Health for all is the foundation of resilient communities that contribute to a more prosperous, peaceful and sustainable future. Today, more than ever, the health and well-being of people everywhere is under threat. In an increasingly turbulent world confronted by climate change, conflict, disease outbreaks and complex health emergencies, countries need to deliver universal health coverage (UHC) urgently to protect their populations.
WHO, with support from its donors and partners, has been working to turn high-level political commitments on UHC into action and investment in countries. This includes the provision of technical expertise in designing more equitable and resilient health systems using a primary health care (PHC) approach, developing health plans, strengthening the delivery of medicines and vaccines, boosting the health workforce, promoting health and preventing diseases, among others.
On Universal Health Coverage Day 2023, we showcase various stories of hope and progress. In Burkina Faso, for example, district health facilities are better equipped to address the growing burden of noncommunicable diseases after receiving assistance to strengthen their health workforce and to deliver essential care. In Tajikistan, maternal and child mortality rates have decreased as a result of investments in infrastructure and health workforce training at primary care level. In India, communities living in the forests, many of whom have never visited a hospital in their lives, are now able to access basic health services during their weekly visits to their community markets. Mobile medical teams are using these markets as a strategic way to reach remote populations. In Lesotho, more lives are saved through the improvement of critical care capacities. WHO is also working with countries to ensure that refugees and migrants worldwide have access to healthcare.
Read these inspiring stories from the field and learn how countries are advancing towards delivering health for all, with the support of WHO, its partners and donors.
Broadening access to hypertension care in Burkina Faso
A doctor in Burkina Faso tests a patient for hypertension. ©
WHO’s Package of Essential Noncommunicable Disease Interventions (WHO PEN), complemented by the PEN-Plus strategy, has strengthened the management and care of chronic and severe noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) in Burkina Faso. This initiative was made possible through the support from WHO and the Danish government. Measures under the initiative included the development of screening modules and an increase in training of health workers.
Thanks to the decentralization of services from tertiary hospitals, district health facilities in Burkina Faso can now provide much needed care for NCDs, like hypertension. Findings from the WHO 2021 Stepwise Approach to Surveillance showed an increase in the prevalence of hypertension among 18- to 69-year-olds, underscoring the need for intervention.
Prior to the increase in accessible services to treat his hypertension, Domdasse Adama was reliant on a cane to walk due to the paralysis on his left side. “But thanks to the support and treatment I received for hypertension, I can now walk on my own, and even ride a bicycle for several kilometers," he says.
Strengthening critical care capacity in Lesotho
A health worker sanitizes his hands in the ICU. The World Bank and WHO support healthcare at Mafeteng and Berea district hospitals - Lesotho, by establishing two ultra-modern, eight-bed ICUs 2021.
With its mountainous terrain and use of donkeys and horses as the main modes of transport, there is a high incidence of traumatic brain injuries in Lesotho, a landlocked country encircled by South Africa. The COVID-19 pandemic revealed the country’s limited critical care services. In March 2020, the country’s only 10 intensive care units (ICU) beds were at the Queen 'Mamohato Memorial Hospital in Maseru, the capital.
“With financial support from the Global Fund, WHO led an assessment to identify the gaps. Recommendations were made based on the anticipated caseload for future COVID-19 waves, and building a resilient health system beyond the pandemic,” explains Dr Richard Banda, WHO Representative to Lesotho.
As a result of the assessment, two national strategic plans emerged and were operationalized. The World Bank supported the establishment of two ultra-modern eight-bed ICUs. WHO provided short-term critical care training for 30 clinicians, while 47 care providers underwent basic emergency training. With 20 more ICU beds being created by the World Bank, the total number is expected to increase to 58 by the end of 2023. These improvements alleviate the care burden of trauma and diabetes patients, those with obstetric and HIV-related complications.
