World Health Day: A March Towards Health for All

The premise of World Health Day, promoted universally by the World Health Organization (WHO) on the 7th of April, is that every individual should be able to realize their right to the highest possible level of healthcare.This year’s theme #HealthForAll seeks to be a guiding vision for countries and economies as we progress towards this basic human right for health. In its efforts over the past seven decades, WHO has sought to support countries in this mission for Universal Health Coverage (UHC). World Health Day offers the opportunity to think about the challenges that are yet to be overcome in delivering efficient healthcare services to all, and to create a roadmap to achieve the task.

What Does World Health Day Represent?

800 million people worldwide spend more than 10% of household budget on healthcare expenses; 100 million fall into extreme poverty each year due to health expenditure. While some countries have made significant progress towards universal health coverage, half the world’s population still lack access to health services they need. World Health Day shines the spotlight on the need for UHC and its advantages for the economy.

What is UHC?

Universal Health Coverage is an initiative towards ensuring that all individuals in communities globally will receive requisite healthcare services without the distress of financial hardships. UHC includes a full spectrum of essential, quality medical services ranging from prevention to treatment, rehabilitation, and palliative care. UHC also seeks to protect individuals from the financial consequences of out-of-pocket expenses for health services, where the risk exists of pushing them into poverty owing to an unexpected illness that can drink up life savings and assets, or bring up the need to borrow extensively. Achieving UHC is among the key targets for Sustainable Development Goals (SGL), set by the nations of the world when adopting SGL in 2015.

WHO’s Roadmap to Ensure UHC

“No one should have to choose between death and financial hardship. No one should have to choose between buying medicine and buying food,” says Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization. In accordance with his statement, during 2018, the organization aims to inspire, motivate and guide stakeholders to pledge towards UHC:Inspire by emphasizing the power of policy-makers to transform healthcare services in their nation, and by inviting them to be part of the challenge and change.Motivate by highlighting examples of countries that have progressed towards and achieved UHC, thereby encouraging others to find the path to their UHC goal.Guide by furnishing tools to structure policy dialogue on how to advance UHC. Examples include widening service coverage, reducing out-of-pocket expenses, and making improvements in quality of healthcare services.

Our Role in Empowering the Healthcare System

In many ways, Third Party Administrators (TPAs) are slowly stepping out from the shadows into a healthcare industry that is at the cusp of transformation. Medi Assist has transformed into being much more than just an organization that manages claims; we have long since donned the role of a partner who helps organizations solve for all realms of healthcare and make health benefits actionable for their vast employee base.On another front, MediBuddy, our curated network for cashless inpatient and outpatient services, allows you to select and book healthcare services from trusted providers.  You can compare your chosen healthcare service on a range of parameters – from location, medical centres, pricing, amenities available and more. You also have the convenience of sorting through the catalogue based on price and discounts.

India’s Journey Towards Universal Health Coverage

Finance minister Arun Jaitley recently announced the first of its kind healthcare program that will reach 10 crore, underprivileged Indian families. Read more about what this National Health Protection Scheme entails. [av_promobox button='yes' label='Book on MediBuddy' link='https://www.medibuddy.in/?utm_source=blog_cta&utm_medium=blog' link_target='' color='blue' custom_bg='#f00' custom_font='#ffffff' size='large' icon_select='no' icon='ue800' font='entypo-fontello']Ready to discover a new world of wellness services? Explore healthcare services and deep discounts on MediBuddy! Up to 72% off* on Health Checks | Up to 25% off* on Medicines | Up to 10% off* on Consultations TCA*[/av_promobox]