What is universal coverage?

Universal coverage (UC), or universal health coverage (UHC), is defined as ensuring that all people can use the promotive, preventive, curative, rehabilitative and palliative health services they need, of sufficient quality to be effective, while also ensuring that the use of these services does not expose the user to financial hardship.

This definition of UC embodies three related objectives:

• 1. Equity in access to health services - those who need the services should get them, not only those who can pay for them;

• 2. That the quality of health services is good enough to improve the health of those receiving services;

• 3. Financial-risk protection - ensuring that the cost of using care does not put people at risk of financial hardship.

Universal coverage brings the hope of better health and protection from poverty for hundreds of millions of people - especially those in the most vulnerable situations.