The Right(s) Road to Universal Health Coverage
The political momentum around universal health coverage (UHC) provides a welcome opportunity to scale up efforts to dismantle barriers to accessing health services and to create enabling environments for people to thrive and be healthy. However, UHC lacks sufficient clarity, both conceptually and op...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Harvard FXB Center for Health and Human Rights
2019-12-01
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| Series: | Health and Human Rights |
| Online Access: | https://www.hhrjournal.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2469/2019/12/Nygren.pdf |
| _version_ | 1818574334068785152 |
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| author | Helena Nygren-Krug |
| author_facet | Helena Nygren-Krug |
| author_sort | Helena Nygren-Krug |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The political momentum around universal health coverage (UHC) provides a welcome opportunity to scale up efforts to dismantle barriers to accessing health services and to create enabling environments for people to thrive and be healthy. However, UHC lacks sufficient clarity, both conceptually and operationally, to generate the societal transformation required to ensure its successful implementation in countries. This article argues that both the messaging and the monitoring and implementation guidance around UHC are ambiguous and flawed from a human rights perspective. To leverage the reforms necessary to achieve UHC, human rights norms and principles need to signpost the direction ahead, and human rights mechanisms need to be involved to enhance the accountability of those United Nations member states that choose to “take a wrong turn.” The article argues that a human rights-based approach to programming offers a practical methodological framework for designing and implementing UHC at the national level. It concludes by illustrating five key areas in which it is critical to invoke human rights as the foundation for UHC and for which consistent, authoritative, and practical guidance is needed to support countries in getting onto the right(s) road to UHC. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-15T00:25:13Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-af881cba778c4fe2b7509bfb3b05cd8d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2150-4113 2150-4113 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-15T00:25:13Z |
| publishDate | 2019-12-01 |
| publisher | Harvard FXB Center for Health and Human Rights |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Health and Human Rights |
| spelling | doaj.art-af881cba778c4fe2b7509bfb3b05cd8d2022-12-21T22:42:11ZengHarvard FXB Center for Health and Human RightsHealth and Human Rights2150-41132150-41132019-12-01212215228The Right(s) Road to Universal Health CoverageHelena Nygren-Krug0Senior Adviser in the Executive Office of UNAIDS, Geneva, Switzerland.The political momentum around universal health coverage (UHC) provides a welcome opportunity to scale up efforts to dismantle barriers to accessing health services and to create enabling environments for people to thrive and be healthy. However, UHC lacks sufficient clarity, both conceptually and operationally, to generate the societal transformation required to ensure its successful implementation in countries. This article argues that both the messaging and the monitoring and implementation guidance around UHC are ambiguous and flawed from a human rights perspective. To leverage the reforms necessary to achieve UHC, human rights norms and principles need to signpost the direction ahead, and human rights mechanisms need to be involved to enhance the accountability of those United Nations member states that choose to “take a wrong turn.” The article argues that a human rights-based approach to programming offers a practical methodological framework for designing and implementing UHC at the national level. It concludes by illustrating five key areas in which it is critical to invoke human rights as the foundation for UHC and for which consistent, authoritative, and practical guidance is needed to support countries in getting onto the right(s) road to UHC.https://www.hhrjournal.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2469/2019/12/Nygren.pdf |
| spellingShingle | Helena Nygren-Krug The Right(s) Road to Universal Health Coverage Health and Human Rights |
| title | The Right(s) Road to Universal Health Coverage |
| title_full | The Right(s) Road to Universal Health Coverage |
| title_fullStr | The Right(s) Road to Universal Health Coverage |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Right(s) Road to Universal Health Coverage |
| title_short | The Right(s) Road to Universal Health Coverage |
| title_sort | right s road to universal health coverage |
| url | https://www.hhrjournal.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2469/2019/12/Nygren.pdf |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT helenanygrenkrug therightsroadtouniversalhealthcoverage AT helenanygrenkrug rightsroadtouniversalhealthcoverage |