Working paper: Financing for universal health coverage

The concept of universal health coverage (UHC) has amassed widespread political support and can be expected to retain momentum throughout the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) agenda. Indeed, the argument has been won as pursuing UHC appears straightforwardly justifiable from a health systems performance and human rights perspective.

From a purely empirical perspective, evidence from multi-national panel data shows that greater coverage and greater pooled health spending indeed result in better population health. Finally, there is agreement that investing in UHC makes good economic sense.