Measuring progress towards universal health coverage in 22 Middle East and North African countries.

Purpose: Monitoring progress towards universal health coverage (UHC) has become increasingly important, especially given the centrality of UHC in achieving the sustainable development goals. We sought to estimate the progress towards UHC in the 22 Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries.

Methods: Employing the Joint World Bank and World Health Organization Framework for Monitoring UHC, we estimated the UHC index for MENA countries using both service coverage and financial protection indicators.