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Universal health coverage is defined as ensuring that all people have access to needed promotive, preventive, curative and rehabilitative health services, of sufficient quality to be effective, while also ensuring that people do not suffer financial hardship when paying for these services. Universal health coverage has therefore become a major goal for health reform in many countries and a priority objective of WHO.
Universal health coverage embodies three related objectives:
- Equity in access to health services – those who need the services should get them, not only those who can pay for them;
- that the quality of health services is good enough to improve the health of those receiving services; and
- financial-risk protection – ensuring that the cost of using care does not put people at risk of financial hardship.
WHO
