UNIVERSAL HEALTH COVERAGE: A Scoping Report: Burundi Introduction: Universal Health Coverage (UHC) strives to ensure that everyone gets the healthcare they need, but that it is affordable of everyone. At the same time, according to the WHO, the healthcare received by citizens must be of good quality. Universal Health Coverage is divided by the World Health Organization into two components: Health Service Coverage and Financial Risk Protection, of which there are numerous indicators used to measure the progress of the program. Of these numerous indicators, I have analyzed and selected some that I consider relevant for the chosen country, Burundi. Burundi is classified by the World Bank as a low-income country (less than $1,035) and its problems with previous healthcare systems and civil wars make it an interesting country to examine. The indicators I chose to use are listed in the 'Data Review', combined with a critical evaluation. Data review: • Under-five mortality rate, per 1,000 live births As shown in the population pyramid (figure 1) below, the population of Burundi is extremely young, the most dominant age category being 0-4 years, with approximately 960,000 people. Consequently, it is appropriate to measure the progress of universal health coverage through the under-five mortality rate. Considering that such a large percentage of the population is young, the aforementioned indicator is a key determinant of UHC. This is critical since human capital productivity depends on health. Additionally, the U5MR does not account for the number of stunted or otherwise unhealthy children alive. Consequently, the decrease in U5MR could be considered a deceptively huge achievement, if it were significantly demonstrated that a large part of its data comes from the statistical systems of member countries and that the quality of their data depends on “how well these work national systems". • Country-specific barriers Burundi is “one of the poorest nations in the world”, according to the BBC (2014). The country's poor economic growth, combined with the twelve-year civil war and lack of cultural progress, represent significant country-specific barriers to implementing UHC. For example, we can look back to 1984, when the Carte d'Assurance Maladie was implemented. This scheme allowed women to obtain healthcare without consulting their male counterparts by “eliminating cash payments at the point of use”. (UHC Forward, n.d.) However, the program was not successful due to low participation rates and the fact that high-risk families tended to be the only users of the program.