Half the world lacks access to health services - WHO

At least half of the world's population cannot obtain essential health services, according to a new report by the World Bank and World Health Organisation (WHO).

A press release issued from Tokyo yesterday, also noted that each year, large numbers of households are being pushed into poverty because they must pay for healthcare out of their own pockets.

"Currently, 800 million people spend at least 10% of their household budgets on health expenses for themselves, a sick child or other family member. For almost 100 million people these expenses are high enough to push them into extreme poverty, forcing them to survive on just $1.90 or less a day," according to the findings.

WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, according to the press release, said: "It is completely unacceptable that half the world still lacks coverage for the most essential health services." He explained that universal health coverage (UHC) allows everyone to obtain the health services they need, when and where they need them, without facing financial hardship.

World Bank Group President Dr. Jim Yong Kim noted that: "The report makes clear that if we are serious - not just about better health outcomes, but also about ending poverty - we must urgently scale up our efforts on universal health coverage." 

Kim pointed out that investments in health, and more generally investments in people, are critical to build human capital and enable sustainable and inclusive economic growth but that the system is broken.

"We need a fundamental shift in the way we mobilize resources for health and human capital, especially at the country level. We are working on many fronts to help countries spend more and more effectively on people, and increase their progress towards universal health coverage."

The report, however, shows that the 21st century has seen an increase in the number of people able to obtain some key health services, such as immunization and family planning, as well as antiretroviral treatment for HIV and insecticide-treated bed nets to prevent malaria. In addition, fewer people are now being tipped into extreme poverty than at the turn of the century.

The report expressed concern that there are wide gaps in the availability of services in Sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia. In other regions, it said, basic health care services such as family planning and infant immunization are becoming more available, but lack of financial protection means increasing financial distress for families as they pay for these services out of their own pockets.

"This is even a challenge in more affluent regions such as Eastern Asia, Latin America and Europe, where a growing number of people are spending at least 10 percent of their household budgets on out-of-pocket health expenses. Inequalities in health services are seen not just between, but also within countries: national averages can mask low levels of health service coverage in disadvantaged population groups."

The report is a key point of discussion at the global Universal Health Coverage Forum 2017, currently taking place in Tokyo, Japan. Convened by the Government of Japan, the Forum is cosponsored by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), UHC2030, the leading global movement advocating for UHC, UNICEF, the World Bank, and WHO.

The Forum is the culmination of events in over 100 countries, which began on Dec. 12—Universal Health Coverage Day—to highlight the growing global momentum on UHC. It seeks to showcase the strong high-level political commitment to UHC at global and country levels, highlight the experiences of countries that have been pathfinders on UHC progress, and add to the knowledge base on how to strengthen health systems and effectively promote UHC.

The main high-level sessions of the Forum take place today.

The World Bank/WHO UHC Global Monitoring Report, issued regularly, measures the proportion of a population that can access essential quality health services, and the proportion of the population that spends a large amount of household income on health.

It also evaluates the overall level and the extent to which UHC is equitable - offering service coverage and financial protection to all people within a population, such as the poor or those living in remote rural areas. The report uses 16 essential health services as indicators of the level and equity of coverage in countries.