Four years ago, on 12 December 2012, the United Nations unanimously endorsed a resolution urging governments to ensure universal access to quality health care without financial hardship. Now the United Nations has included universal health coverage in the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

On 12 December 2016 a global coalition of more than 750 organisations in 110 countries will call for greater action and progress on delivering Universal Health Coverage (UHC).

Accelerating progress towards UHC is essential to ensuring the health and wellbeing of all people. Approximately 100 million people are pushed into poverty every year as a result of out-of-pocket payments for health care, a large proportion of which are due to NCDs.

Yet, UHC remains a distant reality for many low- and middle- income countries (LMICs), where the NCD burden is impacting disproportionately.

Out-of-pocket payments for NCD treatment and care trap poor households in cycles of catastrophic expenditure, impoverishment, and illness, particularly in countries lacking social protection and health insurance. Coverage and access (in terms of availability and physical access) to NCD services, including early diagnosis, treatment, and palliative care, are severely inadequate.

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To access the 2016 UHC campaign resources in multiple languages, visit universalhealthcoverageday.org