Dr. Samir Kumar Saha :
Universal Health Coverage (UHC) Day is being observed across the world, including Bangladesh, on December 12 with a call for health for all, because health transforms economies, communities and nations. Health is a right, not a privilege.
The UHC Day aims to achieve better health and development outcomes, help prevent people from falling into poverty due to illness, and give people the opportunity to lead healthier, more productive lives.
On 12 December 2012, the United Nations unanimously endorsed universal health coverage as a pillar of sustainable development and global security. The first UHC Day was celebrated in 2014. Health is the foundation of sustainable development and global resilience.
In this first decade of the 21st century, immense advances in human well-being coexist with extreme deprivation in many parts of the world. Inequities in availability, accessibility and affordability of health care have increased, between as well as within populations the world over. Access to appropriate healthcare is increasingly being acknowledged as a human right through international instruments such as the United Nations Human Rights Commission, Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the World Health Organization (WHO).
For a community or country to achieve universal health coverage, several factors must be in place, including: A strong, efficient, well-run health system that meets priority health needs through people-centred integrated care. Affordability is a system for financing health services so people do not suffer financial hardship when using them. This can be achieved in a variety of ways. Access to essential medicines and technologies to diagnose and treat medical problems. A sufficient capacity of well-trained, motivated health workers to provide the services to meet patients’ needs based on the best available evidence.
Universal health coverage has a direct impact on a population’s health. Access to health services enables people to be more productive and active contributors to their families and communities. It also ensures that children can go to school and learn. At the same time, financial risk protection prevents people from being pushed into poverty when they have to pay for health services out of their own pockets.
Universal health coverage is thus a critical component of sustainable development and poverty reduction, and a key element of any effort to reduce social inequities. Universal coverage is the hallmark of a government’s commitment to improve the wellbeing of all its citizens.
According to World Health Organization (WHO), each year, 100 million people fall into poverty because they or a family member becomes seriously ill and they have to pay for care out of their own pockets. Around one billion people worldwide can’t even access the health care they need, paving the way for disease outbreaks to become catastrophic epidemics.
According to a new global progress report released by the World Health Organization and the World Bank Group and supported by The Rockefeller Foundation, 400 million people lack access to one or more of seven lifesaving health services, including childhood immunization, malaria control, HIV/AIDS treatment and family planning. Still more do not receive care to manage or prevent non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and heart disease that are taking an increasing toll in the poorest countries.
Affordable health for all is a pillar of sustainable development. It is impossible to end poverty or promote economic growth if people risk bankruptcy when they or a family member gets sick. The new progress report finds that 17% of people in low- and middle-income countries are pushed or further pushed into poverty (US$2/day) because of health spending. Although the number of people impoverished by health care has declined slightly over the past decade, the drop has not been swift or sweeping enough.
In Bangladesh, around 6.4 million or 4 percent people of the country get poorer every year due to excessive costs of healthcare, according to a study by the icddr,b.
About five core people are poor. They cannot pay for healthcare available in the private sector, while public healthcare facilities are inadequate in Bangladesh.
WHO launched the Traditional Medicine Strategy 2014-2023 for its academic promotion, quality production and mainstream integration into public health care to achieve universal health coverage. The present Bangladesh govermnment comitted to utilizing and modernizing the ayurveda, unani and other branches of traditional medicine.
So, inclusion of traditional medicine in the national health care system can play a complementary role to achieve the objectives of the universal health coverage. Its accesibility at door step of marginalized people will be very cost-effective and worthy in regards to population coverage and reducing financial burden as well. Since the beginning of human civilization, people used various plants and mineral as medicine in order to protect from diseases.
In the recent past, there has been a growing interest in Traditional Medicine/Complementary and Alternative Medicine (TCAM) and their relevance to public health both in developed and developing countries. Diversity, flexibility, easy accessibility, broad continuing acceptance in developing countries and increasing popularity in developed countries, relative low cost, low levels of technological input, relative low side effects and growing economic importance are some of the positive features of traditional medicine (WHO 2002).
In this context, there is a critical need to mainstream traditional medicine into our public health care to achieve the objectives of improved access to healthcare facilities.
