This blog was originally published in Civil Society Engagement Mechanism for UHC2030‘s UN High-Level Meeting on UHC Blog Series.

With the upcoming UN General Assembly, I join my colleagues around the world in raising our collective voice to share the stories of the millions of people still waiting for primary health care to reach their community.  We want to remind the world that #HealthForAll is imperative for the world we want and the world we want is one with universal health coverage (UHC). This cannot be achieved without smart investments in financially sustainable community health programs that are integrated into national health systems.

Recently, strong economic growth has helped reduce poverty to 43 percent of the African population. Yet, as Africa’s population expands to an estimated 2.5 billion by 2050, the region faces a critical challenge in creating the foundation for long-term, robust growth. Many countries still contend with high levels of child and maternal mortality, malnutrition is far too common, and most health systems are not able to deal effectively with epidemics and the growing burden of chronic, noncommunicable diseases. Millions of Africans must travel far, arduous distances to access health facilities and often fall into poverty due to high out-of-pocket health payments when accessing basic health care services.

This economic and population growth, combined with an evolving disease burden and inaccessibility, will continue to increase demand for reliable health services, further placing pressure on the existing health systems, and ultimately threatening the progress toward achieving UHC. But we believe there is a solution. Estimates indicate that 90% of all health needs can be met at the primary-care level, highlighting a crucial need for robust, effective investment in primary health care (PHC) services that extend to the community level.