Universal Health Coverage (UHC) Celebration with OpenWHO Courses.

As we commemorate Universal Health Coverage (UHC) Day on 12 December, it's crucial to reflect on the vision of a world where everyone, regardless of their socio-economic background, has access to quality healthcare without facing financial hardship. This UHC day, join the movement towards achieving health for all by delving into the specialized UHC courses offered on OpenWHO. These courses, available in the dedicated UHC channel, provide a comprehensive understanding of the principles and practices essential for building robust health systems.

From exploring the fundamentals of UHC, to gaining insights into policy development, these OpenWHO courses empower learners with the knowledge needed to contribute meaningfully to the global pursuit of equitable health coverage. By participating in these courses, individuals become advocates for change, equipped to drive conversations and initiatives that promote inclusive health practices. Let's celebrate UHC Day by taking a collective step towards a healthier and more equitable world through education and informed action. Access the courses on OpenWHO and be a part of the movement for Universal Health Coverage! Access the Universal Health Coverage channel on OpenWHO here.

Call on leaders to make smarter investments and accelerate efforts towards “Health for All”.

Join us on December 12th to observe the International Universal Health Coverage Day 2022! under the theme ''Build the world we want: A healthy future for all''.

Each year on 12 December, Universal Health Coverage Day marks the date to call on leaders to make smarter investments and accelerate efforts towards “Health for All”.  In the world we want, everyone everywhere has access to quality healthcare whenever they need it without suffering financial hardship. 

Universal health coverage (UHC) lifts people out of poverty, promotes the well-being of families and communities, protects against public health crises, and moves us toward health for all. This year’s theme, “Build the world we want: A healthy future for all,” emphasizes that in order to build strong health systems we need equity, trust, healthy environments, investments and accountability.

UHC Day is an opportunity to celebrate progress and raise awareness for what is required to deliver essential health care for families and communities everywhere. This Universal Health Coverage Day marks the kick-off of WHO’s 75th anniversary of making health for all a reality and the countdown to the high-level meeting on UHC taking place at the UN General Assembly in 2023.

In the past two decades, the UHC service coverage index in the Western Pacific Region, which marks progress on increasing access to essential health services, has increased from 49 in 2000 to 80 in 2019. However, inequities in service coverage and financial hardship exist in many countries, especially among vulnerable and hard-to-reach populations.

As we have over the past 75 years, WHO stands with all people, communities and organizations across the world in taking action to “Build the world we want: A healthy future for all”.

Campaign objectives:

acknowledge and celebrate progress moving towards UHC in the Region (and world)

raise awareness for the need to increase investment from governments to build a sustainable and resilient health system that can deliver high-quality, affordable, people-centred lifelong participatory primary health care for all

emphasize the time is now to re-prioritize UHC and for health systems to work, they need to work for everyone

Build the world we want: A healthy future for all.

In 2019, world leaders endorsed the most ambitious and comprehensive political declaration on health in history at the UN High-Level Meeting on Universal Health Coverage. Ahead of the High-level meeting on UHC in 2023, we unite to call on leaders to deliver ambitious, actionable commitments on UHC, in line with this year’s UHC Day theme:

“Build the world we want: A healthy future for all.”

To build a safer and healthier future for all, we must strengthen our health systems to ensure they are equitable, resilient, and capable of meeting everyone’s needs.

Governments, international organisations, civil society organisations, the private sector, academia, and media are encouraged to use this year’s theme to keep holding leaders, our health systems and ourselves accountable to the promise of health for all. Everyone, everywhere deserves access to quality health services, in times of crisis and calm.

Raise awareness of the need for strong and resilient health systems.

International Universal Health Coverage Day aims to raise awareness of the need for strong and resilient health systems and universal health coverage with multi-stakeholder partners. Each year on 12 December, UHC advocates raise their voices to share the stories of the millions of people still waiting for health, champion what we have achieved so far, call on leaders to make bigger and smarter investments in health, and encourage diverse groups to make commitments to help move the world closer to UHC by 2030.

Health For All is only possible when services become people-centric and at primary health care level.

For countries to achieve Universal Health Coverage, a shift is needed from health systems designed around diseases and institutions, towards people-centred health systems.

Investing in Health Systems Strengthening for Universal Health Coverage through a Primary Health Care-Oriented Approach.

The COVID-19 pandemic has clearly demonstrated the necessity of strong health systems for ensuring future global health and economic security. The impacts of the pandemic have been far-reaching, across all countries and sectors: global poverty has increased for the first time in a generation, progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has reversed, and inequality within and between countries has grown – disproportionally burdening emerging economies and disadvantaged populations, where income losses caused by the pandemic revealed and worsened in preexisting economic fragilities. Universal health coverage (UHC) and health security are complementary goals for which accelerated action is urgently needed.  As we look to strengthen health systems in the wake of COVID-19, re-orientation of resources toward primary health care and essential public health functions will be critical for the achievement of UHC and the health-related SDGs. 

Event organized by the Co-chairs of the Group of Friends of UHC and Global Health (Georgia, Japan, Thailand), WHO, UHC2030, IFRC, UN Foundation

The Road to Universal Health Coverage.

