Universal Health Coverage Day is marked every year on December 12 to raise awareness about the global commitment to establish UHC by 2030 so that everyone, everywhere, can enjoy quality health services without financial hardship. This year’s UHC theme “Build the world we want: A healthy future for all” underlines that commitment. The Advance UHC Multi-Donor Trust Fund has been supporting East Asia and Pacific countries to invest in health and move towards full universal health coverage; a goal shared across the region.
Indonesia
“The Ministry of Health of Indonesia is making strong moves towards Universal Health Coverage through its Healthcare Transformation Agenda, which focuses on primary care in particular and also includes referral care, health financing, digital transformation, health talent and health security as its pillars, synergistically combined with our national health insurance program, Jaminan Kesehatan Nasional. We appreciate the technical and financial support from the World Bank and our other partners in our efforts towards UHC.”
· Kunta Nugraha Wibisana, Secretary General, Ministry of Health of Indonesia
Timor Leste
“Timor-Leste's Ministry of Health is looking forward to designing and rolling out innovations in health service delivery under the upcoming World Bank-funded Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Trust Fund project. This includes drone delivery of emergency medical goods and geospatial planning approaches developed with support from development partners including Advance UHC. On the other hand, the IDA20 Healthcare Action Through Rapid Infrastructure and Innovations project, currently under preparation, will focus on building three new municipal hospitals, rehabilitating community health centers and health posts, and strengthening the referral system in Lautem, Viqueque and Ermera Municipalities. These critical interventions and innovations are key to improving access to essential health services, increase community participation in primary healthcare, including families, strengthen accountability of health service delivery in a decentralized environment and overall achieving our aim of Universal Health Coverage in Timor-Leste."
· Marcelo Amaral, Director General for Corporate Services, Ministry of Health
Kiribati
“Kiribati faces health inequities that are exacerbated by the vast ocean between our many islands but I like to look at these as challenges that open doors to opportunities. We realize that as a small country we can’t achieve universal health coverage alone and so partnerships that will benefit the people of Kiribati represent great opportunities. I thank the World Bank for partnering with the Ministry of Health and Medical Services to make a positive impact to the lives of our people.”
· Dr Tinte Itinteang, Minister for Health and Medical Services
Solomon Islands
“Solomon Islands aspires to achieve a healthy future for all Solomon Islanders irrespective of where one lives through the principles of universal health coverage. Our key policy on UHC is the Role Delineation Policy. It set out six levels of services for our health system and the minimum service packages for each level. Its emphasis is on improving primary health care. The journey towards UHC will be long and challenging, but we hope to get there by taking incremental steps. This includes support from World Bank under the Program of Advisory Services and Analytics and related projects as well as other donors supporting us in this journey.”
· Dr Greg Jilini, Deputy Secretary Healthcare