ijerph-logo

Journal Browser

Journal Browser

Universal Health Coverage—for a Globally Accessible and Affordable Health Care Service

A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Health Care Sciences".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 March 2025 | Viewed by 4026

Special Issue Editor


E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. Lisbon School of Economics and Management, ISEG, University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal
2. CEISUC, Centre for Health Studies and Research, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal
Interests: health economics; health policy; health systems

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

One of the current challenges worldwide is the SDG 3 – Healthy lives and well-being for all. One way that contributes to the achievement of this goal is the development of health systems sustaining the principle Universal Health Coverage (UHC) for the population. Investing and providing UHC implies producing health services (preventive, promotive, curative, rehabilitative and palliative) in the quantity and quality for people in an equitable ground, protecting them from financial hardship. After the COVID-19 pandemic, it became clear that strengthening health systems towards sustainability and resilience was key to promote and move towards UHC. 

Health systems are structured in different forms of health insurance and are founded in pharmaceutical systems; on the other hand, health systems are interconnected with other different systems and sectors, health in all policies, which contribute to population health through the determinants of health and to their access to health care. UCH is strongly related with the health system but achieving UCH requires a multi-sectorial approach. One may state that UHC is the desired and successful result of the influence and work of a set of factors and components, and their interaction, in a very wide system.

This Special Issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (IJERPH) focuses on all these different systems and factors that contribute to the achievement of UHC and health for all. The topics covered in this special include health systems, health insurance, pharmaceutical systems, innovation, and financing, among other topics related with the development of UHC worldwide.

Dr. Aida Isabel Tavares
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2500 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • access and service delivery
  • health insurance
  • health systems
  • disease burden
  • financing
  • cost effectiveness
  • provider payment mechanisms
  • technology
  • workforce
  • SDG

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • e-Book format: Special Issues with more than 10 articles can be published as dedicated e-books, ensuring wide and rapid dissemination.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue polices can be found here.

Published Papers (2 papers)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

14 pages, 892 KiB  
Article
Evaluating Access to Health Care in Mothers and Caregivers of Children under Five Years of Age in Rural Communities of Yucatán, Mexico
by Elsa Rodríguez, Guadalupe Andueza, Ricardo Ojeda, Erin Palmisano, Louisa Ewald, Aruna M. Kamath, Abraham Flaxman, Shwetha H. Sanapoori and Bernardo Hernandez
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2024, 21(9), 1243; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph21091243 - 20 Sep 2024
Viewed by 1190
Abstract
Populations in rural communities have more limited access to health care and attention than urban populations. The present study aimed to evaluate barriers to access to health care in mothers and caregivers of children under five years of age, twelve months after an [...] Read more.
Populations in rural communities have more limited access to health care and attention than urban populations. The present study aimed to evaluate barriers to access to health care in mothers and caregivers of children under five years of age, twelve months after an educational intervention. The study was carried out from February to September 2022, and 472 mothers from eight communities in the state of Yucatán, in the southeast of the United Mexican States, participated. A comparative analysis was carried out on help-seeking times, obstacles to reaching it, and illnesses in children. The results revealed that the main barriers to access to care were long times to decide to seek help, lack of financial resources to pay for the transfer to another health unit, lack of someone to accompany the mother or caregiver when the child needed be transferred, and lack of transportation for the transfer. Disease knowledge remained at different levels in the eight communities; the significant differences occurred in four communities, one specifically for heart defects. It was concluded that, in the rural populations studied, there are barriers to access to health care which have to do with neglected social determinants, such as those related to conditions of gender, income, social support network, and the health system. Access to health care must be universal, so public health interventions should be aimed at reducing the barriers that prevent the population from demanding and using services in a timely manner. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

17 pages, 955 KiB  
Article
Assessing the Determinants of Compliance with Contribution Payments to the National Health Insurance Scheme among Informal Workers in Indonesia
by Trisnasari, Orapin Laosee, Cheerawit Rattanapan and Piyapong Janmaimool
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(23), 7130; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20237130 - 30 Nov 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2167
Abstract
This study aimed to investigate the determinants of compliance with contribution payments to the National Health Insurance (NHI) scheme among informal workers in Bogor Regency, West Java Province, Indonesia. Surveys of 418 informal workers in Bogor Regency from April to May 2023 were [...] Read more.
This study aimed to investigate the determinants of compliance with contribution payments to the National Health Insurance (NHI) scheme among informal workers in Bogor Regency, West Java Province, Indonesia. Surveys of 418 informal workers in Bogor Regency from April to May 2023 were conducted. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to assess the factors associated with informal workers’ compliance with NHI contribution payments. The results revealed that being female, having lower secondary education or below, perceiving good health of family members, having negative attitudes toward and poor knowledge of the NHI, experiencing financial difficulties, preferring to visit health facilities other than public ones, and utilizing fewer outpatient services were significantly associated with the noncompliance of informal workers with NHI contribution payments. It was concluded that economic factors alone cannot contribute to informal workers’ payment compliance and that motivational factors (knowledge, attitudes toward the insurance system, and self-related health status) also encourage them to comply with contribution payments. Improving people’s knowledge, especially on the risk-sharing concept of the NHI, should be done through extensive health insurance education using methods that are appropriate for the population’s characteristics. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop