Universal healthcare is 'key to growth'

Universal health coverage is not only morally correct, but vital for a country's economic development, the President of the World Bank says.

Jim Yong Kim told told a conference in Japan on Friday that instituting a system that ensures the whole population has access to medical care is key to reducing poverty in the developing world.

...Government ministers from developing nations were invited to the one-day conference in Tokyo, hosted jointly by the World Bank and the Japanese government.

The gathering was aimed at spreading the take-up of universal health care to developing nations, with the emphasis on how it could boost growth in poorer countries.