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A new global progress report on universal health coverage highlights the importance health plays in improving social and educational outcomes.

Health for All is catching on, but millions are still left behind

Released on 12 June by the World Bank and the World Health Organisation, in New York, USA, this first-ever progress report highlights global momentum for universal health coverage as well as unacceptable gaps. It reminds the world that even as universal health coverage catches on, health for all is a right too many people are waiting for.

To end poverty and boost shared prosperity, countries need robust, inclusive economic growth, the report says, further acknowledging that “to drive growth, they need to build human capital through investments in health, education, and social protection for all their citizens”.

It also insists that it is “essential to assess changes in non-health system social determinants of health such as educational attainment and poverty rates, as such changes also greatly influence coverage and outcomes”.

The report’s key points are the following:

• More countries than ever are embracing universal health coverage. More than 100 low and middle-income countries, home to almost three-quarters of the world’s population, have taken steps to deliver universal health coverage.

• There is still a huge gap in access to essential health care. 400 million people lack access to one or more of seven lifesaving health services, including childhood immunisation, malaria control, HIV/AIDS treatment and family planning.

• The number of people impoverished by health care has declined slightly over the past decade, but is still too high. Six per cent of people in low- and middle-income countries are pushed or further pushed into extreme poverty ($1.25/day) because of health spending – that figure rises to 17% when poverty is defined as $2/day (based on a survey of 37 countries).

• This is the clearest evidence to date of both the global momentum toward and urgent need for universal health coverage – a pivotal element of the Sustainable Development Goals expected to be ratified by the UN later this year.

Call for greater action and progress in health

Six months ago on the first-ever Universal Health Coverage Day, 12 December 2014, a historic global coalition of over 500 organisations in more than 100 countries urged governments to ensure access to quality health care without financial hardship. On Universal Health Coverage Day 2015, the coalition will call for greater action and progress. Universal health coverage is a pivotal element of the Sustainable Development Goals expected to be ratified by the United Nations later this year.