Half the global population not fully covered by essential health services: Report

Subject: IR

Section: International Organisation

Context:

The growth of Universal Health Service Coverage (UHC) has stagnated since 2015 and financial protection for those who receive health services has worsened, according to a new report.

About the Report:

Report jointly published by: World Health Organization and the World Bank.
The UHC service coverage index (SCI) score was used to calculate this.
- SCI captures coverage of essential services across the entire population of a country, and is therefore a reflection of the entire health system for all individuals.

SDG goal 3: “Good Health and Well-being”:

The target 3.8 of SDG goal 3 is: Achieve universal health coverage, including financial risk protection, access to quality essential health-care services and access to safe, effective, quality and affordable essential medicines and vaccines for all.

UHC service coverage Index:

Two indicators have been chosen to monitor target 3.8 within the SDG framework. Indicator 3.8.1 is for health service coverage and indicator 3.8.2 focuses on health expenditures in relation to a household’s budget to identify financial hardship caused by direct health care payments.
Taken together, indicators 3.8.1 and 3.8.2 are meant to capture the service coverage and financial protection dimensions, respectively, of target 3.8.
Method of measurement
- For each country, the most recent value for each tracer indicators is taken from WHO or other international agencies
Method of estimation:
- The index is computed using geometric means of the tracer indicators.
Preferred data sources:
- Household surveys
- Administrative data
- Special facility surveys

Key findings of the report:

The world will not achieve universal health coverage by 2030 as planned.
- As of 2021, over half the world’s population- 4.5 billion people– was not fully covered by essential health services (SDG indicator 3.8.1).
- There has been little to no improvement in service coverage for non-communicable diseases and reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health services in the recent years.
Out-Of-Pocket (OOP) health spending corresponds to health spending made by people, funded from their income, savings and loans. It included both formal and informal payments.
- After the Western Pacific region (376.3 million people), South-East Asia (326.2 million people) had the highest number of people recording catastrophic OOP health spending. WHO Africa region (95.1 million people) ranked third in the world on catastrophic OOP health spending.

Universal Health Coverage (UHC):

UHC means that all people have access to the full range of quality health services they need, when and where they need them, without financial hardship. It covers the full continuum of essential health services, from health promotion to prevention, treatment, rehabilitation, and palliative care across the life course.

WHO’s Triple Billion targets for the period 2019-2023:

WHO’s Thirteenth General Programme of Work aims to have 1 billion more people benefit from UHC by 2025, while also contributing to the targets of 1 billion more people better protected from health emergencies and 1 billion more people enjoying better health and well-being.

UHC in India:

Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY) was launched on 23rd September 2018, as a step towards Universal Health Coverage (UHC).
The Scheme aims to cover the poorest 40% of the population covering over 50 crore Indian population with an insurance cover of 5 lakh per family per year to protect them from catastrophic health expenditure incurred in secondary and tertiary care. Further, the second pillar of Ayushman Bharat (AB-HWC) aimed to transform 1.5 lakh sub-centres and primary health centres into Health and Wellness Centres to provide affordable and quality primary care to the last mile.