Member States of the World Health Assembly expressed alarm that millions of people cannot access life-saving and health-enhancing interventions and have committed to change this reality.

Out-of-pocket spending on health catastrophically affects over 1 billion people, pushing hundreds of millions of people into extreme poverty. The situation is said to has worsened due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The matter was brought up at the 76th World Health Assembly in Switzerland. In attendance was health ministers and health officials representing the different Member States.

Dr Christopher Tufton along with other members of his team represented Jamaica.

In response to the issue, Member States agreed a resolution supporting preparations for the United Nations High-Level Meeting (HLM) on Universal Health Coverage (UHC) in September 2023. UHC means that all people have access to the full range of quality health services they need without financial hardship.

In a transformative policy shift, Member States across high-, middle- and low-income countries expressed strong commitment to reorient their health systems based on primary health care (PHC) as a foundation for achieving health for all and reaching the furthest left behind first.

About 90 per cent of UHC interventions can be delivered using a PHC approach; from health promotion to prevention, treatment, rehabilitation and palliative care, potentially saving 60 million lives by 2030.

The Member States emphasized the importance of demonstrating the highest-level political commitment at the HLM in September with the aim of achieving resulting in a concise, action-oriented declaration for UHC.