Health for all

World Health Day is celebrated annually on April 7 to draw attention to a specific health topic of concern to people all over the world. The date also marks the anniversary of the founding of the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1948. The WHO considers its 75th anniversary as “an opportunity to look back at public health successes that have improved quality of life during the last seven decades. It is also an opportunity to motivate action to tackle the health challenges of today — and tomorrow.”

This year’s World Health Day theme is “Health For All,” which envisions all people having good health for a fulfilling life. “The right to health is a basic human right. Everyone must have access to the health services they need when and where they need them without financial hardship,” the WHO said.

Unfortunately, 30% of the global population can’t access essential health services. Almost 2 billion people face catastrophic or impoverishing health spending, with significant inequalities affecting those in the most vulnerable settings, according to the WHO. This is why the global health body is advocating universal health coverage because it seeks to offer financial protection and access to quality essential services, lift people out of poverty, promote the well-being of families and communities, protect against public health crises and move people toward the ambitious goal of health for all.

Making health for all a reality requires people and communities to have access to high quality health services so that they can take care of their own health and that of their families. It also needs skilled health workers providing quality, people-centered care as well as policymakers committed to investing in universal health coverage. Evidence shows that a health system powered by a primary healthcare approach is the most effective and cost-effective way to bring services for health and well-being closer to people, said the WHO.

However, it noted that coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has set back every country’s journey to health for all. Moreover, the pandemic and other health emergencies, overlapping humanitarian and climate crises, economic constraints, and wars, have made every country’s journey to health for all more urgent. The WHO said that now is the time to take action to meet UHC commitments and for civil society to hold leaders accountable.

The international agency is calling on member states to invest in strong health systems, increase public financing for health and lower out-of-pocket health costs, because these steps will save lives while advancing sustainable development goals beyond health. It stressed that strong health systems are needed to deliver both universal health coverage and emergency preparedness. Describing universal health coverage as a political and social choice, the WHO said strong political leadership and public demand are needed.

The WHO recommends increases in “health taxes” to generate much needed public revenues. It warns that between 2023 to 2030, there is a projected shortfall of 10 million health workers worldwide and therefore is calling for investments in education and job creation for the health sector.

It noted that to help achieve health for all, there is a need to engage and empower people, families and communities for increased social participation and enhanced self-care in health. It will also be crucial to ensure informed and active participation, with people at the center of health decisions and outcomes.

In achieving the goal, there is also an imperative to strengthen integrated national health systems using a primary healthcare approach to deliver essential quality services with financial protection, with equity-oriented, gender-sensitive and rights-based programming to reach and engage those in greatest need and improve the health and well-being of all people at all ages. Finally, it would be ideal to enable nonstate actors such as civil society and nongovernment organizations, and the academe among others to participate in government-led planning, progress reviews or implementation toward universal health coverage.

The coverage will not be complete without investing more in health, and in improving timely access to medicines, vaccines and diagnostics. The country’s Universal Health Care Act, which was signed in 2019, allows greater access to pharmaceutical innovations in collaboration with the private sector.

Teodoro B. Padilla is the executive director of the Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Association of the Philippines, which represents the biopharmaceutical medicine and vaccine industry in the country. Its members are in the forefront of research and development efforts for COVID-19 and other diseases that affect Filipinos.