Abstract
Background: There are substantial differences in long term health outcomes across countries, particularly in terms of both life expectancy at birth (LEAB) and healthy life expectancy (HALE). Socio-economic status, disease prevention approaches, life style and health financing systems all influence long-term health goals such as life expectancy. Within this context, universal health coverage (UHC) is expected to influence life expectancy as a comprehensive health policy. The aim of the study is to investigate this relationship between Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and life expectancy.Method: A multi-country cross-sectional study was performed drawing on different sources of data (World Health Organization, UNDP-Education and World Bank) from 193 UN member countries, applying administrative record linkage theory. Descriptive statistics, t-tests, Pearson correlations, hierarchical linear regressions were utilized as appropriate.Result: Global average healthy life years was shown to be 61.34 ± 8.40 and life expectancy at birth was 70.00 ± 9.3. Standardized coefficients from regression analysis found UHC (0.34), child vaccination (Diphtheria Pertussis Tetanus−3: 0.17) and sanitation coverage (0.31) were associated with significantly increased life expectancy at birth. In contrast, population growth was associated with a decrease (0.29). Likewise, unit increases in child vaccination (DPT 3), sanitation and UHC would increase healthy life expectancy considerably (0.18, 0.31, and 0.40 respectively), whereas the same for population growth reduces healthy life expectancy by 0.28.Conclusion: Universal Health Coverage (UHC) is a comprehensive health system approach that facilitates a wide range of health services and significantly improves the life expectancy at birth and healthy life expectancy. This study suggests that specific programs to achieve UHC should be considered for countries that have not seen sufficient gains in life expectancy as part of the wider push to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG).
Highlights
There have been significant gains in life expectancy worldwide, with global life expectancy at birth (LEAB) increasing by 6 years (65–71) since 1990 (World Health Organization, 2014a)
The results reveal that 57 countries out of 194 (29.38%) have already achieved universal health coverage (UHC), and the global average for healthy life expectancy is 61.34 ± 8.40 and life expectancy at birth is 70.00 ± 9.32 in years
This is a huge disparity in life expectancy among those countries (Ranabhat et al, 2017a)4 Life expectancy has been increasing in high income countries that achieved universal health care and reduced risk factors through effective health policy (Nolte and McKee, 2004; Di Cesare et al, 2013; Ogura and Jakovljevic, 2014; Mathers et al, 2015)
Summary
There have been significant gains in life expectancy worldwide, with global life expectancy at birth (LEAB) increasing by 6 years (65–71) since 1990 (World Health Organization, 2014a). The global variation in healthy life expectancy (HALE), which gauges the status of morbidity and mortality as part of population health (Guest et al, 2006), follows a similar pattern to LEAB. Socio-economic status, disease control approaches, life style and existing health care financing systems are related to mortality and morbidity (Beltrán-Sánchez and Soneji, 2011; Dieleman et al, 2017; Ranabhat et al, 2017a). Among these factors, both LEAB and HALE are strongly influenced by health interventions and other aspects of social development (Chan and Kamala Devi, 2015). The aim of the study is to investigate this relationship between Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and life expectancy
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