UPSC Prelims Practice Questions — Strong health systems for all with better public spending

Q1. Consider the following statements comparing the 2025 fall in official development assistance with the previous year: 1. The 2025 fall was the second consecutive annual decline, the 2024 fall having been the first in six years. 2. At 23.1%, the 2025 contraction was the largest annual contraction of ODA on record. 3. The United States' 56.9% reduction in 2025 relative to 2024 was the largest reduction in volume by any provider in any year on record. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

1. The 2025 fall was the second consecutive annual decline, the 2024 fall having been the first in six years.
2. At 23.1%, the 2025 contraction was the largest annual contraction of ODA on record.
3. The United States' 56.9% reduction in 2025 relative to 2024 was the largest reduction in volume by any provider in any year on record.

• A. 1 and 2 only
• B. 2 and 3 only
• C. 1 and 3 only
• D. 1, 2 and 3

Q2. With reference to OECD data on official development assistance in 2025, consider the following statements. Which of the above is/are NOT correct?

1. Total ODA by DAC members and associates stood at about USD 174 billion in 2025.
2. Bilateral ODA fell to about USD 126 billion in 2025.
3. Humanitarian aid was the only component of ODA to record a fall in 2025, every other component recording an increase.
4. The 2025 level brought ODA back to roughly where it stood at the start of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

• A. 1 and 2
• B. 3 only
• C. 3 and 4
• D. 1 and 4

Q3. In the statistics compiled by the OECD Development Assistance Committee, which one of the following best describes the flows counted in the headline aggregate reported each year?

• A. Any cross-border transfer of public or private funds from a high-income country to a developing country, whether concessional or at market terms
• B. Grants and loans extended by multilateral development banks to sovereign borrowers, excluding flows provided directly by donor governments
• C. Concessional flows from official agencies whose main objective is the economic development and welfare of countries on the DAC recipient list
• D. Official flows to developing countries whose primary purpose is promotion of the exports and commercial interests of the provider country

Q4. The Eighth Replenishment Summit of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria — convened as development assistance for health contracted — was held in which year, and over what periodicity does the Global Fund raise its resources?

• A. 2024; three-year replenishment cycles
• B. 2025; three-year replenishment cycles
• C. 2025; five-year replenishment cycles
• D. 2026; four-year replenishment cycles

Q5. A high-level pledging summit held in Brussels in June 2025 secured over US$9 billion against a target of US$11.9 billion for the '6.0' period of which one of the following global health financing bodies?

• A. The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria
• B. Unitaid, the global health initiative hosted by the World Health Organization
• C. The Pandemic Fund, the financial intermediary fund hosted by the World Bank
• D. Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance

Q6. The 2025 Tracking Universal Health Coverage Global Monitoring Report, which reports both the service coverage index and the financial-hardship indicator under SDG target 3.8, was released jointly by which one of the following pairs of institutions?

• A. The World Health Organization and the United Nations Development Programme
• B. The World Health Organization and the World Bank
• C. The World Bank and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)
• D. The World Health Organization and the OECD Development Assistance Committee

Q7. With reference to universal health coverage and its global monitoring, consider the following statements. Which of the above is/are NOT correct?

1. UHC spans the full continuum of essential services, from health promotion and prevention through treatment and rehabilitation to palliative care.
2. The UHC service coverage index rose from 54 to 71 points between 2010 and 2023.
3. The share of the world's population facing financial hardship from out-of-pocket health payments rose from 26% to 34% between 2000 and 2022.
4. Since 2025, SDG indicator 3.8.2 has measured financial hardship using a discretionary budget approach in place of the earlier budget share approach.

• A. 1 and 4
• B. 2 and 3
• C. 3 only
• D. 2, 3 and 4

Q8. In WHO's November 2025 guidance on responding to the health financing emergency, 'strategic purchasing' of health services refers to which one of the following?

• A. Pooling donor and domestic health funds into a single treasury account before allocating them to health facilities
• B. Centralised bulk procurement of medicines and health products to obtain volume discounts from suppliers
• C. Deciding actively which services to buy, from which providers, and how providers are paid, so as to maximise health gain per unit of spending
• D. Levying earmarked taxes on tobacco, alcohol and sugary drinks to raise dedicated revenue for the health budget

Q9. Consider the following statements regarding India's National Health Accounts estimates for 2022-23. Which of the above is/are correctly identified?

1. Government Health Expenditure stood at 1.43% of GDP, having peaked at 1.84% of GDP in 2021-22.
2. Out-of-pocket expenditure accounted for 43.4% of total health expenditure, down from 64.2% in 2013-14.
3. The share of social security expenditure on health in total health expenditure stood at 9.9%, up from 6% in 2013-14.
4. Government Health Expenditure amounted to 6.12% of General Government Expenditure.

• A. 1, 2 and 3
• B. 1 and 4 only
• C. 2 and 3 only
• D. 1, 3 and 4