Abstract
Universal health coverage (UHC) is not a new topic in development discourse and practice. Since the late 1970s, neoliberalism has eroded solidaristic institutions and policies in health systems, shifting regulatory roles and functions in health service provision and care delivery from the public to the private sector. However, a recent shift in international and national health systems discourse has again brought universalism, particularly universal health coverage, to the fore. As many countries make significant strides towards universalism, this introductory chapter summarizes policy-relevant findings and lessons from the experience of eight emerging economies. Illustrating diverse forms of contestation and compromise over the contents of public policies and institutions affecting health outcomes, it highlights that moving towards universal health care is more about politics, institutions, and policies than financial resources.
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Notes
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The “Poor Laws” were an early system of targeted poverty relief in England and Wales that lasted until the emergence of the modern welfare state after the Second World War.
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The aspiration for UHC: “universal health coverage implies that all people have access, without discrimination, to nationally determined sets of the needed promotive, preventive, curative and rehabilitative basic health services and essential, safe, affordable, effective, and quality medicines, while ensuring that the use of these services does not expose the users to financial hardship, with a special emphasis on the poor, vulnerable and marginalized segments of the population” (UN General Assembly 2012).
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Stuckler et al. (2010) define this in terms of access to verifiable health services such as skilled attendance at birth and health insurance.
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Yi, I., Koechlein, E., de Negri Filho, A. (2017). Introduction: The Universalization of Health Care in Emerging Economies. In: Yi, I. (eds) Towards Universal Health Care in Emerging Economies. Social Policy in a Development Context. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-53377-7_1
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