Today, December 12, marks International Universal Health Coverage (UHC) Day—a global occasion to reaffirm our collective commitment to ensuring that everyone, everywhere, can access the essential health services they need without facing financial hardship. This year’s theme, “Health: It’s on the Government,” highlights the critical role of governments in ensuring financial risk protection and advancing the vision of Health for All.
Over the past two decades, financial risk protection has significantly worsened worldwide. Today, 2 billion people face financial hardship due to health-related expenses, and 1.3 billion are pushed into poverty. These figures reflect dire realities of mothers forgoing life-saving care, individuals with noncommunicable diseases delaying diagnoses and treatments, and countless others enduring preventable suffering.
In the past decade, the WHO South-East Asia Region has made UHC a top priority, implementing bold reforms with notable outcomes. The UHC Service Coverage Index improved from 56 in 2015 to 62 in 2021, with country-specific scores ranging from 46 to 82. Out-of-pocket health expenditures as a share of current health spending declined from 41.8% in 2015 to 36.4% in 2021. The proportion of the population impoverished by healthcare expenses dropped dramatically from 31.5% in 2000 to 6.6% in 2019.
Despite these achievements, challenges persist, and progress remains uneven. In 2019 alone, 326 million people in the Region experienced catastrophic health expenses, with out-of-pocket costs exceeding 10% of household income. At the current pace, the Region is unlikely to achieve a UHC service coverage index of 80 by 2030.
On UHC Day, we urge governments and partners in the Region to accelerate progress in the following critical areas:
- Increase public health financing and reduce out-of-pocket costs by allocating adequate budgets for health, focusing on the poorest and most vulnerable populations. Expanding benefit packages and reducing out-of-pocket expenditures are essential to protect individuals from catastrophic health spending.
- Strengthen health systems through Primary Health Care (PHC) because investing in primary health care is the most efficient, effective, and inclusive path to achieving UHC. Strong PHC systems are also fundamental to promoting health and advancing health security.
- Promote inclusive and participatory health policy through people-centric policymaking which requires the active inclusion of marginalized voices—women, youth, the poor, and other vulnerable groups. Governments should adopt participatory frameworks that address social determinants of health and foster equity.
- Improve the quality of healthcare. Poor-quality care is a leading cause of mortality for treatable conditions and imposes unnecessary economic burdens on patients and health systems. Ensuring patient safety, respectful care, care integration, and access to essential medical products must remain top priorities.
- Strengthen the health workforce as it is the backbone of UHC. Governments must prioritize expanding the workforce to meet growing demands; improving distribution by ensuring equitable deployment; and enhancing quality by providing continuous training and professional development to maintain high standards of care. Furthermore, creating supportive work environments that foster collaboration and multi-disciplinary team performance must be prioritized.
- Leverage the transformative opportunities of digital technologies and responsible artificial intelligence (AI) through developing and implementing national digital health blueprints to harness these tools effectively. Digital health can enhance access through telemedicine and teleradiology; improve quality using clinical decision support systems; facilitate continuity of care through personal electronic health records; and empower patients, strengthen supply chains, and build health workforce capacities.
A Unified Call to Action
Governments and partners must adopt a forward-looking approach to achieve Health for All. Financial protection, quality care, and equitable access are not just moral imperatives but investments in human development and economic resilience. Together, we can build a future where everyone has access to the healthcare they need, free from financial barriers. Let us work collectively to scale up efforts and deliver on the promise of UHC, ensuring a healthier, more equitable, and prosperous tomorrow.