Page 16 - Htain Manual

Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and Priority Setting

UHC has been defined as “all people receiving quality health services that meet their

needs without exposing them to financial hardship in paying for them” (figure 2 illustrates the

3 core dimensions considered when moving towards UHC).

Figure 2: Three dimensions when moving towards Universal Health Coverage

However, scarcity of resources and a paucity of funds in most developing countries

ensure that not everyone gets all the beneficial health services at affordable prices. UHC has

three dimensions in terms of three axes of a cube – the population covered, the services
delivered and the financial cover provided to the population. Depending the resources and

programmes covered in a country the size of the cube varies according to how much of each

axis has been tended to. Also, countries trying to move forward with UHC will face at least

one bottleneck regarding fairness and equity issues in each dimension. So while pursuing an
approach to adjust for these issues, some trade-offs come to mind that have to be purposively

planned for:

1. To prioritize which drug, diagnostic, drug or programme design to choose for

inclusion in public health systems from amongst a number of contending options
based on considerations of universalizing access, equity, cost-effectiveness, safety

4