According to World Health Organization (WHO), “Traditional medicine refers to health practices, approaches, knowledge and beliefs incorporating plant, animal and mineral based medicines, spiritual therapies, manual techniques and exercises, applied singularly or in combination to treat, diagnose and prevent illnesses or maintain well-being.”
Further the term “complementary” and “alternative” medicine (and sometimes also non-conventional or parallel) are used to refer to a broad set of healthcare practices that are not part of country’s own tradition, or not integrated into the dominant healthcare system. Based on this broad definition it may be hard to find a region without some form of TCAM practice. As per the context in which it is practiced or the form of knowledge, often it is called in various ways such as traditional medicine, alternative medicine, complementary medicine, natural medicine, herbal medicine, phyto-medicine, non-conventional medicine, indigenous medicine, folk medicine, ethno medicine etc. Chinese medicine, Ayurveda, Herbal medicine, Siddha, Unani, Kampo, Jamu, Thai, Homeopathy, Acupuncture, Chiropractic, Osteopathy, bone-setting, spiritual therapies, are some of the popular, established systems.
In countries such as Bangladesh, India, China and many other parts of Asia one can observe traditional medical knowledge in various forms such as codified medical systems, folk systems, allied disciplines and new systems of knowledge.
In Bangladesh, Alternative Medicine Care (AMC) means Unani, Ayurvedic and Homeopathic system of medicine. In India AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani and Sidhah) medical systems or Traditional Chinese medicine and Acupuncture in China, have evolved in a historical period spanning over 3-4 millennia with their own unique worldviews, conceptual, theoretical frameworks and elaborate codified literature.
For example, the oldest medical text of Ayurveda, Caraka Samhita is estimated to be written and redacted through various versions from 1,500 BC-200 AD. Such codified medical traditions have unique understanding of physiology, pathogenesis, pharmacology and pharmaceuticals, which is different from Western biomedicine. These medical systems have been professionalized since last millennia and have been integrated into the national health programs.
UHC Day is a great opportunity to put aside our differences and work together for a movement that brings benefits to people and patients and reduces poverty and promotes inclusive growth.
Universal Health Coverage (UHC) Day is being observed across the world, including Bangladesh, on December 12 with a call for health for all, because health transforms economies, communities and nations. Health is a right, not a privilege.
The UHC Day aims to achieve better health and development outcomes, help prevent people from falling into poverty due to illness, and give people the opportunity to lead healthier, more productive lives.
On 12 December 2012, the United Nations unanimously endorsed universal health coverage as a pillar of sustainable development and global security. The first UHC Day was celebrated in 2014. Health is the foundation of sustainable development and global resilience.
In this first decade of the 21st century, immense advances in human well-being coexist with extreme deprivation in many parts of the world. Inequities in availability, accessibility and affordability of health care have increased, between as well as within populations the world over. Access to appropriate healthcare is increasingly being acknowledged as a human right through international instruments such as the United Nations Human Rights Commission, Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the World Health Organization (WHO).
For a community or country to achieve universal health coverage, several factors must be in place, including: A strong, efficient, well-run health system that meets priority health needs through people-centred integrated care. Affordability is a system for financing health services so people do not suffer financial hardship when using them. This can be achieved in a variety of ways. Access to essential medicines and technologies to diagnose and treat medical problems. A sufficient capacity of well-trained, motivated health workers to provide the services to meet patients’ needs based on the best available evidence.
Universal health coverage has a direct impact on a population’s health. Access to health services enables people to be more productive and active contributors to their families and communities. It also ensures that children can go to school and learn. At the same time, financial risk protection prevents people from being pushed into poverty when they have to pay for health services out of their own pockets.
Universal health coverage is thus a critical component of sustainable development and poverty reduction, and a key element of any effort to reduce social inequities. Universal coverage is the hallmark of a government’s commitment to improve the wellbeing of all its citizens.
According to World Health Organization (WHO), each year, 100 million people fall into poverty because they or a family member becomes seriously ill and they have to pay for care out of their own pockets. Around one billion people worldwide can’t even access the health care they need, paving the way for disease outbreaks to become catastrophic epidemics.
