PharmAccess Group

How will your commitment contribute to the digital transformation of health and the effective use of data to achieve UHC by 2030 in your specific country or region of focus?

Universal Health Coverage (UHC) ensures that all citizens can access needed health services, without suffering financial hardship. Currently, 100 million people annually are pushed into poverty due to high health expenditures (World Bank). Ensuring health insurance coverage for all members of society is a viable way to achieve UHC, yet financing social health insurance for in most African countries requires innovative approaches given the limited funds, competing priorities and large informal sectors. Mobile technology can transform social health insurance by efficiently pooling scarce resources, building transparency, reducing costs and increasing coverage for vulnerable groups. Yet, to sustainably finance UHC, African governments will need to increase their healthcare spending and pay more for inclusive health insurance premiums for the poor. In recent years, many African governments have demonstrated commitment for UHC, yet in most countries, government spending on health remains far below the 15% target agreed at the 2001 Abuja Declaration.