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A Review of Realizing the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) Goals by 2030: Part 1- Status quo, Requirements, and Challenges

  • Systems-Level Quality Improvement
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Abstract

This paper is the first part of a review of how to realize the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) goals by 2030. The objective of this review is to investigate the role of eHealth and technology in achieving UHC, focusing on four aspects: 1) identifying the importance of UHC and highlighting how UHC is influenced by health systems and eHealth, 2) investigating the current status of UHC worldwide and indicating the current challenges facing the realization of UHC, 3) reviewing the current research activities in the UHC domain and emphasizing the role of eHealth and technology in achieving UHC, and 4) discussing the results of the review to identify the current gaps in UHC implantation and the corresponding research lines for future investigation.

This part covers the first two aspects through: providing the required background on UHC, highlighting the potential benefits of eHealth utilization in UHC, addressing the current status quo of UHC implementation worldwide, and finally concluding the lessons learned in terms of the UHC challenges and requirements.

This part also described the used search methodology and selection criteria to synthesize this review. It also indicates the limitations of conducting a systematic review in this early stage of deploying UHC-oriented eHealth solutions.

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Abbreviations

GIZ:

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH

HIIS:

Health Insurance Information System

HIS:

Health Information System

HPSR:

Health Policy and Systems Research

ICT:

Information and Communication Technology

JLN:

Joint Learning Network for Universal Health Coverage

LMICs:

Low and Middle-Income Countries

MDGs:

Millennium Development Goals

NHS:

National Health System

WB:

World Bank

WHO:

World Health Organization

UHC:

Universal Health Coverage

UN:

United Nations

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The author declares that she has no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biomedical Informatics Center of Excellence (BMICoE), Information Technology Institute (ITI), Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT), Smart Village, B 148, 28 Km Cairo-Alex Desert Road, PO Box 12577, Giza, Egypt

    Rada Hussein

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Correspondence to Rada Hussein.

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Hussein, R. A Review of Realizing the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) Goals by 2030: Part 1- Status quo, Requirements, and Challenges. J Med Syst 39, 71 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10916-015-0254-y

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