Health For All : The Journey of Universal Health Coverage

Abstract

Universal Health Coverage as defined by the World Health Organization encompasses equal access for all to good quality health services and with no financial risk for those in need of them. As such it is a modern term formulated on western ideas of health, however the philosophy it conveys has existed for many centuries across different regions and cultures of the world. 'Health For All' is based on series of seminars which formed part of the World Health Organization's Global Health Histories project. It explores the development of universal health coverage in diverse contexts, the political and economic trends that effected the running of these schemes, and, not least, critical perspectives into the variety of links between structures of national universal healthcare systems.