OBJECTIVE To examine the association between presence of an urban health center (UHC) in proximity to a slum and immunization status of slum children in a city in India. DESIGN Cross-sectional study. SETTING Slums of Agra, India. PARTICIPANTS Data were obtained from a baseline survey conducted by the US Agency for International Development Environmental Health Project in 2005 in slums in ...

The United Nations made universal health coverage (UHC) a key health goal in 2012 and it is one of the Sustainable Development Goals' targets. This analysis focuses on UHC for mothers and children in the 8 countries of South Asia. A high level overview of coverage of selected maternal, newborn and child health services, equity, quality of care and financial risk protection is presented. Common ...

Since 2001, when Uganda abolished user fees to improve the accessibility of healthcare, out-of-pocket costs still account for 42% total health expenditure. Even if universal coverage (UHC) is achieved on demand-side, government authorities face political and economic challenges due soaring burden diseases. Therefore, this study aimed re-analyze implementation process according three pillars by ...

The 2016 World Cancer Congress, organised by UICC, was held in Paris in November 2016, under the theme “Mobilizing action – Inspiring Change.” As part of Track 4 presentations on the theme of “Strengthening cancer control: optimizing outcomes of health systems,” UICC-Asian Regional Office (UICC-ARO) held a symposium to discuss the issue of mobilizing action to realize UHC in Asia. Introducing t...

In this article, we highlight key considerations for better addressing sexual and reproductive health and rights issues within universal health coverage (UHC), particularly in the context of the post-2015 sustainable development agenda. We look at UHC as a health, development and health care financing issue, and its history. We discuss its limitations as currently understood from a human rights...

This paper discusses whether European institutions should devote so much attention and funding to cross-border healthcare or they should instead prioritise guaranteeing universal health coverage (UHC), "addressing inequalities" and tackling the effects of austerity measures. The paper argues through providing the evidence in both areas of research, that the priority at European level from a pub...

In responses to Norheim’s editorial, this commentary offers reflections from Thailand, how the five unacceptable trade-offs were applied to the universal health coverage (UHC) reforms between 1975 and 2002 when the whole 64 million people were covered by one of the three public health insurance systems. This commentary aims to generate global discussions on how best UHC can be gradually achieve...

Recently published extraordinary article entitled: " implementing pro-poor universal health coverage " depicts an issue of truly global outreach (1). Modern day health system establishments had their historical roots back in the early industrial era of late nineteenth century Europe (2). Risk sharing through introducing the first health insurance funds was initially targeted to protect industri...

Editorials 84 An adequate, performing health workforce is vital for improving health service coverage and health outcomes. 1 Yet the availability, distribution, capacity and performance of human resources for health (HRH) varies widely and many countries have fewer health workers than needed for high coverage of essential health services, according to the World health report 2006. 2 Signs of pr...

Although universal health coverage (UHC) is a global health policy priority, there remains limited evidence on UHC reforms in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). This paper provides an overview of key insights from case studies in this thematic series, undertaken in seven LMICs (Costa Rica, Georgia, India, Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Thailand) at very different stages in the transition...