Financing universal health coverage by cutting fossil fuel subsidies - The Lancet Global Health
▻http://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X(15)00007-8/fulltext
Worldwide, nearly half a trillion dollars were spent on fossil fuel subsidies in 2010.1 Although these subsidies were at first intended to protect poor people from high fuel costs, in practice they are more likely to benefit wealthy households, promote overconsumption of fuel, and discourage energy efficiency.
(...) Abolishment of fuel subsidies, however, is often difficult to pursue because of public opposition. Indeed some attempts to reduce fuel subsidies, such as those in Nigeria,4 Indonesia,5 and Sudan,6 have been met with violent protests. The perceived benefits of fossil fuel subsidies are apparent in daily life, and their removal is felt abruptly and immediately
(...) Rapid health-care reforms, however, have been shown to deliver tangible benefits to the population relatively quickly.7
Countries with high fuel subsidies and no universal health coverage scheme
#subventions pour le #pétrole vs. programmes de #santé_publique