Riyaz Patel
Public hearings on South Africa’s National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill are set to begin in October as UN Secretary-General António Guterres hailed the UN Political Declaration on universal health coverage, or UHC, describing it as an “important landmark” on the “journey to health for all.”
The UN UHC document commits countries to advance towards full coverage for their citizens in four major areas around primary care.
Addressing heads of State, ministers, health leaders, policy-makers, and universal health coverage advocates, the UN chief called UHC “the most comprehensive agreement ever reached on global health.”
World leaders made the public commitment during the meeting at the beginning of the high level week of the UN General Assembly, themed “Universal Health Coverage: Moving Together to Build a Healthier World.”
He maintained that this “significant achievement” will drive progress over the next decade on tackling communicable diseases, including HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, while addressing non-communicable disease and the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance through resilient primary healthcare systems.
“It is (also)essential to protect the wellbeing and dignity of women and girls,” Guterres said.
The UN chief pushed for an urgent “change the financing paradigm to step up the pace of investment” towards UHC.
The World Health Organization (WHO) defines UHC according to three objectives, each associated with the delivery of health services: access to services should be equitable (available to everyone who needs them), of sufficient quality to improve health, and affordable without incurring “financial harm.”
“Health services must be a universal right and not a privilege.”
UN General Assembly President Tijjani Muhammad-Bande
“We must ensure that nations around the world can benefit from each other in medical training, provision of medical infrastructure, among others, if we are to achieve our agreed SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals), Muhammad-Bande stated.
Muhammad-Bande said the objective of UHC is to strengthen health systems to guarantee a healthier life for everyone by ensuring that people have access to “affordable, preventive, curative and rehabilitative health services.”
Universal health coverage means all people regardless of their ability to pay, having access to the health care they need, when and where they need it, without facing financial hardship, said Muhammad-Bande.
In line with the UN process, South Africa’s NHI Bill seeks to achieve quality universal health care in the country, as well as establishing a National Health Insurance Fund.
The bill sets out the powers, function and governance structures of the fund and provides a framework for the purchase of healthcare services on behalf of users.
“The bill further aims to create mechanisms for the equitable, effective and efficient utilisation of the resources of the fund to meet the health needs of the population, to preclude or limit undesirable, unethical and unlawful practices in relation to the fund and its users, and to provide for matters connected here with,” a statement from Parliament said.
The UN declaration on UHC comes the day after WHO and partners flagged the need to double health coverage between now and 2030, or leave up to five billion vulnerable people unable to access sufficient health services and care.
Additional reporting by UN News