The goal of universal health coverage (UHC) has become even more urgent with COVID-19, which has increased inequities and financial hardship. UHC and health security are two intertwined goals to protect everyone, everywhere, that we achieve through the same health system - in crisis and calm.

UHC means that everyone, everywhere, should have access to the health services they need without risk of financial hardship. It is embedded in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG target 3.8) and includes the full range of essential health services, spanning health promotion, prevention, and treatment.

The three dimensions of UHC are population coverage (who receives services, linked to equity), service coverage (what health services are available), and financial protection (ensuring health services do not lead to financial hardship). UHC is based on the principles of equity, non-discrimination & the right to health, ensuring that also the most marginalized populations are reached and covered, and no-one is left behind.

Call on leaders to invest in health systems and primary healthcare for all.

On 12 December, join us to demand action on universal health coverage and call on leaders to invest in health systems and primary healthcare for all that leave no one behind. Our lives, livelihoods and futures depend on it.

Promoting the health of refugees and migrants: draft global action plan, 2019–2023.

At its 140th session in January 2017 the Executive Board in decision EB140(9) on promoting the health of refugees and migrants requested the Director-General, inter alia, to prepare, in full consultation and cooperation with Member States and, where applicable, regional economic integration organizations, and in cooperation with the International Organization for Migration and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and other relevant stakeholders, a framework of priorities and guiding principles to promote the health of refugees and migrants. The framework should be a resource for Member States in meeting the health needs of refugees and migrants and contributing to the achievement of the vision of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Report by the WHO Director-General. 

Primary Health Care towards Universal Health Coverage and the Sustainable Development Goals.

Primary Health Care (PHC) is a whole-of-society approach to health that aims to ensure the highest possible level of health and wellbeing and their equitable distribution by focusing on people's needs and preferences as early as possible along the continuum from health promotion and disease prevention to treatment, rehabilitation and palliative care, and as close as feasible to people's everyday environment.

The Declaration of Astana from October 2018 states that PHC is a cornerstone of a sustainable health system for universal health coverage (UHC) and health-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The global commitment to PHC in the Astana Declaration from October 2018 needs to be transformed into tangible actions to bring about demonstrable change and visible results.

Migration Health and the Universal Health Coverage targets: Promoting Equity in Access to Health Services with Financial Protection.

The event aims to address the health needs of migrants in the current context based on examples of concrete instruments that were recently adopted in global fora, in particular the WHO global action plan on the health of migrants and refugees,

Investing in an Integrated approach to Health security and Universal Health coverage.

The African Region of WHO is the Region with the worst Universal Health coverage (UHC) indicators globally.

The purpose of this panel discussion is to increase awareness among stakeholders, partners and funders about the gains to be made from integration of Health security and Health systems strengthening through the UHC 2030 agenda, including dividends from integrated approach to HSE & UHC (an investment case) as well as to renew commitment by governments, stakeholders, partners and funders to increased investment in integrated Health systems agenda in the region which takes stock of emergency disease outbreaks in the African region.

Universal Health Coverage and Health Services for Displaced Populations

This side event will consist of a high-level session followed by a panel discussion bringing together different stakeholders. Universal health coverage and health services provided to displaced populations will be the focus. As a reflection of recently adopted Global Compact on Refugees (GCR), as well as Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), refugees' access to quality health services should be mainstreamed in national and international contexts. The discussion will feed into the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) High-Level Meeting.

Speakers will present innovative models in extending health coverage to displaced populations in the context of protracted crisis situations. As such, this session will reflect on the commitment of the countries and partners to provide UHC in the context of displacement. It will facilitate understanding about the ways in which health care for refugees is organized and delivered in receiving countries, how local health systems are adapted systematically so that refugees face fewer financial, administrative, linguistic and cultural barriers in accessing quality health services. Also the role of health diplomacy in improvement of health and well-being of refugees and therefore creation of alliances for contributing to peace will be explored in detail during the session.

Towards healthier populations by investing in nutrition and Universal Health Coverage.

The aim of this event is to catalyse efforts by Member States and other stakeholders to invest in essential nutrition actions as part of Universal Health Coverage.

Organized at the side-lines of the UN High-level Meeting on Universal Health coverage (UHC), the aim of this event is to draw attention to the fact that good health is not possible without good nutrition. That without investing in nutrition, the objectives of UHC cannot be met. A major global impact can be achieved if good quality nutrition services are provided to the entire world population as part of UHC.

This event is designed to foster dialogue among, generate interest and encourage commitments from existing as well as new health and nutrition actors.

The Governments of Uruguay, Ecuador, and the European Union co-sponsor a special event on investing in nutrition and Universal Health coverage (UHC) for healthier populations. The event will be supported by the World Health Organization, UNICEF and the Scaling Up Nutrition Movement.

Financing of Universal Health Coverage: What model of funding for the financial protection of citizens?

A side event on the financing of Universal Health Coverage, that will provide an opportunity for sharing experience and best practices on healthcare financing, and a platform to discuss the progress made to improve the health coverage,

Sustainable Financing for Universal Health Coverage.

Achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC) is an ambitious goal that requires countries to mobilize sustained financial resources for health and to redistribute them for better health, greater equity and increased social cohesion.

Briefing for Parliamentarians on Universal Health Coverage (UHC).