Tracking Universal Health Coverage

Tracking Universal Health Coverage

Author: World Health Organization

Publisher: World Health Organization

Published: 2015-07-21

Total Pages: 98

ISBN-13: 9241564970

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This report is the first of its kind to measure health service coverage and financial protection to assess countries' progress towards universal health coverage. It shows that at least 400 million people do not have access to one or more essential health services and 6% of people in low- and middle-income countries are tipped into or pushed further into extreme poverty because of health spending. Universal health coverage (UHC) means that all people receive the quality essential health services they need without being exposed to financial hardship. A significant number of countries at all levels of development are embracing the goal of UHC as the right thing to do for their citizens. It is a powerful social equalizer and contributes to social cohesion and stability. Every country has the potential to improve the performance of its health system in the main dimensions of UHC: coverage of quality services and financial protection for all. Priorities strategies and implementation plans for UHC will differ from one country to another. Enhanced and expanded monitoring of health under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) should seek to build on that experience sharpening our focus on the key health service and financial protection interventions that underpin UHC. Effective UHC tracking is central to achieving the global goals for poverty alleviation and health improvement set by the World Bank Group and WHO. Without it policymakers and decision-takers cannot say exactly where they are or set a course for where they want to go. They cannot know whether they are focussing their efforts in the right areas or whether their efforts are making a difference. Monitoring is thus fundamental to the achievement of UHC objectives. It will also be vital to the realization of the SDGs. This report is a critical step to show how monitoring progress can be done telling us what the state of coverage of interventions and financial protection is and telling us where to focus most.


Global monitoring report on financial protection in health 2021

Global monitoring report on financial protection in health 2021

Author: World Health Organization

Publisher: World Health Organization

Published: 2021-12-10

Total Pages: 132

ISBN-13: 9240040951

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The 2021 Global monitoring report on financial protection in health shows that before the COVID-19 pandemic, the world was off-track to reduce financial hardship due to health expenditures because trends in catastrophic health spending were going in the wrong direction and the number of people incurring impoverishing health spending remained unacceptably high (Chapter 1). Chapter 2 summarizes emerging evidence on the consequence of the pandemic and the related macroeconomic and fiscal crisis that points to the likely worsening of financial protection for households, particularly as a result of declining income and consumption, along with rising poverty and inequality.


Making Health Systems Work in Low and Middle Income Countries

Making Health Systems Work in Low and Middle Income Countries

Author: Sameen Siddiqi

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2022-12-22

Total Pages: 643

ISBN-13: 1009211102

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The importance of health systems has been reinforced by the commitment of Low- and Middle-Income Countries (L&MICs) to pursue the targets of Universal Health Coverage, Health Security, and to achieve Health-related Sustainable Development Goals. The COVID-19 pandemic has further exposed the fragility of health systems in countries of all income groups. Authored by international experts across five continents, this book demonstrates how health systems can be strengthened in L&MICs by unravelling their complexities and by offering a comprehensive overview of fundamental concepts, performance assessment approaches and improvement strategies to address health system challenges in L&MICs. Centred on evidence and advocacy this unique resource on health systems in L&MICs will benefit a wide range of audiences including, readers engaged in public health practice, educational programs and research initiatives; faculties of public health and population sciences; policymakers, managers and health professionals working for governments, civil society organizations and development agencies in health.


Tracking inequalities in financial hardship due to out-of-pocket health spending by age structure of a household

Tracking inequalities in financial hardship due to out-of-pocket health spending by age structure of a household

