World leaders pledge that no one will fall into poverty because of health costs

World leaders have committed to providing health care for all in what has been described as a “landmark” declaration.

At a high-level meeting at this week’s United Nations General Assembly world leaders signed a declaration agreeing to provide universal health care.

Under the agreement countries must now ensure that no one suffers financial hardship because they have had to pay for health care out of their own pocket. They must also guarantee access to sexual and reproductive health care and address the health needs of refugees and migrants.

In addition, countries must strengthen the health workforce and infrastructure and improve governance, reporting back on their progress to the UN General Assembly in 2023.

“This declaration represents a landmark for global health and development,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general at the World Health Organization.

“Universal health coverage is a political choice: today world leaders have signaled their readiness to make that choice. I congratulate them," he said.

Melinda Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, said it was now "time to get down to the hard work of turning those commitments into results".

“We all have a role to play. Donors and country governments need to move beyond business as usual to bolster the primary health care systems that address the vast majority of people’s needs over their lifetimes,” she said.

A report published by the WHO the day before the meeting showed that five billion people globally will still be unable to access health care by 2030 if trends at broadening access continue at the current slow rate.

The report calls on every country in the world to increase spending on health care by at least one per cent of their gross domestic product.

The report says most countries could raise this extra revenue through improving and increasing taxation.

Improving primary health care would save 60 million lives and increase average life expectancy by 3.7 years by 2030, the report says.

Spending on health care can often leave people in dire financial straits and the poorest families are often forced to choose between feeding their children or paying for vital medicines.

The WHO report shows that the proportion of the world population whose spending on health care exceeded 10 per cent of their household budget rose from 9.4 per cent in 2000 to 12.7 per cent (about 930 million people) in 2015. And about 210 million people spent more than 25 per cent of their income on health in 2015.

“The goal of universal health coverage will remain elusive unless countries take urgent steps to protect people from falling into poverty to pay for essential health care,” said Dr Muhammad Pate, global director, health, nutrition and population at the World Bank. “Expanding access to quality primary health care services will save more lives and keep health care costs affordable.”

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