PHM-Exch> PHM East and Southern Africa position on Universal Health Coverage, and Call to Action

[Claudio Schuftan]

We, representatives of civil society activists, academics and advocates for
health, have met in Nairobi, Kenya, on the 9th of April 2018 for
commemoration of the World Health Day and the book launch of *Global Health
Watch 5*, and considered the following:



   - The focus on Universal Health Coverage (UHC) as a financial issue
   ignores the fundamental issues of health equity, quality of health care
   services and health as a basic human right.
   - UHC should enable everyone to access the services that address the
   most important causes of disease and death and ensure that the quality of
   those services is good enough to improve the health of the people who
   receive them.
   - Policies for UHC need to clearly highlight the costs, who is covered
   and the extent of the cover. It will enable us to move from curative to
   prevention.



Considering the above, we call upon the governments in the global south,
especially in East and Southern Africa, to ensure that the idea of UHC is
addressed and defined as to focus on the issues of social justice in health
rather than just financial mechanisms.



We further call upon the various governments in the global south to
recognize, remunerate, and strengthen through capacity building of
Community Health Workers as key actors in improving primary health care.
Health systems should not be a barrier to health care workers but a
motivation towards helping others.



We call upon governments to ensure that health is not treated as security
issue but as a fundamental right for the people and hence the
responsibility of societies through their governments.



Issued in Nairobi, Kenya on 9 April 2018



Signed:






  for PHM Zimbabwe






  for PHM Kenya






  for PHM Uganda






  for PHM Kenya






  for PHM Zimbabwe






  for PHM Kenya






  for PHM Kenya






  for PHM Kenya






  for PHM Kenya
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