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EPF Roadmap to Achieving Universal Health Coverage for All by 2030

In the context of our 2017 Campaign on Access to Healthcare, EPF has developed a roadmap entitled Taking Action – A Roadmap to Achieving Universal Health Coverage for All by 2030. 

What does this Roadmap aim to achieve?

This roadmap, in line with EPF’s 2017 Campaign on Access to Healthcare, aims to provide EU and national decision makers with recommendations that need to urgently be considered to achieve Universal Health Coverage (UHC) for all patients in the EU by 2030. It calls on Member States and the EU to commit to a long-term vision where equity of access and UHC is a reality for all – a target of the UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) on ensuring health lives.

Why is this Roadmap needed?

While universal health coverage is a well-recognised goal for all healthcare systems in the EU, this basic right is not yet a reality for all patients in the EU. In this respect, the Roadmap raises awareness of unmet needs and barriers patients face when accessing healthcare.

What is EPF advocating for?

This Roadmap is intended mainly for EU and Member State decision and policy-makers and urges EU institutions and Member States to:

  • Recognise that patients everywhere in the EU, regardless of which country they live in or their country of origin, have the right to equitable access to high-quality care;
  • Commit to invest sustainably in healthcare based on outcomes and added value;
  • Ensure the delivery of healthcare products and services that are affordable for all, together with the healthcare industry;
  • Enhance cooperation and undertake measures to improve holistic health systems performance and access to health and related care for patients
  • End the discrimination and stigma that patients face and make sure that no population is excluded.

In this Roadmap, EPF emphasises the importance and need to establish a transparent, inclusive and collaborative working process for the implementation of UHC and the UN SDGs.

EPF also calls for intersectoral action for health and a fundamental change in Europe’s approach to healthcare access, to achieve UHC and significantly improve quality of life and care for patients.

These recommendations listed above are described in further detail in the Roadmap. 

How to use this Roadmap?

The roadmap serves as a guide to outstanding challenges, patients’ concerns, unmet needs and recommended actions to achieve universal health coverage for all.

  • EPF invites EU and Member State decision makers to consider this roadmap and its recommendations when developing related policies and UN SDG implementation strategies.
  • EPF will use this roadmap as a reference document for all our activities on access to health.
  • EPF urges patient organisations and civil society to use this roadmap to engage with their governments, holding them to account for the implementation of UHC.

How was this Roadmap developed?

This Roadmap was developed in dialogue with EPF’s membership and the wider health community, based on an inclusive working process. Furthermore, the Roadmap has undergone extensive consultation with the EPF membership, board and secretariat, Members of the European Parliament championing the five goals of the campaign and civil society organisations representing a number of groups vulnerable to social exclusion.

Conclusion

In light of the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development, there has never been a stronger case, or a more vital moment for Europe to work together to protect our health, and for this reason it is essential that this is not only maintained, but continuously improved. Health protection and improvement is a great success story of the European Union and closer cooperation and collaboration between Member States will empower and equip countries with the necessary tools to tackle health inequalities.

EPF has also produced a factsheet giving a snapshot of this Roadmap, which is available in several linguistic versions (see below, in Related Information).