TY - JOUR T1 - At Last! Universal Health Coverage That Prioritizes Health Impact: The Latest Edition of Disease Control Priorities (DCP3) JF - Global Health: Science and Practice JO - GLOB HEALTH SCI PRACT SP - 232 LP - 236 DO - 10.9745/GHSP-D-18-00193 VL - 6 IS - 2 AU - James D. Shelton Y1 - 2018/06/27 UR - http://www.ghspjournal.org/content/6/2/232.abstract N2 - Sadly, we face a vast sea of health problems in global health. Universal health coverage programming should prioritize interventions with the most health impact, but instead largely succumbs to emphasizing less impactful clinical curative services. In contrast, DCP3 provides an evidence-based template that prioritizes impact. Yet even the most basic and realistic DCP3 package comes at a formidable price.See related article by Paul.Faced by the vast numbers of health problems of mankind, one immediately becomes aware that all of them cannot be attacked simultaneously.- Julia Walsh and Kenneth Warren, 19791Universal health coverage (UHC) has become a major focus of global health, embedded in Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3 (ensure healthy lives and promote well-being) and a major priority for the World Health Organization (WHO). Thus, according to WHO2:UHC means that all individuals and communities receive the health services they need without suffering financial hardship. It includes the full spectrum of essential, quality health services from health promotion to prevention, treatment, rehabilitation, and palliative care.Certainly, this objective sounds laudable. But notice that health impact is not explicit in the definition. Rather, emphasis is indirect, on a potential means to better health—“health services.” And only by mention of the phrase “they need” is impact implied.Of course, “services” can encompass any health intervention. But many highly effective health interventions such as tobacco taxation, community distribution of long-acting insecticide-treated nets, clean air regulation, and promotion of healthy lifestyle lie outside the clinical realm entirely. And conceptually most people don't tend to think of them as “health services.” Moreover, many high-priority preventive clinical services such as immunization, contraception, and prenatal care can be lost in the shuffle within the vast panoply of curative services.To most of the public and to politicians “health coverage” means having a doctor or other health care … ER -