PLoS Medicine
(Accessed 27 September 2014)
http://www.plosmedicine.org/

Editorial
The PLOS “Monitoring Universal Health Coverage” Collection: Managing Expectations
The PLOS Medicine Editors mail
Published: September 22, 2014
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1001732
This week, PLOS Medicine publishes the PLOS Collection “Monitoring Universal Health Coverage” [1], launched on September 22nd at the Rockefeller Foundation as a side event of the United Nations General Assembly in New York City.

The high profile of the Collection launch is fitting for the topic that has emerged as a frontrunner of the post-2015 agenda and the concept of which has been integral to founding United Nations principles: Universal Health Coverage (UHC) is firmly based on the 1948 WHO constitution that declared health a fundamental human right and also on the Health for All agenda set by the Alma-Ata Declaration in 1978 [2].

The subject of several recent WHO World Reports and World Health Assembly resolutions [3]–[5], over the past few years, UHC has been the focus of much work and effort by the international community in order to turn the broad aims of UHC into an actionable framework. The PLOS Collection adds to the global conversation and consensus by providing the technical details and country-level experience of the implementation and of the monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of UHC.

According to the definition used in the PLOS Collection [6], UHC is the desired outcome of health system performance, whereby all people who need the full spectrum of health services (that is, promotion, prevention, treatment, rehabilitation, and palliation) receive them according to need, without resulting in financial hardship (including possible impoverishment caused by out-of-pocket payments) because of any associated health care costs.

Organized by WHO and the World Bank, and externally peer-reviewed by independent experts, the PLOS Collection explains and discusses these essential and interlinked components of UHC and includes an overview [6], five technical papers [7]–[11], and 13 country case studies (from Bangladesh [12], Brazil [13], Chile [14], China [15], Estonia [16], Ethiopia [17], Ghana [18], India [19], Singapore [20], South Africa [21], Tanzania [22], Thailand [23], and Tunisia [24]) on progress towards the M&E of UHC in each country written by national experts. The PLOS Collection includes a summary of each country case study with the full paper of each provided as supplementary information.