The Conversation: Universal health coverage alone won’t radically improve global health
Maisam Najafizada, assistant professor of population health policy at Memorial University of Newfoundland

“…As a researcher in the area of public health and health systems, I hope that any global meaningful standard for universal health coverage will include benchmarks for primary health care including patient participation in health systems. These are necessary to enable countries to effectively evaluate the true impact of health investments. The U.N.’s current 2012 policy on global health doesn’t address this concern. A new political statement supporting UHC should. … A meaningful statement about UHC must address the fact that ensuring health is beyond the scope of ministries of health and the health-care sector alone, and that social factors impact health and community participation. … For the sake of better global health, U.N. decision makers should realize a vision for people to lead healthy lives, not just create policy that responds to illness” (9/17).