Author: World Health Organization

Publisher: World Health Organization

Published: 2024-08-01

Total Pages: 32

ISBN-13: 924009783X

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WHO and the World Bank are co-custodian agencies of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) indicator 3.8.2, one of the financial hardship indicators used to track progress towards universal health coverage (UHC)(SDG target 3.8). SDG target 17.18 calls for all countries to increase the availability of disaggregated data by age and other characteristics relevant to national contexts. In response, WHO, as a normative agency, proposed in 2020 to extend the life-course approach from age groups at the individual level to the household level to monitor inequalities in financial hardship by the age structure of the household. Based on data from 47 countries with household survey estimates for 2015–2019, the “Tracking universal health coverage: 2023 global monitoring report” published by WHO and the World Bank had identified sharp inequalities in financial hardship by the age structure of the household, especially between people living in multigenerational, older and only older, and younger households. This brief aims to provide more conceptual details about the methods used to track age-related inequalities in financial hardship due to out-of-pocket health spending and presents estimates of such inequalities for more countries than were included in the 2023 UHC global monitoring report.


IMF Engagement on Health Spending Issues in Surveillance and Program Work

IMF Engagement on Health Spending Issues in Surveillance and Program Work

Author: Mauricio Soto

Publisher: International Monetary Fund

Published: 2023-12-22

Total Pages: 57

ISBN-13:

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IMF country teams have become increasingly engaged on health spending issues in surveillance and program work, and more so since the COVID-19 pandemic. The primary objectives of health spending are to improve health outcomes and provide protection to households against high financial costs of health care. The Fund’s engagement on health spending issues is guided by an assessment of its macro-criticality, with the scope and purpose of engagement varying across countries and depending on whether it occurs in surveillance or program contexts. This technical note discusses how to assess the macro-criticality of health spending and reviews appropriate policy responses. The design and implementation of macro-critical health reforms often require specific sectoral knowledge and experience. Thus, this note emphasizes the importance of collaborating with development partners on health policy issues.


Implementing the Primary Health Care approach: a primer

Implementing the Primary Health Care approach: a primer

Author: World Health Organization

Publisher: World Health Organization

Published: 2024-05-15

Total Pages: 503

ISBN-13: 9240090584

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This Primer is about the 'how' of primary health care (PHC) and brings together best practices and knowledge that countries have generated through 'natural experiments' in strengthening PHC with the best available research evidence. Despite the progress made towards PHC globally, the concept is still often misunderstood, even within the public health community. The Primer offers a contemporary understanding of PHC and more conceptual clarity for strengthening PHC-oriented health systems. It does so by consolidating both scientific evidence and an extensive sample of practical experiences across countries for the needed evidence to address practical implementation issues. The Primer is organized in three parts. Part I explains the PHC approach, its history, core concepts and rationale, and draws out lessons for transformation. Part II addresses operational and strategic levers that make PHC work. It covers governance, financing and human resources for health, medicines, health technology, infrastructure and digital health, and their role in implementing change. Part III concludes with a cross-cutting view of the impacts of PHC on the health system, efficiency, quality of care, equity, access, financial protection and health systems resilience, including in the face of climate change.


Crossing the Global Quality Chasm

Crossing the Global Quality Chasm

Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2019-01-27

Total Pages: 399

ISBN-13: 0309477891

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In 2015, building on the advances of the Millennium Development Goals, the United Nations adopted Sustainable Development Goals that include an explicit commitment to achieve universal health coverage by 2030. However, enormous gaps remain between what is achievable in human health and where global health stands today, and progress has been both incomplete and unevenly distributed. In order to meet this goal, a deliberate and comprehensive effort is needed to improve the quality of health care services globally. Crossing the Global Quality Chasm: Improving Health Care Worldwide focuses on one particular shortfall in health care affecting global populations: defects in the quality of care. This study reviews the available evidence on the quality of care worldwide and makes recommendations to improve health care quality globally while expanding access to preventive and therapeutic services, with a focus in low-resource areas. Crossing the Global Quality Chasm emphasizes the organization and delivery of safe and effective care at the patient/provider interface. This study explores issues of access to services and commodities, effectiveness, safety, efficiency, and equity. Focusing on front line service delivery that can directly impact health outcomes for individuals and populations, this book will be an essential guide for key stakeholders, governments, donors, health systems, and others involved in health care.