Luanda, 12 December 2023 - Today, 12 December, Universal Health Coverage (UHC) Day, the Ministry of Health of Angola and its partners are renewing their commitment to accelerate action to ensure that all people have access to the essential health services they need for their health and well-being, without facing financial difficulties.

According to the Minister of Health, Dr. Sílvia Lutucuta, the Angolan Executive has prioritized the Social Sector, particularly Health, with intense investment in human capital, the entry of new health professionals, the expansion of infrastructures at the three levels of care, improved access to promotion, prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation services to accelerate Universal Health Coverage in Angola.

"In recent years, we have focussed on ensuring that our population has access to more quality health services, and we have achieved many significant results. However, this progress, while a good reason to celebrate, should not be a reason to get complacent, because the road to achieving Universal Health Coverage in the world, and particularly in Angola, is still long. We must continue to work together, urgently investing in the resilience of our health system to move towards achieving Universal Health Coverage for all our citizens."

WHO studies show that ensuring access to health for all can promote economic growth and employment, particularly for women, and increase economic growth rates in low- and middle-income countries by up to 2 percentage points.

Despite notable progress towards improving the health of its citizens, particularly in tackling infectious diseases and reproductive, maternal, and child health conditions, the African region is a long way from achieving Universal Health Coverage.

WHO data from 2022 shows that only 7 out of 47 countries have good coverage of essential health services, with governments financing more than half of their health budgets.  The data also shows limited progress in tackling non-communicable diseases and improving the capacity of health systems, but no progress in reducing the financial risks of accessing and/or using health services in the African region.

According to the WHO Representative in Angola, Dr. Humphrey Karamagi, we urgently need to convert the political commitment to Universal Health Coverage into concrete actions that have an impact on people's health and well-being, leaving no one behind. Adding that, "we are confident that the Government and the people of Angola are making progress towards the realization of Universal Health Coverage - an important driver for achieving the health and well-being that our population craves".

"We need to continue to act swiftly to protect our population and guarantee the well-being of all. We must invest more in universal health, strengthen our health systems with qualified health professionals, infrastructure, and health products, broaden the primary health care approach, and promote innovation to reach everyone," said Dr Karamagi.  He concluded that, "it is time to strengthen joint work and everyone's participation to improve health, bearing in mind that the actions needed to achieve universal health coverage are not only in the health sector, but also in education, water, provincial administration, security, gender, investment, employment and other sectors."

This year, for the Universal Health Coverage Day celebrations, five priorities were highlighted, which will guide the approach of countries in the coming year, to guarantee health for all, which include: 1) tackling financial risk protection 2) proactively addressing inequalities, 3) reorienting service delivery systems around the revitalized Primary Health Care approach, 4) planning and monitoring the functionality of the sub-national health system and 5) investing in the resilience of the system to sustain the gains made.

For UNICEF Representative in Angola, Antero de Pina, "the commemoration of Universal Coverage Day is a good opportunity to recognize Angola's commitment to strengthening primary health care in the country, as highlighted in the commitments of the Luanda Declaration".

"UNICEF will continue to work closely with partners such as the WHO and to support the government's efforts because we know that a robust health system based on primary health care will be the cornerstone for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals in the country and ensuring the creation of better conditions for child survival."  The Representative added that, "a joint effort is needed to achieve equitable and quality healthcare, accessible to all, throughout the life cycle".

The Universal Health Coverage celebration is the annual meeting point for the growing Health For All movement, a global demonstration to mark the anniversary of the United Nations Member States' historic and unanimous endorsement of UHC in 2012 as an essential priority for international development.

On the sidelines of the celebration of Universal Health Coverage, today Angola reinforced its commitment to improving the health of the population in a comprehensive session attended by representatives of the country's 18 provinces and the different social partners, assessing the commitments contained in the Declaration on Primary Health Care in Angola, adopted on 16 June 2022. This instrument is crucial for mobilizing government stakeholders and health partners around the need to strengthen the Primary Health Care approach to promote the provision of quality health services to all citizens throughout the country.