ABSTRACT
The path to universal health coverage draws attention to various barriers in access to health services linked to significant shortages in resources, fragmentation of health care systems, and lack of people-centeredness. Worldwide, it is estimated that over one billion people lack access to essential health services. In many low- and middle-income countries health services can be too costly for a population, or too far away, or poorly staffed with long waiting hours, or do not conform to people cultural and gender preferences. The wide range of countries presented demonstrates that family medicine, or its local adaptations, can improve population satisfaction as well as clinical and population health outcomes in middle-income countries and low-resource settings, especially when embedded in wider sector reforms.
