Human rights/human capital: a hundred years of ‘universal’ health coverage as a global goal

The ambition of achieving universal health coverage, at least for the working population, was first articulated on the global stage by the International Labour Organisation after World War One. In this article we trace the changing forms and fortunes of the efforts made since then by different international agencies. We suggest that while this has long been justified in terms of both rights and economic pragmatism, there has been a shift towards the latter in recent times.