This post originally appeared on The Lancet Global Health Blog. [5]

A strong civil society is essential for realizing the lofty goal of achieving universal health coverage (UHC). While the ongoing global discussions around UHC have largely focused on the role of government and development partners in designing and implementing risk pooling mechanisms that have the potential to improve access to essential health services, there has been little discussion on the key role that local civil society organizations (CSOs) play to ensure various communities support UHC and hold governments accountable.

Management Sciences for Health (MSH) joined African civil society organizations (CSOs) at a side event  on July 2 of the Abuja +12 meeting of African heads of governments. The groups agreed that universal health coverage should be included in the post-2015 development agenda.

In April 2001, the Heads of State and Government of the African Union signed the Abuja Declaration after undertaking a critical review of the rapid spread of HIV and AIDS on the continent. The Declaration cited practical strategies to deal with the menace. It also urged governments of member states to increase funding for health to at least 15% of the national budget. 

The Nigerian government and the African Union (AU) will co-host the Abuja +12 Special Summit of the AU Heads of government from July 15 to July 19 to review the 2001 Abuja declaration. The Summit intends to focus on the unfinished work of the health-related Millennium Development Goals. It will serve as an avenue to review the progress made on the implementation of the Abuja Declaration on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Other Communicable Diseases. It will also propose a framework for post-2015 development agenda for Africa.