A total of 44 countries have signed Economists’ Declaration on Universal Health Coverage (UHC) – the declaration demands that every world leader increases spending on universal health coverage for their people. The economists gathered at the instance of The Rockefeller Foundation and led by Lawrence H. Summers, Charles W. Eliot University Professor and President Emeritus at Harvard University as global leaders prepare to enact the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for the next 15 years that includes universal health coverage among its targets. According to media report, those in attendance declared that investments in UHC will ensure health systems can withstand shocks from disease outbreaks like Ebola, and prevent millions of people from falling into poverty paying for the health services they need and that everyone being able to obtain high quality essential health services without suffering financial hardship is right, smart and affordable.The declaration is as follows:
- Health is essential to eradicating extreme poverty and promoting growth of well-being. Over the past decade, health improvements – measured by the value of life-years gained – constituted 24% of full income growth in low- and middle-income countries;
- Health systems oriented toward universal health coverage, immensely valuable in their own right, produce an array of benefits: in times of crisis, they mitigate the impact of shocks on communities; in times of calm, they foster more cohesive societies and productive economies;
That the economic benefits of investment in grand convergence are estimated to be more than 10 times greater than costs – meaning that early stages on the pathway to universal health coverage, focused on high-payoff convergence interventions, will have high value relative to the cost of raising revenue, including the deadweight (or welfare) cost of taxation, or (in most cases) to the value of its use in other sectors. The economists argued that the success of the next development chapter hinges on the ability to actually deliver proven health solutions to the poorest and most marginalized populations; and that every country has the opportunity to achieve universal health coverage. Already, more than 100 countries across the development spectrum are said to have begun working toward universal health coverage – testing and increasingly demonstrating its feasibility. Development assistance for health will play an essential part in achievement of a grand convergence in global health and universal health coverage.
The Economists therefore urged that:
- Heads of government increase domestic funds for global health convergence and provide vocal political leadership to implement policy reforms toward pro-poor universal health coverage;
- Donor countries meet their pledges for international development assistance and commit to investing in the global functions of development assistance for health, particularly research and development for diseases of poverty;
- Development financing discussions explicitly address equity, including who pays domestically and who benefits;
National policymakers embrace universal health coverage, as defined above, as an integrated approach for measuring progress toward health targets in the post-2015 global development framework. Already Nigeria’s new Health Act (2014) provides for universal health coverage for every Nigeria as a matter of right. Among the rights guaranteed by the Health Act include: Right to protection from disease outbreak, Right to care within the 1st 28 days of birth, Right to care for an accident victim or other forms of trauma, Right to care from NCDs such as Sickle Cell Disease, a. sickle cell disease, cancers, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, and mental health among others. The right to access to Health as guaranteed by the NHAct also entails important governance issues for the Health Sector. Such issues include mandatory response to epidemics and Health emergencies despite non-availability of financial appropriation and other resources:
Source:Healthnews Online
