WHO: 50% of global population lacks access to basic health services

The World Health Organisation (WHO) and the World Bank said at least half of the world’s population, 3.5 billion people, do not have access to basic health services.

In a joint report issued yesterday to mark Universal Health Coverage Day, the global organisations said the number of poor families is increasing each year because they have to pay for health care from their own money.

According to the report, 800 million people spend at least ten per cent of their household budgets on health expenses.

“For almost 100 million people these expenses are high enough to push them into extreme poverty, forcing them to survive on just $1.90 or less a day,” the report said.

In the Eastern Mediterranean Region, the report explained, around 40 per cent of health expenditure comes directly from people’s pockets while a majority of them cannot afford it.

“People with low incomes and without social protection are the hardest hit. As a result, an estimated 7.5 million people are pushed into poverty every year in the region due to spending on health.”

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It explained that universal health coverage is particularly important to people living in countries with acute and prolonged emergency situations, noting that half of the world’s internally displaced populations are living in such countries and more than 60 per cent of the world’s refugees and migrants originate from these areas.

Director-General of WHO, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said: “It is completely unacceptable that half the world still lacks coverage for the most essential health services.”

“And it is unnecessary. A solution exists: universal health coverage (UHC) allows everyone to obtain the health services they need, when and where they need them, without facing financial hardship,” he added.