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Sunday July 13, 2025

UN calls for universal health coverage

By AFP
October 08, 2020

UNITED NATIONS: United Nations chief Antonio Guterres said Wednesday that the coronavirus pandemic had shown that countries must increase efforts to provide universal health care coverage without delay.

“We must all draw the hard lessons of this crisis,” the UN Secretary-General said in a video message. “One of those lessons is that under investment in health can have a devastating impact on societies and economies,” he added.

Universal health coverage is one of the UN’s sustainable development goals for 2030. But Guterres said the pandemic, which has killed more than one million people worldwide, had shown that greater urgency was needed. “We cannot wait 10 years. We need universal health coverage, including mental health coverage, now.”