Universal health coverage
World leaders commit to strengthening oral health
FDI welcomed the long overdue commitment to strengthen oral health in the United Nations (UN) Political Declaration on Universal Health Coverage (UHC), which was officially adopted by world leaders at the UN High-Level Meeting on UHC on September 23 in New York.
Momentum behind UHC has grown in recent years with endorsements from the World Health Assembly and United Nations General Assembly. It is now a pressing priority issue for many countries – in 2015, all UN Member States agreed to aim to achieve UHC by 2030, as part of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Target 3.8 for Sustainable Development Goal 3 (the health goal) aims to “achieve universal health coverage, including financial risk protection, access to quality essential healthcare services and access to safe, effective, quality and affordable essential medicines and vaccines for all.”
UHC provides a unique opportunity to improve access to essential oral health services and address substantial out-of-pocket expenses associated with oral healthcare in many countries. The integration of essential oral health services into UHC will help improve health outcomes and reduce fundamental inequalities in access to care.
