Subject: GS2: Social Justice 

Context:

• The ‘Tracking universal health coverage: 2023 Global monitoring report’ has been released by the World Health Organization and the World Bank. The report includes comprehensive data on health expenditure worldwide, shedding light on the critical aspects of healthcare financing and accessibility.

Highlights of the report about Out of Pocket Health Expenditure: 

• Growth of Universal Health Service Coverage (UHC) to prevent Out of Pocket Health Expenditure: It has stagnated since 2015 and financial protection for those who receive health services has worsened.
  • As of 2021, over half the world’s population lacked complete coverage for essential health services, and this gap was often exacerbated by insufficient health expenditure.
  • The world will not achieve universal health coverage by 2030 as planned.
• Worsening of health service coverage: Of the 194 countries, 108 countries experienced worsening or no significant change in health service coverage (HSC) to prevent Out of Pocket Health Expenditure.
  • While the overall health service coverage has improved since 2000, progress has slowed since 2015. Further, there was no improvement from 2019 to 2021.
  • HSC was calculated using the UHC service coverage index (SCI) score.
    • SCI captures coverage of essential services across the entire population of a country, and is therefore a reflection of the entire health system for all individuals.
• Service Coverage: The largest improvements have been made in the service coverage for infectious diseases, which has witnessed an average yearly growth of 7 per cent, it said.
  • There has been no improvement in service coverage for non-communicable diseases and reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health services in the recent years.
• Rural- urban divide in health Expenditure and services: Disadvantaged demographic sub-groups such as the poorest, least educated and those living in rural areas, suffer more hurdles in accessing healthcare services.
  • For example, distance to a healthcare facility is cited as a barrier for 45 per cent of women aged 15-49 years living in rural areas, compared with 19 percent living in urban areas.

News Source: DTE