Measuring universal health coverage – plus ça change?
In case you hadn’t noticed, there’s a growing clamor for a global commitment to universal health coverage (UHC). You might have seen the recent special issue of the Lancet on “the struggle for UHC”....
View ArticleShould you trust a medical journal?
While we non-physicians may feel a bit peeved when we hear “Trust me, I’m a doctor”, our medical friends do seem to have evidence on their side. GfK, apparently one of the world’s leading market...
View ArticleWhere in the world is a hospitalization least affordable?
In the developing world, a hospitalization is one of the things that families – especially poor ones – fear most. This came through in country after country in the World Bank’s Voices of the Poor...
View ArticleUniversal health coverage: Old wine in a new bottle? If so, is that so bad?
It's easy to see how the concept of universal health coverage (UHC) became so elusive.At the start, the idea must have seemed straightforward enough. Lots of countries "covered" only part of their...
View ArticleA Sketch of a Ministerial Meeting on Universal Health Coverage
I had been warned—I found it hard to believe—that WHO ministerial meetings can be rather dull affairs of little consequence. Ministers typically take it in turn to read their prepared speeches; their...
View ArticleUniversal Health Coverage and the post-2015 development goal agenda. And Mrs...
In a recent blogpost I asked whether Universal Health Coverage (UHC) is old wine in a new bottle, and if so whether that’s so bad. I argued that UHC is ultimately about making sure that “everyone –...
View ArticleCost-effectiveness vs. universal health coverage. Is the future random?
I've been blogging a bit about Universal Health Coverage (UHC) recently. In my "old wine in a new bottle" post, I argued that UHC is ultimately about ensuring that rich and poor alike get the care...
View ArticleThe Academic Sting Operation
Nobody likes to be stung. Doctors regard it as unethical. Publishers say it betrays the trust of their profession. But the fact is, as three recent studies have demonstrated, sting operations can be...
View ArticleWe just learned a whole lot more about achieving Universal Health Coverage
Subsidized health insurance is unlikely to lead to Universal Health Coverage (UHC); insurance coverage doesn’t always improve financial protection and when it does, doesn’t necessarily eliminate...
View ArticleSaturday, December 12 was UHC Day. What have we learned in the last 12 months...
It turns out lots of interesting things happened on December 12. Beethoven had his first lesson in music composition with Franz Joseph Haydn (1792), Washington, D.C. became the capital of the US...
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