World Health Day - 7 April 2018

The World Health Organization was founded on the principle that all people should be able to realize their right to the highest possible level of health.

“Health for all” has therefore been our guiding vision for more than seven decades. It’s also the impetus behind the current organization-wide drive to support countries in moving towards Universal Health Coverage (UHC).

Experience has illustrated, time and again, that Universal Health Coverage is achieved when political will is strong.

So in this 70th anniversary year, WHO is calling on world leaders to live up to the pledges they made when they agreed the Sustainable Development Goals in 2015, and commit to concrete steps to advance the health of all people. This means ensuring that everyone, everywhere can access essential quality health services without facing financial hardship.

The Organization will maintain a high-profile focus on UHC via a series of events through 2018, starting on World Health Day on 7 April with global and local conversations about ways to achieve health for all.

Why universal health coverage matters?

Countries that invest in UHC make a sound investment in their human capital. In recent decades, UHC has emerged as a key strategy to make progress towards other health-related and broader development goals. Access to essential quality care and financial protection not only enhances people’s health and life expectancy, it also protects countries from epidemics, reduces poverty and the risk of hunger, creates jobs, drives economic growth and enhances gender equality.

What World Health Day can do?

Some countries have already made significant progress towards universal health coverage. But half the world’s population is still unable to obtain the health services they need. If countries are to achieve the SDG target, one billion more people need to benefit from UHC by 2023.

World Health Day will shine a spotlight on the need for UHC - and the advantages it can bring. WHO and its partners will share examples of steps to take to get there through a series of events and conversations held at multiple levels.

As our Director-General has said “No one should have to choose between death and financial hardship. No one should have to choose between buying medicine and buying food.”

Throughout 2018, we aim to inspire, motivate and guide UHC stakeholders to make commitments towards UHC:

Inspire—by highlighting policy-makers’ power to transform the health of their nation, framing the challenge as exciting and ambitious, and inviting them to be part of the change.
Motivate—by sharing examples of how countries are already progressing towards UHC and encourage others to find their own path.
Guide—by providing tools for structured policy dialogue on how to advance UHC domestically or supporting such efforts in other countries (e.g. expanding service coverage, improving quality of services, reducing out-of-pocket payments).

Theme, slogan and hashtag

The theme of World Health Day is: Universal health coverage: everyone, everywhere.
The slogan is “Health for All”.
The primary hashtag that we are using is #HealthForAll but look out for posts using #WorldHealthDay as well.

World Health Day messages

Universal health coverage is about ensuring all people can get quality health services, where and when they need them, without suffering financial hardship.
No one should have to choose between good health and other life necessities.
UHC is key to people’s and nations’ health and well-being.
UHC is feasible. Some countries have made great progress. Their challenge is to maintain coverage to meet people’s expectations.
All countries will approach UHC in different ways: there is no one size fits all. But every country can do something to advance UHC.
Making health services truly universal requires a shift from designing health systems around diseases and institutions towards health services designed around and for people.
Everyone can play a part in the path to UHC, by taking part in a UHC conversation.

Too many people are currently missing out on health coverage

“Universal” in UHC means “for all”, without discrimination, leaving no one behind. Everyone everywhere has a right to benefit from health services they need without falling into poverty when using them.

Here are some facts and figures about the state of UHC today:

At least half of the world’s people is currently unable to obtain essential health services.
Almost 100 million people are being pushed into extreme poverty, forced to survive on just $1.90 or less a day, because they have to pay for health services out of their own pockets.
Over 800 million people (almost 12 percent of the world’s population) spend at least 10 percent of their household budgets on health expenses for themselves, a sick child or other family member. They incur so-called “catastrophic expenditures”.
Incurring catastrophic expenses for health care is a global problem. In richer countries in Europe, Latin America and parts of Asia, which have achieved high levels of access to health services, increasing numbers of people are spending at least 10 percent of their household budgets on out-of-pocket health expenses.

What UHC is

UHC means that all people and communities receive the health services they need without suffering financial hardship.
UHC enables everyone to access the services that address the most important causes of disease and death and ensures that the quality of those services is good enough to improve the health of the people who receive them.

What UHC is not

UHC does not mean free coverage for all possible health interventions, regardless of the cost, as no country can provide all services free of charge on a sustainable basis.
UHC is not only about ensuring a minimum package of health services, but also about ensuring a progressive expansion of coverage of health services and financial protection as more resources become available.
UHC is not only about medical treatment for individuals, but also includes services for whole populations such as public health campaigns – for example adding fluoride to water or controlling the breeding grounds of mosquitoes that carry viruses that can cause disease.
UHC is not just about health care and financing the health system of a country. It encompasses all components of the health system: systems and healthcare providers that deliver health services to people, health facilities and communications networks, health technologies, information systems, quality assurance mechanisms and governance and legislation.

How you can get involved in World Health Day 2018

Everyone has a part to play, stimulating conversations and contributing to structured dialogue towards policies that help your country achieve and maintain UHC.

Specifically,

Government ministries bring about policy change to improve health and spur economic growth and social development.
Parliamentary health committees and health groups mediate between those that develop policy and those that execute it.
Political parties frame their programmes to meet the expressed needs of their supporters.
Professional associations protect the welfare of the workforce.
Civil society organizations work on the ground and represent the concerns of different population groups.
Individuals use their own voices to demand good health services.
The media can help increase understanding of UHC as well as transparency and accountability in policy-making.

To whatever group you belong, you can take a lead, too.

A few ideas as to what you could do

Government

Engage in structured conversations with a broad range of community stakeholders who are both affected by and essential to ensuring universal health coverage.
Capture the population’s demands, opinions and expectations on UHC-related matters to improve policy responses. The population can be consulted, e.g. through face-to-face dialogue, surveys or a referendum.
Collaborate with grassroots organizations and champions for universal health coverage to explore feasible universal health coverage solutions.

Individuals, civil society and health workers

Communicate your needs, opinions and expectations to local policy-makers, politicians, ministers and other people representatives.
Make the necessary noise to ensure your community health needs are taken into account and prioritized at the local level, including through social media.
Invite civil society organizations to help raise your community needs to your policy-makers.
Share your stories as affected communities and patients with the media.
Organize activities like discussion fora, policy debates, concerts, marches and interviews to provide people an opportunity to interact with their representatives on the topic of UHC via media and social media.

Media

Highlight initiatives and interventions that help to improve access to quality services and financial protection for people and communities.
Show what happens when people cannot obtain the services they need.
Hold policy-makers and politicians accountable, e.g. through documentaries on UHC pledges they have made and strengths, weaknesses and new challenges to be addressed (e.g. increase in noncommunicable diseases; population ageing).
Create platforms for dialogue between beneficiaries, communities, their representatives and policy-makers, e.g. through talk shows, interviews and radio debates.

Share materials and join conversations on social media

Throughout the campaign we will be communicating via our social media channels:

The primary hashtag that we are using is #HealthForAll but look out for posts using #WorldHealthDay as well.

We encourage you to share our posts with your own networks, share your own materials and join conversations on issues related to the campaign.