As part of the celebration of World Health Day April 7, Secretary General of the United Nations (UN), Antonio Guterres, stressed the importance of achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and urged the world’s governments to redouble their efforts to achieve it. For its part, the Ministry of Health of Uruguay launched a contest to identify good practice in health care. Countries’ progress towards universal health coverage will again be in the spotlight at a high-level meeting to be held at the United Nations General Assembly from September 17 to 24,  2019.

Guterres said that achieving Universal Health Coverage requires political determination and partnerships with the private sector. “It is not enough to improve health services; action is needed at the political, social and economic levels,” the U.N. official said. In line with this, Uruguay’s Minister of Public Health, Jorge Basso, together with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), has got underway a contest aimed at recognizing good practices in primary health care. The objective is to stimulate improvement in services via providers of integrated health services.

On the other hand, Peru’s Health Minister, Zulema Tomás Gonzáles, said that the main objective of her administration is to strengthen the policy of universal health, as there are currently more than four million Peruvians without medical coverage.