee Universal Health Coverage and the Right to Health, addressing the social determinants of health, implementing an integrated Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Framework with standardized indicators, establishing a National Digital Health Governance Framework to ensure interoperability and secure digital data, and strengthening governance mechanisms with inter-sectoral influence to consolidate an integrated, territorial, primary healthcare-based system.
Phase II: Policy Formulation and Health System Strengthening (2028–2031) focuses on aligning current and future health policies and plans with the “leave no one behind” goal, establishing a functioning Inter-Governmental Committee to support policy decision-making and accountability, formulating and implementing a prioritized National Research Agenda, strengthening the national health surveillance system, developing sustainable financing mechanisms to increase public health expenditure to 6% of GDP, implementing an equitable Human Resources for Health (HRH) allocation, retention and capacity-building plan, and ensuring that health promotion initiatives and campaigns are aligned with programme policies, strategies, research outcomes, and the promotion of informed healthy choices and behaviours.
Phase III: Consolidation and Scaling (2032–2034) focuses on ensuring equitable access to comprehensive, integrated and people-centered health services, establishing a social participation platform to incorporate civil society and community inputs into health policy decision-making, addressing the social determinants of health through intersectoral action to reduce health inequities, strengthening quality management across the health system through updated procedures and resource allocation, and launching a national people-centered health promotion strategy reaching at least 80% of the population with a focus on disease prevention through healthy lifestyles and supportive environments.
