Universal Health Coverage watch
Created for the WHO Barcelona Office for Health Systems Financing, the Universal Health Coverage watch (UHC watch) is an application for tracking progress on affordable access to health care in Europe and central Asia. Lushomo’s role was to drive the user experience (UX) research and information design, before and during development of the app with a partner organisation.
The brief
The WHO Barcelona Office wanted to build an interactive tool to make data on universal health coverage in the relevant regions accessible to the public. We were asked to conduct a UX review of existing concepts, followed by site-mapping, wireframing and design processes to develop the visual identity and data visualisations in collaboration with WHO.
Our approach
We conducted workshops with the WHO team to understand user groups and their information needs. From there, we designed visual charts representing data on financial hardship indicators, policy information tables on coverage and user charges, and country profiles summarising local data. During the development phase we worked closely with the Spain-based team responsible for building the site.
Visual language
The design uses a blue gradient from the WHO Barcelona Office brand guidelines as a base for a 'traffic light system' of data visualisation. Red, orange and green circles represent levels of financial protection, alongside umbrella icons symbolising UHC—broken umbrellas denoting weak protection and intact ones stronger protection. A graphic rain pattern in the background is used to symbolise catastrophic health expenditure.
The deliverables
In addition to developing the UHC watch app identity, we produced an animated video introducing the platform, and a 2-minute overview film titled ‘Can people afford to pay for health care’.
The highlights
According to WHO data collected through UHC watch, up to 20% of households across Europe experience catastrophic health spending, mainly from out-of-pocket payments for medicines, restricting their ability to pay for basic needs such as food, housing and heating. Read more about the app and its role in supporting countries in the move towards UHC here.
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