Tracking Universal Health Coverage: First global monitoring report

World Health Organization & The World Bank, 2015

This new report co-authored by the WHO and the World Bank is the first of its kind to measure a small set of indicators to track and monitor health service coverage and financial protection to assess countries’ progress towards universal health coverage.

It shows that at least 400 million people do not have access to one or more essential health services and 6% of people in low- and middle-income countries are tipped into or pushed further into extreme poverty because of health spending.

This report looks at global access to essential health services and promotes thirteen indicators – including tuberculosis treatment coverage, diabetes coverage, cataract and surgical coverage – for monitoring health intervention coverage and outlines a further six possible indicators related to financial protection measurement to track catastrophic and impoverishing health expenditure. The majority of the proposed indicators build on existing monitoring of the Millennium Development Goals. Five new indicators relate to the need to monitor the rising tide of Non-Communicable Diseases – which account for some 55% of the global disease burden.

“This report is a wakeup call: It shows that we’re a long way from achieving universal health coverage. We must expand access to health and protect the poorest from health expenses that are causing them severe financial hardship,” says Dr. Tim Evans, Senior Director of Health, Nutrition and Population at the World Bank Group.

Access the full report here.

Read the full WHO press release and IAPB press release.