Universal Health Coverage, Economic Slowdown and System Resilience: Africa’s Policy Dilemma

Abstract

Achieving universal health coverage (UHC) has become a dominant policy reoccupation within the global health community. For Africa, progress towards UHC involves ambitious goals for expanding access to a range of effective health services, a substantial increase in health expenditure, and establishing a greater reliance on prepayment and pooling mechanisms to finance healthcare. This paper argues that if the continent is to remain committed to the concept of UHC, the associated policies and financial tenets need to incorporate the nature of Africa’s non-linear, fragile growth.