Save the Children commemorates the 2021 Universal Health Coverage Day

“Building strong health care financing helps to ensure Universal Health coverage.”

In collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Health, WHO, and CCRDA, Save the Children's Ethiopia Country Office, co-hosted and commemorated the 2021 Universal Health Coverage Day under the theme, “Leave No One’s Health Behind: Invest in health systems for all.” This high-level advocacy event brought together local and international NGOs, government stakeholders as well as civil society organizations to discuss issues related to universal health coverage. The guest of honor, H.E Dr. Lia Tadesse, Minister of Health, made the official opening of the event. She reaffirmed the government’s commitments towards ensuring UHC:

“It is our top priority to rebuild war-affected health facilities and continue to strengthen our primary health care facilities to provide quality healthcare. We continue to build a strong healthcare financing system including the existing health insurance scheme, in our efforts to provide health services with quality, equity, and avoid financial hardships; hence, building a resilient health system that can ensure Universal Health Coverage. I finally want to thank all organizations that collaborated with the MOH in organizing this important advocacy workshop.”

Ato Ashebir Debebe, SCI Acting Country Director delivered a keynote speech at the event and mentioned the support that SCI provides towards the global as well as national Health Coverage movements. He remarked,

 “Currently Save the Children in Ethiopia played a critical role in establishing multiple emergency health units, mobile clinics, health and nutrition teams in which services are being provided targeting crisis-affected IDPs and host communities. We will continue and strengthen our work in this line.”    

A panel discussion was held around such key thematic areas as PHC as a path to UHC progress, gaps and ways forward; Financial protection for UHC in Ethiopia; Health system resilience for UHC; National health equity strategy. The discussion led to the development of ideas and concepts that can help improve the health sector to ensure UHC. They emphasized that the desired results and changes will not come unless private and public sectors, as well as academic institutions, work together through strong leadership, collaboration, accountability, equity, and solidarity.