ABSTRACT
Around the world, the health systems of most high- and middle-income countries are big, complex and expensive. In many low-income settings, the facilities, staff and resources are completely inadequate to meet the needs of the populations. The World Health Organization defines universal health coverage as ensuring that all people have access to needed promotive, preventive, curative and rehabilitative health services of sufficient quality to be effective, while also ensuring that the use of these services does not expose the user to financial hardship. Many countries are still struggling to overcome the substantial barriers - financial and political - that limit access to basic healthcare services. The Institute for Healthcare Improvement in the United States has set out an approach to delivering better health system performance. Health systems that have this necessary focus on health, as well as healthcare, have a complex job.
