On 23 September, the UN General Assembly held a high-level meeting entitled “Universal Health Coverage: Moving Together to Build a Healthier World”. During the meeting of heads of state, ministers, health leaders, policy-makers and others, a Political Declaration was adopted, specifically addressing universal health coverage (UHC). The opening paragraph of the Declaration states:
“We, Heads of State and Government and representatives of States and Governments, assembled at the United Nations on 23 September 2019 with a dedicated focus for the first time on universal health coverage, reaffirm that health is a precondition for and an outcome and indicator of all three dimensions of sustainable development and the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and strongly recommit to achieve universal health coverage by 2030, with a view to scaling up the global effort to build a healthier world for all.” In adopting the declaration, Member States have committed to investing in policies which would prevent financial hardship from out-of-pocket healthcare payments. It also aims to implement high-impact health interventions to combat diseases and protect women’s and children’s health.
More details on the high level conference can be found here: https://www.uhc2030.org/un-hlm-2019/. On 24 September, the World Health Organization (WHO) and 11 other multilateral organisations, launched their Global Action Plan for health and wellbeing for all. The plan will ensure the 12 partners provide more streamlined support to countries to help deliver universal health coverage and achieve the health-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) targets. The WHO plan can be found here: https://www.who.int/sdg/global-action-plan