Health: a Right or a Privilege?

Today we continue to suffer the consequences of a financial crisis that crossed borders with a speed characteristic of an infectious disease—and a contagious one at that—as the result of the interdependence of states. It’s a crisis that arrived as we reached a peak in health and development objectives established under the Millennium Development Goals of the United Nations.

From the unanimous approval of the United Nations resolution supporting Universal Health Coverage and urging governments to adopt measures to ensure that all people have access to affordable, quality health services, we saw these ideas gain ground in many developing countries.  At the same time, the economic crisis led to losses and limited access to healthcare in some countries, putting this model and its viability into question.

What role does the economy of a country play in the functioning of health systems? How do we finance health? If cuts in health services can happen in rich countries, what could happen in those with the least resources? Do we face a problem with the model?

Health is the path to the development of nations and to economic development and, as we have seen in previous crises, reducing our investments in health has important consequences. If we have learned from previous mistakes we should know that in times of economic difficulty we need to increase investment in people and public services, ensuring the fairness, effectiveness and efficiency of health interventions that promote wellness and security in a society and thus reinforce development.

Lately, we have seen public funding for systems that guarantee access to healthcare for the entire population reduced, opening the door for the involvement and expansion of private models and moving away from vital governmental goals: protecting and guaranteeing the basic needs of the people, among these, health.

What is the role of governments in ensuring access and financing it? What about international organizations? And people:  when we claim our right to health in a world that is increasingly participatory—is this a shared responsibility?

International policies play a fundamental role in social welfare and should be able to go beyond the goal of economic prosperity. Our current times are not easy, the future is uncertain and how to finance health systems is an enormous challenge that we must face [4].

At the Barcelona Global Health Summer School 2014: Health by System: The Role of Health Systems and the Path to Universal Health Coverage we will take on the challenge of understanding how health systems function in the context of the World Health Organization’s goal of Universal Health Coverage, analyzing operations, evolution, gaps and challenges around the world and the key role that they play in equitable access to health.

“I regard universal health coverage as the single most powerful concept that public health has to offer. It is inclusive. It unifies services and delivers them in a comprehensive and integrated way, based on primary health care.”
Dr. Margaret Chan, Director General, World Health Organization

For Further Reading

The World Health Report