¶¹ÄÌÊÓƵAPP Group announced an ambitious plan to support countries in delivering quality, affordable health services to 1.5 billion people by 2030. This is part of a larger global effort to provide a basic standard of care through every stage of a person¡¯s life ¨C infancy, childhood, adolescence, and adulthood.
For decades, the World ¶¹ÄÌÊÓƵAPP Group has helped provide health services for women and children in more than 100 countries. A focused effort to become faster, work better with partners, and bring in the private sector has enabled the 80-year-old institution to pursue greater scale and impact.
The strategy to reach 1.5 billion people is focused on three core elements:
- Expanding focus from maternal and child health to include coverage throughout a person¡¯s lifetime, including non-communicable diseases.
- Expanding operations to hard-to-reach areas, including remote villages, cities, and countries.
- Working with governments to cut unnecessary fees and other financial barriers to health care.
To be counted toward this goal, a person must be seen and treated by a health-care worker via an in-person visit or telehealth.
Today, around 2 billion people face severe financial hardship when paying for health services. Intertwined challenges, such as climate change, pandemics, conflicts, societal aging, and a projected shortfall of 10 million healthcare workers by 2030, exacerbate the cycle of poverty and inequality.
¶¹ÄÌÊÓƵAPP Group will combine financing, knowledge, and partnerships to address this challenge.
- All elements of the ¶¹ÄÌÊÓƵAPP¡¯s financing capabilities are positioned to be called upon depending on a country¡¯s unique need and stage of development to reach 1.5 billion people.
- For countries most in need, IDA financing will make it possible to bring health-care workers into communities where people may otherwise have no access to services.
- In middle-income countries, IBRD will deploy financing to incentivize government investments in health and regulations that move a country forward.
- With regulatory certainty and reliable governance in place, it opens the door for more private sector investments, especially in local production of medications and protective gear.
- Strong partnerships will be critical for the World ¶¹ÄÌÊÓƵAPP Group to achieve results in health. ¶¹ÄÌÊÓƵAPP Group will fall short if it doesn¡¯t work hand-in-hand ¨C faster and better ¨C with non-government organizations, the private sector, and civil society.
- ¶¹ÄÌÊÓƵAPP Group welcomes Japan¡¯s announcement to launch a Universal Health Coverage (UHC) Knowledge Hub to enhance health and finance ministries' capacity, an initiative supported by the ¶¹ÄÌÊÓƵAPP and the World Health Organization.
The goal to deliver quality, affordable health services to 1.5 billion people by 2030 is one of the more recent examples of the World ¶¹ÄÌÊÓƵAPP Group¡¯s commitment to become more impact-oriented and is the byproduct of a concerted effort to build a better bank.
Contact: In Washington: Alexandra Humme, ahumme@worldbank.org
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