How many people dont have access to healthcare

There should not be a choice between having good health and other necessities of life, between living long and living well. But that is currently not the case. More than half of the world’s total population (more than 7.3 billion) does not receive all of the essential services they need. Over 800 million people (almost 12 per cent of the world’s population) spend at least 10 per cent of their household budgets to pay for health care, and about 100 million people are pushed into extreme poverty due to their health expenses or “catastrophic expenditures”.

Table of Contents Show

How many people in the US have no access to healthcare?
Why do people lack access to health care?
What countries have no access to healthcare?
What is the biggest barrier to access healthcare?

Incurring catastrophic expenditures for health care is a global problem. In richer countries in Europe, Latin America and parts of Asia, which have achieved high levels of access to health services, increasing numbers of people are spending at least 10 per cent of their household budgets on out-of-pocket health expenditures.

Clearly, the world needs to be tad more ambitious if it wants to meet the goal of achieving Universal Health Coverage by 2030.

Going by a report of the World Health Organization, the global coverage of essential health care services has increased by 20 per cent from 2000 to 2015. The most rapid rates of increase were seen in coverage of antiretroviral treatment for HIV (2 per cent in 2000 to 53 per cent in 2016) and use of insecticide-treated nets for malaria prevention (1 per cent in 2000 to 54 per cent in 2016).

While this is a positive development, something disconcerting lurks very close with over 1 billion people having uncontrolled hypertension, more than 200 million women lacking adequate coverage for family planning, and about 20 million infants either failing to start or complete primary series of diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (DTP)-containing vaccine.

Inequalities in health care service coverage is evident, especially when it comes to maternal and child health interventions. Out of seven basic services for maternal and child health, “only 17 per cent of mothers and infants in households in the poorest wealth quintile in low-income and lower-middle-income countries in 2005–2015 received at least six of the seven interventions”, according to the report. It is 74 per cent in the richest quintile.

Hence, there is a need to develop health interventions keeping in mind the idea of equity, so that no one is left behind.

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LONDON (Reuters) - At least half the world’s population is unable to access essential health services and many others are forced into extreme poverty by having to pay for healthcare they cannot afford, the World Health Organization said on Wednesday.

A logo is pictured on the World Health Organization (WHO) headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, November 22, 2017. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse

Some 800 million people worldwide spend at least 10 percent of their household income on healthcare for themselves or a sick child, and as many as 100 million of those are left with less than $1.90 a day to live on as a result, the WHO said.

In a joint report with the World Bank, the United Nations health agency said it was unacceptable that more than half the world’s people still don’t get the most basic healthcare.

“If we are serious - not just about better health outcomes but also about ending poverty - we must urgently scale up our efforts on universal health coverage,” World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said in a statement with the report.

Anna Marriott, health policy advisor for the international aid agency Oxfam, said the report was a “damning indictment” of governments’ efforts on health.

“Healthcare, a basic human right, has become a luxury only the wealthy can afford,” she said in a statement.

“Behind each of these appalling statistics are people facing unimaginable suffering - parents reduced to watching their children die; children pulled out of school so they can help pay off their families’ health care debts; and women working themselves into the ground caring for sick family members.”

The WHO and World Bank report did have some positive news: This century has seen a rise in the number of people getting services such as vaccinations, HIV/AIDS drugs, and mosquito-repelling bednets and contraception, it said.

But there are wide gaps in the availability of services in sub-Saharan Africa and southern Asia, the report found. In other regions, basic services such as family planning and child immunization are more available, but families are suffering financially to pay for them.

Yong Kim said this was a sign that “the system is broken”.

“We need a fundamental shift in the way we mobilize resources for health and human capital, especially at the country level,” he said.

How many people in the US have no access to healthcare?

Roughly 26 million people remain without health insurance in the U.S. Just under 2 percent of children are now uninsured.

Why do people lack access to health care?

Structural barriers – Examples of structural barriers include lack of transport to healthcare providers, inability to obtain convenient appointment times and lengthy waiting room times. All of these factors reduce the likelihood of a person successfully making and keeping their healthcare appointment.

What countries have no access to healthcare?

However, some people cannot afford the premiums and some inpatient and outpatient care isn't covered. Other countries which do not have any form of universal healthcare system in place include Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria, Egypt, Iran, and South Africa.