Two International Organizations: Half of the World's Population Lacks Access to Essential Healthcare Services

According to a new report by the World Bank and the World Health Organization, at least half of the world's population lacks access to essential healthcare services, and each year, many families fall into poverty because they have to bear medical costs themselves. The report, published on December 13, states that 800 million people spend at least 10% of their household budget on healthcare for themselves or a sick family member. For about 100 million people, these costs are so high that they have been pushed into poverty, forcing them to survive on less than $1.90 a day. This report, titled 'Universal Health Coverage: Global Monitoring Report 2017', has also been published in The Lancet journal. The Secretary-General of the World Health Organization stated, 'It is unacceptable that half of the world's population still lacks coverage for essential healthcare services. This is not inevitable because there is a solution. Universal health coverage will enable all people to access essential and primary healthcare services without facing financial hardship.' The President of the World Bank also said, 'This report shows that if we are serious about providing better healthcare coverage and simultaneously ending severe poverty, we must take immediate action to develop universal health coverage. Investment in health and, more broadly, investment in people is a crucial part of building human capital that ensures inclusive and sustainable economic growth.' He added, 'But this system is broken, and we need to make changes in the ways resources are allocated to health and human capital, particularly at the national levels. We are working in various areas to encourage countries to allocate more effective and efficient budgets to their people and to accelerate their progress towards universal health coverage.' The report also highlights positive developments. It shows that in the 21st century, more people have access to essential health services such as prevention of infectious diseases, family and maternal health, AIDS treatment, and malaria control methods. At the same time, compared to the end of the 20th century, fewer people are falling into poverty due to healthcare costs. However, these advancements are very uneven. In African and South Asian countries, there is a significant class gap in access to healthcare services. In other parts of the world, services such as family health and infant health have become more accessible than before, but the lack of financial support has put many families under severe financial pressure due to the costs of these services. Even in wealthier regions of the world, such as East Asia, Latin America, and parts of Europe, access to these services has become a serious challenge as people are forced to spend at least 10% of their income or family income on healthcare services. Inequity in access to healthcare is evident not only between different countries but also within each country. For example, in poor and relatively poor countries, only 17% of mothers and children from families in the poorest fifth of the population receive maternal and infant health services, while this figure is around 74% in the wealthiest fifth of society. This report was released concurrently with the Universal Health Coverage Summit 2017 in Japan. This summit, supported by the Japanese government and its international cooperation agency, includes participation from Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, the heads of the World Bank, the World Health Organization, and UNICEF, as well as leaders or ministers from over 30 countries worldwide. The joint report by the World Bank and the World Health Organization is published annually to assess the coverage of essential healthcare services around the world, aiming to determine the extent to which people in various countries have access to essential healthcare services and to measure the percentage of household income spent on these services.