ReviewPLoS medicine2014
Effective coverage: a metric for monitoring Universal Health Coverage.
Review in PLoS medicine, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 137 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
137 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Evaluations of effective coverage of maternal and child health services: A systematic review.Health policy and planning · 2022Pooled it
- A rapid systematic review and evidence synthesis of effective coverage measures and cascades for childbirth, newborn and child health in low- and middle-income countries.Journal of global health · 2022Pooled it
- Pooled it
- A Systematic Review of Access to General Healthcare Services for People with Disabilities in Low and Middle Income Countries.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2018Pooled it
- A Review of Realizing the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) Goals by 2030: Part 1- Status quo, Requirements, and Challenges.Journal of medical systems · 2015Pooled it
- Investigating a novel population health management system to increase access to healthcare for children: a nested cross-sectional study within a cluster randomised controlled trial.BMJ quality & safety · 2024Trial
- Did a quality improvement intervention improve quality of maternal health care? Implementation evaluation from a cluster-randomized controlled study.International journal for quality in health care : journal of the International Society for Quality in Health Care · 2020Trial
- Article
- A scoping review and systems thinking synthesis of scale-up frameworks.BMC health services research · 2026Article
- Long-term trends and factors associated with migrant participation in Korea's National Health Screening Program: a nationwide retrospective population-based study.International journal for equity in health · 2026Article
- Review
- "If they were telling us to go, we will go": factors associated with effective postnatal care coverage before and after discharge - a mixed-methods study in rural western Kenya.BMJ global health · 2026Article
- Significant gap between Point participation and long‑term treatment adherence: An evaluation of ivermectin MDA in the Kwanware‑Ottou persistent onchocerciasis transmission focus, Wenchi, Ghana.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2026Article
- Article
- Trend analysis and modelling of universal health coverage, Ethiopia.Bulletin of the World Health Organization · 2026Article
- From Legal Indeterminacy to Risk-Governed Continuity: Operationalizing Risk Governance for China's Family Doctor Contract Services.Risk management and healthcare policy · 2026Article
- Article
- Indicators for effective glaucoma care coverage in adults: protocol for a scoping review.BMJ open · 2025Article
- Advancing maternal and newborn healthcare measurement: developing quality of care indices for postnatal and small and/or sick newborn care in low- and middle-income countries.Journal of global health · 2025Article
- Improving Sierra Leone's skilled health-worker-to-population ratio: how unsalaried and auxiliary health workers are barriers in its path to universal health coverage.BMJ global health · 2025Article
77 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
A major challenge in monitoring universal health coverage (UHC) is identifying an indicator that can adequately capture the multiple components underlying the UHC initiative. Effective coverage, which unites individual and intervention characteristics into a single metric, offers a direct and flexible means to measure health system performance at different levels. We view effective coverage as a relevant and actionable metric for tracking progress towards achieving UHC. In this paper, we review the concept of effective coverage and delineate the three components of the metric - need, use, and quality - using several examples. Further, we explain how the metric can be used for monitoring interventions at both local and global levels. We also discuss the ways that current health information systems can support generating estimates of effective coverage. We conclude by recognizing some of the challenges associated with producing estimates of effective coverage. Despite these challenges, effective coverage is a powerful metric that can provide a more nuanced understanding of whether, and how well, a health system is delivering services to its populations.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.