#HealthForAll: World celebrate Universal Health Coverage Day today

New Delhi DEC 12: Universal Health Coverage Day is celebrated annually on December 12 and is promoted by the World Health Organization. December 12 is the anniversary of the first unanimous United Nations resolution calling for all nations to provide for their citizens affordable, quality health care.

This year, the world is celebrating the 70th World Health Day under the theme: of “Universal Health Coverage” (UHC).

WHO is calling on world leaders to live up to the pledges they made when they agreed the Sustainable Development Goals in 2015, and commit to concrete steps to advance #HealthForAll.

The theme of World Health Day 2018 is ‘Universal Health Coverage: everyone, everywhere’.

UHC is promoted as an instrument to help advance the more broadly conceived human right to health, which is based upon a number of international agreements, or widely-affirmed international documents.

This year 2018 also represents 40 years of the ‘Alma Mata Declaration on Primary Health Care and Health for All’ in 1978. The commemoration of this year’s World Health Day with its focus on UHC therefore World Health Organization is convening and advocating to stakeholders at all levels in order to promote the UHC agenda and highlight WHO’s ongoing initiatives to support member states towards attaining UHC.

Universal health coverage has been included in the new Sustainable Development Goals for 2015-2030, adopted by the United Nations. In many nations, inclusive healthcare is very basic and does not include long-term care.

This year, Ministry of health and Family welfare, India took oath to ‘provide Comprehensive Primary Health Care (CPHC) with 1.5 lakhs Health and Wellness Centers (HWCs) for preventative, promotive and primary care helping towards Universal Health Coverage across the nation’ on Universal Health Coverage Day this year.

 

India alreadylaunched Ayushman Bharat - one of the most ambitious health missions ever to achieve UHC.

Ayushman Bharat encompasses two complementary schemes, Health and Wellness Centers and National Health Protection Scheme. Health and Wellness Centers are envisioned as a foundation of the health system to provide comprehensive primary care, free essential drugs and diagnostic services, whereas National Health Protection Scheme is envisaged to provide financial risk protection to poor and vulnerable families arising out of secondary and tertiary care hospitalization to the tune of five lakh rupees per family per year.