PODCAST: Health on the agenda: financing UHC and NCDs

In this episode, we’re looking ahead to UHC Day, on 12 December. The 2024 theme is Health: it’s on the government! 

UHC of course stands for Universal Health Coverage, and today we’re talking about financing for UHC and its relationship to NCDs financing. Our guest is Professor David Watkins, of the departments of Medicine and Global Health at the University of Washington. We will delve into issues including how government financing for UHC will by necessity be dominated by NCDs prevention and care, which is now paid in large part by out-of-pocket spending. David also points out how investing in the so-called ‘best buys’ to tackle NCDs generates a limited amount of revenue, so that governments must also work to raise more funds overall and ensure that enough revenue is dedicated to health and to NCDs specifically. Finally, David outlines some of his current research ahead of the UN High-Level Meeting on NCDs in September 2025, including on the affordability of medicines.