GAVI

What is health equity and how can it help achieve universal health coverage?

Research shows healthcare leaders must collaborate with public and private sector organizations on research and funding to achieve global health equity.

• Universal Health Coverage (UHC) means everyone can access healthcare without financial hardship, but progress towards achieving this has stalled.
• The latest research on achieving UHC also focuses on the need for health equity, which is when everyone can attain their full health and wellbeing potential.
• This will require a willingness by healthcare leaders to collaborate with both public and private sector organizations on research and funding.

After nearly a decade of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and despite much progress, efforts to achieve universal health coverage (UHC) have "largely stalled" according to the World Bank.

UHC is when everyone can access the healthcare they need without suffering financially. But some 4.5 billion people still lack sufficient coverage and the share of households using more than 10% of their budget for out-of-pocket healthcare payments has increased since 2015. What's more, up to 1.3 billion people have been pushed further into poverty as a result of medical spending since the pandemic.

On International UHC Day, 12 December 2024, we must remind ourselves that the job of achieving UHC is far from finished.

Read more: https://www.gavi.org/vaccineswork/what-health-equity-and-how-can-it-help-achieve-universal-health-coverage