Welcome to the United Nations
World Health Organization
The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of better health to build back better across all aspects of sustainable development. This session convenes Member States, UN agencies, development partners, Major Groups and Other Stakeholders to share innovations and best practices, and recommit to an inclusive, inspiring vision of Health for All to drive the achievement of the 2030 Agenda.
COVID-19 laid bare the inadequacies of global preparedness to health emergencies and exacerbated the inequities within and between countries. We learned that preparedness requires:
- Solidarity: we need to ensure universal rights and equity, if anyone is left behind, we are all left behind;
- Sustainability: we need to innovate and build back better for people, the planet, prosperity and peace;
- Systems: we need systems that are resilient to provide services for health and wellbeing at all times.
With these lessons in mind, it is imperative that the world redefines its strategy through the High-Level Meeting on Universal Health Coverage (UHC) in 2023. Health is a fundamental human right, and governments can realize their obligations by ensuring that UHC is delivered through a national health system that is oriented to primary health care and essential public health functions to withstand shocks, contributes to more equitable and just societies, and collaborates with other sectors for improved health and sustainable development. This approach must be anchored in global solidarity.
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