A government that claims to provide universal health coverage (UHC) needs to establish that access to health services is available for the whole population for the full spectrum of services without risk of undue financial hardship. Embedded within the idea of UHC are two distinct notions. First, access to the full spectrum of health services needs to include access to preventive care through to...

As countries in Asia converge on the goal of universal health coverage (UHC), some common challenges are emerging. One is how to ensure coverage of the informal sector so as to make UHC truly universal; a second is how to design a benefit package that is responsive and appropriate to current health challenges, yet fiscally sustainable; and a third is how to ensure "supply-side readiness", i.e. ...

Perspectives There is global consensus on the goals of universal health coverage (UHC), which has been defined as " all people receiving quality health services that meet their needs without exposing them to financial hardship in paying for them. " 1 Yet despite this consensus, it remains unclear how the global health community can achieve universal coverage. The obvious answer is to ensure tha...

BACKGROUND Universal health coverage (UHC) is critical to global poverty alleviation and equity of health systems. Many low-income and middle-income countries, including small island states in the Pacific, have committed to UHC and reforming their health financing systems to better align with UHC goals. This study provides the first comprehensive evidence on equity of the health financing syste...

Making progress towards universal health coverage (UHC) requires that health workers are adequate in numbers, prepared for their jobs and motivated to perform. In establishing the best ways to develop the health workforce, relatively little attention has been paid to the trends and implications of dual practice - concurrent employment in public and private sectors. We review recent research on ...

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), to be committed to by Heads of State at the upcoming 2015 United Nations General Assembly, have set much higher and more ambitious health-related goals and targets than did the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The main challenge among MDG off-track countries is the failure to provide and sustain financial access to quality services by communities, e...

Sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) are centrally important to health. However, there have been significant shortcomings in implementing SRHR to date. In the context of health systems reform and universal health coverage/care (UHC), this paper explores the following questions. What do these changes in health systems thinking mean for SRHR and gender equity in health in the context ...

United States academic medical centers (AMCs) have upheld their long-standing reputation for excellence by teaching and training the next generation of physicians, supporting medical research, providing world-class medical care, and offering breakthrough treatments for highly complex medical cases. In recent years, the pace and direction of change reshaping the American health care industry has...

This article presents a comparative analysis of socio-economic disparities in relation to treatment-seeking strategies and healthcare expenditures in poor neighbourhoods within larger health systems in four cities in India, Indonesia and Thailand. About 200 households in New Delhi, Bhubaneswar, Jogjakarta and Phitsanulok were repeatedly interviewed over 12 months to relate health problems with ...