The COVID-19 pandemic had a severe impact on all countries—advanced, emerging, and low-income alike. To mitigate its consequences and protect lives and livelihoods, countries increased public spending on healthcare and implemented programs to support their economies and unemployed populations in 2020. This increase in health spending was significant for emerging market economies (EMEs) and low-income developing countries (LIDCs), as their domestic health spending had been relatively low prior to the pandemic. Nevertheless, spending in many countries remains far short of what is needed to provide universal health care and meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Considering the prevailing fiscal outlook, it remains uncertain whether even maintaining (let alone increasing) health outlays can be sustained in the long term. The future of such spending in countries currently experiencing or at high risk of debt distress is particularly troubling […]