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The Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) has joined for the second time a coalition of 621 organizations from more than 115 countries to celebrate the second Universal Health Day on December 12 (known globally as Universal Health Coverage Day).

The campaign, spearheaded by the Rockefeller Foundation, WHO, and the World Bank, seeks to increase awareness of the importance of access to health care as a basic human right and as essential for countries' social and economic well-being. PAHO/WHO is supporting the campaign as part of its ongoing efforts to advance universal access to health and universal health coverage in collaboration with its Member States in the Americas.

Universal Health Day marks the three-year anniversary of a United Nations resolution, unanimously passed on 12 December 2012, which endorsed universal health coverage as a pillar of sustainable development and global security.

Key facts

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• A World Health Organization and World Bank Group report shows that 400 million people do not have access to essential health services and 6% of people in low- and middle-income countries are tipped into or pushed further into extreme poverty because of health spending. (Source: Joint WHO/World Bank. Tracking Universal Health Coverage. First global monitoring report. 2015)
• Each year, about 150 million people face catastrophic health care costs because of direct payments, such as user fees, while 100 million are driven below the poverty line. (SOURCE: Xu K et al. Protecting households from catastrophic health spending. Health Aff (Millwood), 2007,26:972-983. doi:10.1377/hlthaff.26.4.972 PMID:17630440, Source. World Health Report 2010)
• Currently, 30% of the population in Latin America and the Caribbean lacks access to health care for financial reasons, and 21% does not seek care because of geographical barriers. To address this problem, ministers of health from throughout the Americas in October 2014 endorsed a Regional Strategy for Universal Health.