Universal health coverage (UHC) means that everyone receives quality health services, when and where they need them, without incurring financial hardship. Before COVID-19 struck, the world was far short of reaching the Sustainable Goal (SDG) 3.8 targets and the goal of 1 billion more people benefiting from UHC by 2023.

Over the past two decades, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Bank have been tracking financial protection using household survey data to compare how much people spend out of pocket on health care with their household’s ability to pay.

Forty countries now have best-practice trans fat elimination policies in effect, protecting 1.4 billion people around the world from this deadly food compound, according to a new report by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Each year, WHO’s World malaria report offers in-depth information on the latest trends in malaria control and elimination at global, regional and country levels. The report highlights progress towards global targets and describes opportunities and challenges for curbing and eliminating the disease.

Efforts to reform global pandemic preparedness and response are happening too slowly, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response said.

Progress in reducing tobacco use is a key indicator for measuring countries’ efforts to implement the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control – target 3.a under the Sustainable Development Goals agenda.

Cities and urban settings are crucial to preventing, preparing for, responding to, and recovering from health emergencies, and therefore enhancing the focus on urban settings is necessary for countries pursuing improved overall health security.

This report provides a vital snapshot of the overall progress that governments have made in the field of health and climate change to date, as well as insight into what work remains in order to protect their populations from the most devastating health impacts of climate change.

The 10 recommendations in the COP26 Special Report on Climate Change and Health propose a set of priority actions from the global health community to governments and policy makers, calling on them to act with urgency on the current climate and health crises.

The sixth annual report on Monitoring progress towards UHC and the health-related SDGs in the South-East Asia Region provides a comprehensive overview on where we are and what is needed to achieve the UHC and health-related SDGs.