World Health Organization Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan calls universal health coverage “the single most powerful concept that public health has to offer.”
But what is UHC? Officially, UHC means that every person, everywhere, has access to health care without suffering financial hardship.
Indeed the World Bank, once a staunch advocate of out-of-pocket fees for users of health care, has conceded that UHC can deliver better health to populations, with President Jim Kim describing the bank’s previous stance as “ideological” and contrary to overwhelming evidence.
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About the authors
Karl Hofmann@karlhofmannPSI
Karl Hofmann is president and CEO of Population Services International, a Washington, D.C.-based global health nonprofit focused on family planning and reproductive health, malaria, child survival, HIV, maternal and child health, and NCDs. Before joining the organization in 2007, he was a career U.S. diplomat for 23 years, serving as ambassador to Togo, executive secretary of the Department of State and deputy chief of mission at the U.S. embassy in Paris.
Simon Cooke
Simon Cooke is CEO of Marie Stopes International. He joined the organization in 2013 with over 20 years of international management, marketing and sales experience in developed and developing countries in North Africa, Asia, Latin America, Scandinavia and the Persian Gulf. Cooke is the former CEO of SuperMax, a personal care product marketing organization based in the Middle East, and has also held senior leadership positions at both Procter & Gamble and Reckitt Benckiser.
