Universal Health Coverage Policy and Progress towards the Attainment of Universal Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights Services in Ethiopia

Abstract

Critical interpretive analysis of literature review was applied to shed light on the status of universal access to Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) and the progress towards Universal Health Coverage (UHC) in Ethiopia. Special emphasis was given to the determinations of the Ethiopian health policy frameworks to include comprehensive SRHR services in the UHC benefit package. Clinical services for pregnant women and newborn, abortion care, family planning, Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) complication treatment, Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE), and sexual health services are included in the national cost exempted services, but the latter three are not yet included in the health programs with defined objective and work plan. Capital intensive Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) services (such as infertility and reproductive cancers diagnosis and treatment) are not included in the UHC benefit package. Over the last two decades, a substantive progress is made in family planning service and maternal and child health, probably because they were taken as Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) indicators and have got better financial protection and political commitment. In order to include other SRHR services in the benefit package in due course and attain universal SRHR services without financial hardship in the Primary Health Care (PHC) setting, the domestic financing should be endorsed as a driving force. To make the multi-sectoral efforts towards achieving UHC and sustainable development goals (SDGs) complete, building resilient health systems through the humanitarian-development nexus for health systems strengthening in fragile setting should be equally prioritized, thereby leaving no one behind underserved.