23 September 2019, New York – World leaders approved an action-oriented political declaration on Universal Health Coverage at a first high-level meeting convened by the President of the 74th Session of the UN General Assembly, H.E. Mr. Tijjani Muhammad-Bande on the theme “Universal Health Coverage: Moving Together to Build a Healthier World”. This historic high-level meeting provided an opportunity to mobilize the global community and secure political commitment from Heads of State and Government to accelerate progress toward achieving universal health coverage by 2030, including financial risk protection, access to quality essential health-care services and access to safe, effective, quality and affordable essential medicines and vaccines for all.
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• Webcast (Plenary):Part 1
• Webcast (Plenary):Part 2
• Webcast (Panels): Panel 1
• Webcast (Panels): Panel 2
• PaperSmart (National Statements)
• UN News article

10 June 2019 - WHO organized a side event during the UN High Level Political Forum on the “Global Action Plan for Healthy Lives and Well-being for All: A commitment to accelerating together” at the United Nations in New York. The side event provided an opportunity for Member States and other stakeholders to learn more about the Global Action Plan and to feed into its development. WHO and key stakeholders shared expectations and showcased how acceleration towards the health-related SDG targets, as well as the SDGs, can be achieved through coordinated and multi-sectoral actions.

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• The Global Action Plan

29 April 2019 – WHO Director-General, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, addressed the Multi-Stakeholder Hearing in preparation for the UN High-level meeting on Universal Health Coverage (UHC), from the Democratic Republic of Congo where he was on an assessment mission on the Ebola response. The UN high-level meeting on UHC will be convened on 23 September 2019 with the overall theme: Universal Health Coverage: Moving Together to Build a Healthier World. As part of the preparations leading to high-level meeting, the President of the General Assembly, with support from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Health Partnership for UHC 2030 (UHC2030), convened an interactive multi-stakeholder hearing to ensure the inclusive, active and substantive engagement of all stakeholders in the process.

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• Webcast link
• WHO Director-General speech

29 April 2019 - Members of the Interagency Coordination Group on Antimicrobial Resistance (IACG) and the WHO Deputy Director-General, Dr. Zsuzsanna Jakab, met with the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, to handover the group’s report “No time to wait: Securing the Future from Drug–Resistant Infections”. The report outlines recommendations for urgent action by multi-stakeholders in the global response to antibiotic resistance.

• Link to the report
• Link to the Website of the IACG

4 April 2019 - The World Health Organization office at the United Nations, commemorated World Health Day 2019 on the theme “Universal Health Coverage: Everyone, Everywhere, focusing on Primary Health Care”. Over 100 participants across sectors, including Member States, the UN system, academia, civil society and the private sector joined the lively solidary reception held at the Waterfront Club in New York, to congratulate WHO and reiterate their commitment and support for #HealthForAll and the upcoming UN General Assembly high-level meeting on Universal Health Coverage (UHC) in September 2019.

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1 April, UN – WHO participated in a meeting of the Group of Friends on Universal Health Coverage to present an overview of work undertaken thus far on the SDG3+ Global Action Plan and on preparations for the UN General Assembly high-level meeting on UHC in September. UHC2030 presented the key asks obtained from stakeholders after an online consultation and how these would contribute to an actionable set of commitments at the September high level meeting. On 29 April, the President of the General Assembly will hold a multi-stakeholder hearing to ensure all stakeholders formally contribute to the outcome of the high-level meeting.

• Video of the event

WHO Director-General appoints Mr Stewart Simonson, Assistant-Director General, to lead the WHO office at the United Nations in New York, as part of the reform process to drive towards WHO’s strategic plan of “triple billion”: one billion more people benefitting from universal health coverage (UHC); one billion more people better protected from health emergencies; and one billion more people enjoying better health and well-being. Mr. Simonson will also lead WHO’s work on UN Reform to ensure coherence in delivery of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

• Read Mr Simonson's bio

8 March 2019 - WHO along with the Permanent Missions of France, Germany, Poland, Spain, Sweden and Uruguay co-sponsored a briefing on WHO’s Attacks on Health Care Initiative. Member States highlighted the critical aspects of attacks on health care and outlined initiatives as well as activities that have taken place at the UN over the past few years. This includes the adoption of Security Council resolution 2286, which is a landmark resolution condemning attacks on health care in conflict, as well as the SG’s recommendations to the international community to take concrete actions to stop such attacks. Dr. Jeong Kim from WHO, spoke in detail about WHO’s Initiative, the Surveillance System for Attacks on Health Care, and outlined next steps for the Initiative.

21 February 2019 - Nata Menabde, Executive Director, WHO office at the UN, moderated a briefing on Primary Health Care (PHC) organized by the Permanent Mission of Kazakhstan to the UN. The panel included H.E. Yelzhan Birtanov, Minister of Health from Kazakhstan, and Permanent Representatives to the UN from Kazakhstan, Thailand, the Deputy Permanent Representative of Japan as well as the Senior Adviser on Health in the Executive Office of the Secretary General. The discussion focused on ways to carry the vision of the Declaration of Astana forward and work together on implementing PHC to deliver Universal Health Coverage.