The quest for universal health coverage (UHC) has gathered real momentum over the past decade, with countries on every continent now taking part. This is welcome news, since a lack of universal coverage means that hundreds of millions of people around the world either do not get the health care services they need, or they have to pay dearly for them, often falling into poverty as a result. But the UHC agenda also poses an enormous challenge to policy makers across the globe, and many count...

This book is about 24 developing countries that have embarked on the journey towards universal health coverage (UHC) following a bottom-up approach, with a special focus on the poor and vulnerable, through a systematic data collection that provides practical insights to policymakers and practitioners. Each of the UHC programs analyzed in this book is seeking to overcome the legacy of inequality by tackling both a “financing gap†? and a “provision gap†?: the financing gap (or lower per capita ...

Latin America and the Caribbean will soon face the challenges of an aging population. This process, which took over a century in the rich world, will occur in two or three decades in the developing world; seven of the 25 countries that will age more rapidly are in LAC. Population aging will pose challenges and offer opportunities. This book explores three sets of issues. First is a group of issues related to the support of the aging and poverty in the life cycle. This covers questions of w...