Mail & Guardian: Universal health coverage will lead to a healthier and more equitable world
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreysus, special adviser to the prime minister of Ethiopia, and Aaron Motsoaledi, minister of health of South Africa

“…We are convinced that Universal Health Coverage (UHC), with strong primary care and essential financial protection, is the key to achieving the ambitious health targets of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and to avoiding impoverishment from exorbitant out-of-pocket health expenses. Strong health and disease surveillance systems halt epidemics that take lives, disrupt economies, and pose global health security threats. … UHC is achievable, by or even before 2030, through strong political will, innovative service delivery, and sustained financing. Ensuring UHC must be the foundation for the SDGs, aimed at ending poverty and inequality by 2030. … We believe WHO can and must continue to play an instrumental role with its partners to promote knowledge sharing across countries; and to strengthen core responsibilities, benchmark successful financial models, and enact policies that make UHC possible. This includes supporting national health authorities’ efforts to strengthen their health workforce, service delivery, and health information systems — and to enact policies aimed at ensuring health coverage, including mental health care, is equitable and affordable for all. … A strong, effective WHO that is able to meet the emerging challenges of implementing quality UHC will lead the world in the achievement of the SDGs” (12/19).