In less than a decade, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic has made remarkable progress toward Universal Health Coverage (UHC) by expanding social health protection to a large proportion of its population. To date, more than 90 percent of population coverage has been achieved. The rapid expansion of social health protection in the country is the result of a strong political commitment to achieving UHC and its financing modalities. The Lao Health Sector Reform Strategy for the period 2013–2025 was introduced in 2013 to set out a roadmap to achieve UHC by 2025, with a consequent increase in domestic spending on health (WHO 2017). In its Eighth Health Sector Development Plan (Lao People’s Democratic Republic Ministry of Health 2016), the Government of Lao People’s Democratic Republic outlined its aim to achieve UHC by 2025 and set the target of achieving 80 percent population coverage by 2020.

This country brief is part of the country briefs series: Social Protection in action: building social protection floors for all.