Topic 4: Universal health coverage

The learning outcome of this Topic is: To be able to discuss the movement towards Universal Health Coverage in relation to human rights.

A pathway to achieving Universal Health Coverage was identified in the WHO’s 2010 World Health Report Health Systems Financing: the Path to Universal Coverage which "provides an action agenda for countries at all stages of development and proposes ways that the international community can better support efforts in low income countries to achieve universal coverage and improve health outcomes".

UHC is now one of the UN's identified Sustainable Development Goals, 3.8: "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".

The World Health Organisation reports a "global coalition of more than 500 leading health and development organizations worldwide is urging governments to accelerate reforms that ensure everyone, everywhere, can access quality health services without being forced into poverty. The coalition emphasises the importance of universal access to health services for saving lives, ending extreme poverty, building resilience against the health effects of climate change and ending deadly epidemics such as Ebola." A bold and ambitious goal.

In the resources below, we start to unpack some of the ways in which Universal Health Coverage, and the health system reform that will be required, can be made relevant to human rights.

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