World Health Day 2018

With the theme “universal health coverage: everyone and everywhere” WHO draws attention to their vision for everyone to have access to health coverage regardless of their economic situation. Universal health coverage is not a given; half of the world`s population does not have access to the health services they need¹.

Why is universal health coverage so important?
Countries that invest in a universal health system boost the public health and nation’s economy. An investment in a country’s health infrastructure increases life expectancy and raises the standard of living, which in turn leads to higher economic productivity. As a result, the country is less prone to poverty and epidemics.

Which are the main goals of the Word Health Day?
The main goals of the Word Health Day are to inspire, motivate and guide universal health coverage investors to make commitments towards health services for everyone²:

to inform about the challenges, but also the great benefits, for a country to improve the health infrastructure
to give good examples of how countries have improved their health systems
to help the exchange of knowledge about how to improve universal health coverage
The aim is that global health awareness will be raised and the health situation improved, so that “no one should have to choose between buying medicine and buying food”¹.

(^1,2accessed on 05.04.2018, 4.20pm)