CeSAHA Statement International Universal Health Coverage Day

CeSAHA Statement

International Universal Health Coverage Day – 12 December

Theme: “Unaffordable health care costs. We are sick of it.”

The Centre for Sustainable Access to Health in Africa (CeSAHA marks International Universal Health Coverage (UHC) Day by reaffirming that affordability is the missing link between health policy and lived reality for millions of Africans.

Across Nigeria and much of the Global South, families are pushed into hardship not because services do not exist, but because care remains paid for at the point of illness. The World Health Organization and World Bank estimate that over 2 billion people face financial hardship from health spending, with primary care and child health services among the most commonly forgone due to cost.

CeSAHA’s work demonstrates that Universal Health Coverage must begin where people live, learn, and work. Through our Primary Health Care (PHC) strengthening initiatives, we focus on restoring PHCs as affordable, trusted first points of care. Through our School Health Programme (SHP), we intervene early, detecting health barriers to learning, preventing avoidable illness, and reducing long-term health costs for families and systems alike.

The theme for UHC Day 2025: “Unaffordable health care costs. We are sick of it.” echoes what communities already know:

• When PHC fails, healthcare becomes expensive.

• When prevention is ignored, treatment becomes unaffordable.

• When children’s health is neglected, societies pay later—many times over.

CeSAHA aligns with the global Roadmap to UHC 2030 and calls for:

• Sustainable financing of primary health care

• Institutionalization of school health as a UHC entry point

• Reduced reliance on out-of-pocket payments

• Accountability mechanisms that convert funding into real access

Universal Health Coverage will not be achieved through tertiary hospitals alone. It will be achieved by strong PHCs, healthy schools, and protected households