Universal Health Coverage Day 2021

On 12 December 2012, the United Nations General Assembly endorsed a resolution urging countries to accelerate progress toward universal health coverage (UHC) – the idea that everyone, everywhere should have access to quality, affordable health care - as an essential priority for international development. On 12 December 2017, the United Nations proclaimed 12 December as International Universal Health Coverage Day (UHC Day) by resolution 72/138. International Universal Health Coverage Day aims to raise awareness of the need for strong and resilient health systems and universal health coverage with multi-stakeholder partners. Each year on 12 December, UHC advocates raise their voices to share the stories of the millions of people still waiting for health, champion what we have achieved so far, call on leaders to make bigger and smarter investments in health, and encourage diverse groups to make commitments to help move the world closer to UHC by 2030. 2020 has been a long moment of reckoning for health systems around the world. While the harsh lessons of COVID-19 are far from new—and while fears and injustices now making headlines reflect the daily reality of millions before the pandemic—the sheer scale of this crisis has sparked new urgency around health systems and universal health coverage. More leaders than ever are paying attention, and more people than ever are rising to demand change. On 12 December, join us to demand action on universal health coverage. Our lives, livelihoods and futures depend on it.

The Road to Universal Health Coverage

The goal of universal health coverage (UHC) has become more attainable as the world has become richer, leading to greater access to health services and technologies, such as vaccines and antibiotics, and to the most dramatic decline in poverty ever achieved. To ensure that every person benefits from the human right to health, political leaders have to make the right choices, the rational economic, financial and social choice of universal health coverage.

Global Issues: Health

The World Health Organization (WHO) is one of the many members of the UN family engaged in health-related matters, which includes, among others, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS); the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in support of reproductive, adolescent and maternal health; and the health-related activities of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).