Older people with care needs that are not met, or who do not seek the care they need, do not have access to Universal Health Coverage (UHC), one of WHO’s triple billion goals. Defining and measuring unmet needs for health and social care among older people is key to assessing the progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), UHC and WHO’s targets. But the extent of the problem is unclear, there is no common way to measure it, and little or no access to quality health data in many countries. The WHO Centre for Health Development (WHO Kobe Centre – WKC) is tackling this by supporting research, building capacity, and collaborating with global initiatives.
Dr Megumi Rosenberg, WKC Technical Officer, and research collaborator, Dr Nawi Ng of the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, presented findings from their research on unmet need at a training on measuring financial protection for UHC in the South-East Asia Region. The capacity building targeted national statistical officers in charge of analysing country data on the SDG 3.8.2 indicators on financial protection. Policymakers also participated to discuss the implications of the data findings.
“Our global systematic review of unmet need for healthcare shows that data is lacking in most Regions,” said Dr Rosenberg. “However, national surveys can yield useful information about the levels of forgone healthcare and who is most affected. For instance, secondary data analysis shows the prevalence of forgone care in adults aged 60 years and older in the South-East Asia Region ranges from a low of 1.9% in Thailand to about 44% in Bangladesh and India, and can be as high as 55% among women 60-69 years-old in Bangladesh.”
The meeting was organized by WHO’s South-East Asia Regional Office (SEARO), WHO Headquarters and the World Bank Group, and was held in Jakarta, Indonesia from 28 November – 1 December 2023.
The first WKC research project presented is described here; click here for the second project.