Universal health coverage, or the provision of necessary health services free of financial hardship, is a priority for many health organizations. World Health Organization Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan stated, “I regard universal health coverage as the single most powerful concept that public health has to offer.” To this end, WHO and World Bank Group have published the first of what will become an annual global monitoring report on the progress of universal health coverage. The report tracked the availability of essential health services around the world and covered topics such as antenatal care, sanitation facilities, tobacco use, and diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP3) immunization coverage.
The inaugural report ultimately found that “400 million people do not have access to essential health services.” The partnership between WHO and World Bank Group is particularly important because universal health coverage has global economic implications. According to the report, 6% of citizens of low- and middle-income nations are driven or further pushed into extreme poverty ($1.25 per day) as a result of spending on health services. Senior Vice President and Chief Economist of the World Bank Group, Dr Kaushik Basu, warned, “these high levels of impoverishment, which happen when poor people have to pay out of pocket for their own emergency health care, pose a major threat to the goal of eliminating extreme poverty.”
In response to the report, WHO and World Bank Group recommended that all nations prioritizing universal health coverage work to to cover essential health services for at least 80% of their population and safeguard 100% of individuals from “catastrophic and impoverishing” health costs.
A United Nations resolution on universal health coverage established “the right of every human being to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.” The resolution continued to encourage member states to actively pursue universal health care “as a means of promoting sustained, inclusive and equitable growth, social cohesion and well-being of the population.” And yet, over a billion people annually undergo health issues because medical services are outside of their economic means.
Universal health coverage aims to eliminate that suffering by promoting global access to “the full spectrum of essential, quality health services… including health promotion, prevention and treatment, rehabilitation and palliative care.” Though universal health coverage often implies economic intervention, it is not a strictly financial matter. Provision of essential health services also necessitates infrastructure such as a sufficient workforce of health professionals, adequate facilities and information structures and functional health technologies.
Identifying data points for measurement and assessment is an important part of implementing these changes, which the WHO and World Bank Group report aims to do. Knowledge of the available information can help nations and organizations track their progress and identify areas of improvement. “As the saying goes, ‘what gets measured, gets done.’ With countries around the world taking steps to provide universal health coverage, the ability to identify gaps and effectively measure progress will add critical momentum to this global movement,” said Managing Director at The Rockefeller Foundation Michael Myers.
For more information on universal health coverage, see this WHO fact sheet.
