Put Health at the Heart of Tackling Poverty
- by: Health Poverty Action
- recipient: Chairs of the High Level Panel on the post-2015 development framework
Everyone has the right to decent health services, but millions of people around the world have to pay for healthcare at the very moment they need it. This can push them into extreme poverty, and often results in needless deaths as people don't see a doctor when they need to. As world leaders discuss what replaces the Millennium Development Goals when they expire in 2015, it is vital that they include measures to ensure that everyone can get quality health services when they need them without having to pay for them on the spot, as they can with the UK's NHS.
Please join us in urging the Chairs of the panel advising the UN on the new framework -- British Prime Minister David Cameron, Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf and Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono -- to include Universal Health Coverage as a key element of achieving a better future for all.
Sign now and make sure health is at the heart of a new global development framework!
Dear Chairs,
Your role as Chairs of the High Level Panel making recommendations on what should come next after the Millennium Development Goals is absolutely vital.
As you know, millions of people remain in extreme poverty around the world, and many do not have access to essential health services like seeing a midwife to give birth, or a doctor when they fall sick.
I am writing to urge you to include health as a cross-cutting issue in the new development framework; one which must be considered alongside a wide range of social, political and economic factors.
At the same time, a basic prerequisite for achieving health for all would be to adopt Universal Health Coverage -- decent health services which do not force people into poverty through out-of-pocket expenses.
Please recommend that UHC is included in the post-2015 framework when you present your report to the UN Secretary General.
