The growth of UHC since 1990
Countries in Asia and Southern and Eastern Africa have achieved double-digit increases in their Universal Health Coverage (UHC) index in the last decade, says a new study in The Lancet. We display its findings for this week’s comprehensive infographic.
The map below shows the ‘effective coverage of health services’ by country in 1990, 2010 and 2019 according to last week’s study (link). Its authors came up with 23 ‘effective coverage indicators’ which average out to a UHC index, including ‘antenatal, peripartum, and postnatal care for newborn babies’, ‘Diabetes treatment’ and ‘mcv1 coverage’ (measles vaccination).
The UHC index is unsurprisingly highest at around 90%+ in Western Europ, North American, Japan and Australia.
This second map shows which have increased their UHC index, according to the study, the most in the last ten and 30 years. Russia, Namibia, DRC and Botswana have seen double-digit increases in the last decade. The fact that South Africa and Zimbabwe are shown as leading the way with 20 percentage point moves, from 30-40% in 2010 to 55-60% in 2019 does beg the question of what the quality of UHC is likely to really be on the ground.
We would welcome your thoughts on this story. Email your views to Cameron Murray or call 0207 183 3779.