NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Friday, October 25, 2013

Every country, every government, every population is a participant in a global trial and error. Each one faces different circumstances and, therefore, approaches healthcare differently. But, as world health leaders see it, everyone can learn from others’ struggles and successes to improve and simplify their respective strategies. Health information technology is at the core.

Finding the global lessons from local healthcare strategies facilitates progress toward Universal Health Coverage, or UHC, a public health concept championed notably by the World Health Organization and it’s director, Margaret Chan. According to Najeeb Al-Shorbaji, director of knowledge, management, and sharing at the WHO, in a statement released to Healthcare IT News, WHO defines UHC as “all people receiving quality health services that meet their needs without exposing them to financial hardship in paying for them.”

A video on the WHO’s website, “The many paths to universal health coverage,” documents the various efforts in Thailand, Rwanda, Oman, China, Mexico, and Turkey to achieve this lofty goal. As the video notes, “Their experience can provide lessons to countries just beginning the journey” toward UHC. This means, ideally, more time and money spent repeating past successes and avoiding past errors – and also innovating.