Hyderabad: Universal Health Coverage Day is observed every year on December 12th across the globe to provide health facilities to people all over the world without any discrimination, not just providing them with financial aid, but also trying to help them in every possible way, and to spread awareness regarding it.
There are millions of people around the world who are still unable to take full advantage of health services. Although, over time, there has been a lot of development in the medical field and other related disciplines and facilities at the global level, still, not just in India but globally, due to economic, social and many other reasons, a large number of the population are unable to take advantage of Universal Health Coverage.
Universal Health Coverage means equal and equitable facilities made available to all citizens, irrespective of their income level, social status, gender, caste or religion. It includes medical facilities, treatment, rehabilitation, care and prevention. Significantly, universal health coverage can have both personal and social benefits such as improvement in the population's health, reduction in poverty and increase in jobs and financial security, etc.
Every year on December 12th, "Universal Health Coverage Day" or 'International Health Coverage Day' is observed all over the world so that every person, everywhere, can get the benefits of essential health services without facing financial or economic and other difficulties. In the year 2022, this day is being observed around the theme "Build the World We Want: A Healthy Future for All". The purpose of this theme is to encourage people and organizations to invest in health systems and make efforts to build a safe and healthy future and also end the crisis of the pandemic caused by the Corona Virus.
The main purpose of organizing Universal Health Coverage (UHC) Day is not just to make the healthcare systems better and accessible for everyone, but also to make efforts to provide equitable and good healthcare along with financial security to everyone. Especially in the current circumstances, when the public health response after the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting people posing a complex challenge.
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On December 12th 2012, a historic resolution was unanimously endorsed by the United Nations, urging all countries to accelerate efforts towards universal health coverage as an essential priority for international development. After which, in the year 2014, the Universal Health Coverage Alliance started observing December 12th as Universal Health Coverage Day.
On this occasion, under #HealthForAll, the Sustainable Development Goal for this purpose was included as an important part of the United Nations 2030 Agenda. After which in the year 2017, the United Nations officially designated December 12th as International Universal Health Coverage Day.
Efforts have been made by the World Health Organization for many years to make the health systems in India strong, equitable and resilient. At the same time, apart from the World Health Organization, efforts are being made by many other international and national health organizations in the country and abroad for this initiative.
The government of India also made National Rural Health Mission, National Health Mission, Janani Suraksha Yojana, Mission Indradhanush, National Health Policy-2017, National Health Insurance Scheme, Employees State Insurance Scheme, Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS), Ayushman Bharat Yojana and Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana to provide financial security and necessary health facilities to the citizens through many other schemes.
The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is organizing a two-day conference on “Universal Health Coverage Day 2022” on December 10th and 11th in Varanasi city of Uttar Pradesh. It aims to "provide common people access to those promotive, preventive, curative and rehabilitative health services that have sufficient quality and effectiveness."
According to various reports and statistics, in the last few years, in most low and middle-income countries, on average, people above 30 years and below 70 years of age have died due to heart diseases and co-morbidities like diabetes, respiratory diseases and cancer, and other complex diseases.
The risk of dying has increased than before. This ratio has been considered to be 22 per cent for men and 15 per cent for women. Still, at least half of the world's population does not have full coverage of essential health services. And to pay for health care, more than 930 million people, which is about 12 per cent of the world's population, spend at least 10 per cent of their household budget on health.
Currently, the number of doctors in the country is also not as per the requirement. According to the World Health Organisation's norm, there should be one doctor for every 1,000 people, but only one doctor is available for every 1,445 people in India. Apart from this, only one doctor is available in 60 per cent of the rural primary health centres while about 5 per cent of the primary health centres do not have a single doctor. At the same time, there is a huge shortage of nurses in the country. In such situations, Universal Health Coverage is very important for the development of both the people and the society, not just in our country but also in the world.