According to a new global progress report released by the World Health Organization and the World Bank Group and supported by The Rockefeller Foundation, 400 million people lack access to one or more of seven lifesaving health services, including childhood immunization, malaria control, HIV/AIDS treatment and family planning. Still more do not receive care to manage or prevent non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and heart disease that are taking an increasing toll in the poorest countries.
Affordable health for all is a pillar of sustainable development. It is impossible to end poverty or promote economic growth if people risk bankruptcy when they or a family member gets sick. The new progress report finds that 17% of people in low- and middle-income countries are pushed or further pushed into poverty (US$2/day) because of health spending. Although the number of people impoverished by health care has declined slightly over the past decade, the drop has not been swift or sweeping enough.
In Bangladesh, around 6.4 million or 4 percent people of the country get poorer every year due to excessive costs of healthcare, according to a study by the icddr,b.
About five core people are poor. They cannot pay for healthcare available in the private sector, while public healthcare facilities are inadequate in Bangladesh.
WHO launched the Traditional Medicine Strategy 2014-2023 for its academic promotion, quality production and mainstream integration into public health care to achieve universal health coverage. The present Bangladesh govermnment comitted to utilizing and modernizing the ayurveda, unani and other branches of traditional medicine.
So, inclusion of traditional medicine in the national health care system can play a complementary role to achieve the objectives of the universal health coverage. Its accesibility at door step of marginalized people will be very cost-effective and worthy in regards to population coverage and reducing financial burden as well. Since the beginning of human civilization, people used various plants and mineral as medicine in order to protect from diseases.
In the recent past, there has been a growing interest in Traditional Medicine/Complementary and Alternative Medicine (TCAM) and their relevance to public health both in developed and developing countries. Diversity, flexibility, easy accessibility, broad continuing acceptance in developing countries and increasing popularity in developed countries, relative low cost, low levels of technological input, relative low side effects and growing economic importance are some of the positive features of traditional medicine (WHO 2002).
In this context, there is a critical need to mainstream traditional medicine into our public health care to achieve the objectives of improved access to healthcare facilities.
According to World Health Organization (WHO), “Traditional medicine refers to health practices, approaches, knowledge and beliefs incorporating plant, animal and mineral based medicines, spiritual therapies, manual techniques and exercises, applied singularly or in combination to treat, diagnose and prevent illnesses or maintain well-being.”
Further the term “complementary” and “alternative” medicine (and sometimes also non-conventional or parallel) are used to refer to a broad set of healthcare practices that are not part of country’s own tradition, or not integrated into the dominant healthcare system. Based on this broad definition it may be hard to find a region without some form of TCAM practice. As per the context in which it is practiced or the form of knowledge, often it is called in various ways such as traditional medicine, alternative medicine, complementary medicine, natural medicine, herbal medicine, phyto-medicine, non-conventional medicine, indigenous medicine, folk medicine, ethno medicine etc. Chinese medicine, Ayurveda, Herbal medicine, Siddha, Unani, Kampo, Jamu, Thai, Homeopathy, Acupuncture, Chiropractic, Osteopathy, bone-setting, spiritual therapies, are some of the popular, established systems.
In countries such as Bangladesh, India, China and many other parts of Asia one can observe traditional medical knowledge in various forms such as codified medical systems, folk systems, allied disciplines and new systems of knowledge.
In Bangladesh, Alternative Medicine Care (AMC) means Unani, Ayurvedic and Homeopathic system of medicine. In India AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani and Sidhah) medical systems or Traditional Chinese medicine and Acupuncture in China, have evolved in a historical period spanning over 3-4 millennia with their own unique worldviews, conceptual, theoretical frameworks and elaborate codified literature.
For example, the oldest medical text of Ayurveda, Caraka Samhita is estimated to be written and redacted through various versions from 1,500 BC-200 AD. Such codified medical traditions have unique understanding of physiology, pathogenesis, pharmacology and pharmaceuticals, which is different from Western biomedicine. These medical systems have been professionalized since last millennia and have been integrated into the national health programs.
UHC Day is a great opportunity to put aside our differences and work together for a movement that brings benefits to people and patients and reduces poverty and promotes inclusive growth.
