Reaching Universal Health Coverage by 2035: Is Cameroon on Track?

Abstract

Access to health care is a fundamental human right, which places a legal obligation on states to ensure access to quality, timely, acceptable, and affordable health care for its citizens. However, many states struggle to meet this basic right for their citizens given that every year about 100 million people are pushed into poverty, while 150 million people suffer financial catastrophe due to out of pocket payments for health. In Cameroon, studies have shown that about 64% of households cannot access healthcare, because they perceive the cost of care to be high. In 2012, the National Health Accounts (NHA) estimated that about 70% of the Total Health Expenditure (THE) for the country was borne by households. Compared to its peers, the contribution of Cameroonian households is the third highest in Sub-Saharan Africa, where the average is 34%. To remedy this situation, Cameroon has initiated reflections aimed at establishing a universal health coverage (UHC) scheme for its population. This paper therefore aimed at providing a synthesis of Cameroon's progress and assessing if the country is on track to achieving UHC by 2035.