New push to help realise universal health coverage

A global coalition of more than 500 leading health and development organisations is urging governments to accelerate reforms that ensure everyone, everywhere, can access quality health services regardless of their financial status. The call was made in New York, US, yesterday, during the launch of first-ever Universal Health Coverage Day, a platform to help the poor access medical care. The development comes two years after the United Nations unanimously endorsed a resolution urging governments to ensure universal access to healthcare. The landmark commitment affirmed the right of every person to the highest standard of health, without being pushed to poverty. The initiative, spearheaded by the World Health Organisation, World Bank and the Rockefeller Foundation, particularly targets disease prone, and financially struggling populations of the world. “The need for equitable access to quality health care has never been greater, and there is unprecedented demand for universal health coverage around the world,” said Michael Myers, Managing Director of the Rockefeller Foundation. “Universal health coverage is an idea whose time has come – because health for all saves lives, strengthens nations and is achievable and affordable for every country,” he noted. Each year, 100 million people fall into poverty because they or a family member becomes seriously ill and they have to foot the medical bills. Around one billion people worldwide cannot even access the health care they need, paving way for disease outbreaks to become catastrophic epidemics. In Rwanda, a universal health care scheme has been in place for several years, with more than 70 per cent of the population covered currently. “If we invest in our health systems now, we can build an Africa where individuals, families, and entire nations reach their full potential,” said Dr Agnes Binagwaho, the Rwandan Minister for Health, in a statement sent to The New Times. Rwanda’s community-based health insurance programme (Mutuelle de Santé) has been the focus of several studies and much debate in global health policy. Comprehensive insurance reform enacted in mid-2011 transformed Mutuelle de Santé to a system of tiered premiums to make it more financially progressive and sustainable. Many governments in sub-Saharan Africa and south Asia have studied Rwanda’s approach, particularly mechanisms to achieve high coverage. The country’s subscription rate stood at 73 per cent in the fiscal year 2013/14. About 45, 000 volunteering community based health workers deployed countrywide, are involved in sensitisation, screening, and sometimes treatment of ailments among citizens. And the presence of about 42 public hospitals, five referral hospitals, and over 450 health centres, makes access to health care easier countrywide. In March this year, the Ministry of Health started rolling out a new system of distributing medicines to various health facilities across the country. The web-based method, called the Electronic Logistics Management Information System (eLMIS) now linked with 42 district hospitals, 30 district pharmacies, five referral hospitals and over 400 health centres, has not only cut red-tape but also improved efficiency in delivery of medicines to health units. In the past, officials say, it would take about two weeks to get deliveries from the central medical store to a health unit, say, in Bugesera District. It now takes only two days. “Prioritising people’s health needs stems poverty and stimulates growth,” said Dr Tim Evans, Senior Director for the Health, Nutrition and Population Global Practice at the World Bank Group. “Universal health coverage is an essential ingredient to end extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity within a generation,” he noted.

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New push to help realise universal health coverage