Health interventions for Universal Health Coverage
Version 1.3
The UHC Compendium is a database of health services and intersectoral interventions designed to assist countries in making progress towards Universal Health Coverage (UHC). It provides a strategic way to organize and present information and creates a framework to think about health services and health interventions. The database for the Compendium spans the full spectrum of promotive, preventive, diagnostic, resuscitative, curative, rehabilitative, and palliative services, as well as a full complement of intersectoral interventions. The Compendium will provide rapid one-stop access to supporting evidence, associated human and material resource inputs, and feedback on cost impact as interventions are selected.
Version 1.3 of the Compendium focuses on clinical health services and includes a list of over 3700 health actions across different health areas, available here. The health actions can be grouped dynamically into categories such as health programmes, life-course stage, and SDG goals. This version of the database provides a global reference point for organizing and presenting information on health interventions for UHC.
The UHC Compendium has also been designed to support countries in integrated service delivery, and a key innovation is a structured architecture that promotes linkages across health system levels. The UHC Compendium has been expanded to include linkages of health interventions to various service delivery platforms.
WHO intends to expand the content of the Compendium over time to provide additional details, including the following:
The UHC Compendium informs investments across a wide range of essential services and programme areas
Universal health coverage (UHC) means that all people can obtain the health services they need without suffering financial hardship. However, not all countries will be able to provide all relevant interventions today. Decisions on what to include in a guaranteed package of services provided under UHC are made at the country level, depending on context specific considerations, including the existing health system, burden of disease, values and available resources. The UHC Compendium tools will assist countries in making those decisions.
Click here to view interventions by different programme areas.
Progress towards UHC requires investments in health services but also in broader health interventions implemented at population level and/or by non-health sectors. Many of these interventions are common goods for health that are fundamental to health and the well-being of societies, but that are often underprovided and underfunded. The UHC Compendium will include interventions promoting healthy lifestyle and reducing exposure to societal or environmental risk factors, amongst others, whether implemented by health or non-health sectors.
WHO is working to complement the list of clinical services with an expanded list of population based and intersectoral interventions. For more information contact uhccompendium@who.int.
A person has, at every phase of their life, specific needs and
opportunities to optimize their health and well-being. Because early protective
factors have lifelong benefits, it is important that health and well-being is
addressed at all ages and maintained throughout life. The UHC Compendium will
guide you towards the evidence-based strategies and services recommended by WHO
for each age group.
Click here to view data on health actions by age group.
Click here to access information about interventions and SDG goals.
Compendium updates will feature additional information about the health services in the Compendium including: short text descriptions, target populations, delivery platforms, resource requirements, and links to other classification systems. For a preview of data that will be featured, please select the examples below:
The provision of people-centered health services and public health interventions is reliant on having sound service capacities as well as a functioning health system to adapt to local needs and priorities. This includes upstream governance functions related to regulation, strategic planning and policy development, information and communication systems, and workforce development, among others, as well as facility-specific investments and service organization and management mechanisms to ensure patients and communities are engaged, healthy and resilient.
To reinforce that these system-wide investments must be considered during panning processes, the WHO UHC Compendium will benefit from forthcoming guidance on key investments and actions to facilitate enabling conditions for the effective delivery of benefit packages through an integrated and people-centered approach. Guidance will be provided on the broader investments (including facility infrastructure and health workforce operational capacity) that need to accompany the delivery of health services and public health interventions to ensure they are integrated and people-centered, and that should be considered during planning, costing and budgeting processes.
The objective of the compendium is to provide a starting point for discussions around what interventions are recommended by WHO and may be considered for provision under UHC. Ultimately, decisions around what interventions to provide under UHC are inherently country-owned and country-specific. Local context, history, the existing health system, values and available resources will shape how countries finance and scale up services in their progressive realization of UHC. WHO works with policy makers to inform priority setting and decision-making processes, providing support to cost-effectiveness analysis, cost projections and strategic planning which can help guide policy decisions.
The UHC Service Package Delivery & Implementation (SPDI) Tool has been launched and can now be used by countries to select services from the UHC Compendium and develop country-specific packages to inform service planning. For countries wishing to estimate costs for health packages, the OneHealth Tool can be used. An updated online version of the OHT is being built to incorporate more data from the UHC Compendium.
Please use the structured Survey below to provide your feedback on the UHC Compendium and to sign up for regular email updates. You may also send your comments by sending an email to uhcCompendium@who.int
Disclaimer:
The UHC Compendium provides a database of interventions and services that
countries might consider adopting for making progress towards UHC. However,
interventions listed in the Compendium are not applicable in all settings.
Similarly, the Compendium is not a complete list and those interventions
not currently included may also be worthwhile investments. WHO guidelines
and reference documents are not currently available for all UHC interventions
listed in the Compendium. Content and references will be expanded in version
updates planned in 2021.
