Prime Minister Abe of Japan and WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus co-authored an op-ed in The Washington Post in which they called on the world to adopt universal health coverage.
The opinion piece cited momentum achieved in the past two years toward reaching UHC, including a declaration adopted by world leaders at the UN General Assembly in September of this year, as well as a similar resolution passed a month later by legislators from 140 countries at the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly in Belgrade, Serbia.
The co-authors wrote: “Time is short. In 2015, world leaders committed to achieving universal health coverage by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals. With just 10 years remaining, the Universal Health Coverage Forum in Bangkok in January and the Tokyo Nutrition for Growth Summit in December 2020 offer a vital opportunity to elicit concrete actions. Specifically, we call on all countries to develop strong primary health-care-based health systems, to strengthen health financing and to invest in innovations related to health technologies and service delivery.”
PM Abe and Dr Tedros noted that Japan will celebrate the 60th anniversary of its universal health insurance scheme in 2021.
WHO Kate Marshall
Japanese Red Cross pharmacist Yasutoro Nakazato inspects a box of medications that have just been delivered by the team to the BDRCS/JRC emergency clinic
Japanese Red Cross pharmacist Yasutoro Nakazato inspects a box of medications that have just been delivered by the team to the BDRCS/JRC emergency clinic
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Credits
All nations should have universal health care
Op ed in the Washington Post by Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe and Director-General of the World Health Organization Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
Authors