Universal Health Coverage in Asia Pacific: Access to Services and Medicines for All - Malaria Elimination Depends on It!

Malaria in Asia Pacific and globallyis a disease of poverty and an engine of inequality: it disproportionatelyaffects isolated and impoverished populations who live and work in rural andborder areas and are hard to reach through national public health systems. Thedisease thrives where healthcare systems are weak and where the poor and mostvulnerable lack affordable access to malaria prevention, diagnosis, andtreatment services.

Globally, the objective tostrengthen health systems and reach the unreached is embodied in theSustainable Development Goal (SDG) Universal Health Coverage (UHC) target 3.8, definedas achieving “financial risk protection, access to quality essentialhealth services, and access to safe, effective and affordable essentialmedicines and vaccines for all”. These three principles align closely with themalaria elimination priorities articulated in the WHO Global MalariaProgramme’s Global Technical Strategy for Malaria 2016-2030.

While many countries in Asia Pacifichave made efforts to expand UHC, substantialgaps remain substantial acrossthe region. The lowto middle income countries LMICs in the region continue to struggle with a high proportion ofout-of-pocket spending on health (53%percent of total health expenditure),and limited health care infrastructure and human resources (OECD2020).  Policies to advance UHC have thepotential to accelerate malaria elimination while existing programs to controland eliminate malaria can act as entry points to strengthen primary health caresystems. Making progress in one will advance progress on the other.

Ourlatest thematic brief in partnership with University of California San Francisco- Malaria Elimination Initiative (UCSF-MEI) and Malaria Consortium highlightsthe links between UHC and malaria elimination in Asia Pacific, spotlightsongoing efforts in the region, and outlines ways to integrate efforts on bothfronts to achieve their common goals.

Universal Health Coverage in Asia Pacific: Access to Services and Medicines for All - Malaria Elimination Depends on It!

December 2021

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