Hijjah 17, 1431, Nov 23, 2010, SPA -- Around One billion people cannot afford any health services, and paying for healthcare pushes about 100 million people a year into poverty, the U.N. health agency said on Monday. In a report on financing health systems globally, the World Health Organization (WHO) said all countries, rich and poor, could do more toward getting universal coverage and encouraged states to think about ways to increase efficiency and use innovative fund-raising measures to boost access to healthcare. “For many, health services just don't exist, for others they are not affordable. When they're not affordable it means you either choose not to use them or you suffer severe financial hardship,” David Evans, the WHO director of health systems financing, said in a briefing on the report's findings. The World Health Report 2010 lays out steps countries could take to raise more funds and reduce financial barriers to obtaining healthcare, and to make health services more efficient.