Health clinics in Haat Bazaars in India
Health clinics in Haat Bazaars in India. ©WHO
Remote communities in India can now access essential health care at weekly markets. Haat Bazaars are the main cultural, economic, and artisanal hubs for people living in forests and rural areas. Teams of medical doctors now travel to these hubs via their mobile medical units to perform diagnostic tests (typically, diabetes, malaria, anemia, hypertension) and provide medicines and treatment free of charge. Previously, a lack of roads and infrastructure made essential care hard to access. Many people who visit the Haat Bazaar clinics have never visited a hospital nor been tested for their symptoms, so they are often unaware of their diseases. Today there are more than 1 800 of these clinics. As of March 2022, more than 2.5 million health consultations have been provided.
This effort was supported by the UHC Partnership.
WHO convenes policy makers to chart a way forward for primary health care
Health leaders gather in Kazakhstan to discuss primary health care. ©WHO
More than half of the world’s population is still not covered by essential health services. Enhancing primary health care (PHC) requires a paradigm shift, from building health systems that focus on treating diseases to co-creating systems that look after the totality of health and well-being of people.
On 22 October, WHO’s largest platform for international cooperation on UHC— the UHC Partnership — hosted a forum for national policy makers to examine the connections between PHC and UHC, the political dynamics surrounding health system reforms, and success factors that enable PHC innovation and investment for better implementation in the immediate future. This was a workshop ahead of the PHC International Conference on 23 October "Primary health care policy and practice: implementing for better results." Both events took place in Kazakhstan—the birthplace of the historic PHC declarations.
Participants called for greater investments in primary health care, making the most of digital innovations, ensuring protection from catastrophic out-of-pocket health costs, and investing in the health and care workforce to address the projected 10 million health worker shortage by 2030. Radically scaling up PHC in countries could save over 60 million lives. It can also deliver 75% of the projected health gains from the Sustainable Development Goals.
Improving support for better health of refugees and migrants
On 6 February 2023, a series of large earthquakes hit southern Türkiye and northern Syria, followed by hundreds of aftershocks. February 2023. ©WHO
More than 1 billion people are on the move globally, including nearly 300 million international migrants and nearly 100 million who are forcibly displaced. Many of them experience worse health outcomes. With climate change, conflict and other humanitarian crises, the number of refugees and migrants is expected to grow.
To address this global issue, the WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean, along with WHO’s African and European regions, encompassing a total of 122 countries and territories, co-hosted the second high-level interregional meeting on the health of refugees and migrants in March 2023, an event supported by the WHO's Department of Health and Migration and the UHC Partnership.
In the meeting’s outcome statement, the representatives agreed to commit to “work together on forging partnerships and identifying opportunities for collaboration across the migration routes to address some of the most pressing issues we are collectively facing including climate change, the root causes of forced displacement and access to health care for refugees and irregular migrants.”
Primary health care in Tajikistan
Primary health care in Tajikistan. ©WHO
In her 34-year career, family nurse Rafoat Sanginova has seen a shift from home births to women seeking maternal care in their local health clinics. By moving their primary health care services to local communities, Tajikistan has decreased its maternal and child mortality rates. Support to the health workforce has also improved. They can now attend advanced training courses at their district health centre instead of travelling all the way to the capital. More than 10 000 nurses and 5 000 doctors have been trained in the last 10 years.
In Tajikistan, the amount of public funding for primary health care has increased ten-fold and more health centres have been equipped with modern medical equipment. As a result, the number of infectious and noninfectious diseases have decreased nationwide.
This effort was supported by the UHC Partnership.
Since 2011, the UHC Partnership has been supporting WHO’s efforts to accelerate progress on universal health coverage. Through the deployment of over 145 health policy advisors across the 6 WHO regions, the UHC Partnership assists ministries of health in developing, implementing, and strengthening country health plans and policies. Today, the UHC Partnership is WHO’s largest platform for international cooperation for UHC and PHC. It operates in over 125 countries, representing a population of over 3 billion people. It is supported and funded by WHO, the European Union, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, Irish Aid, the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, the Government of Japan, the United Kingdom - Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, Belgium, Canada and Germany.
In addition, there are other donors and partners mentioned in this story:
Denmark
The World Bank
Global Fund
WHO thanks governments, organizations, and individuals who are contributing to the Organization’s work, with special appreciation for those who provide fully flexible contributions to maintain a strong, independent WHO.