Global Health and Foreign Policy

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 123 Global health and foreign policy, published in 2013.

What other versions does this mandate have?

7 versions · 2009–2015

This is an older version — the most recent is A/RES/69/132

Year	Symbol	Title	Word length	Text similarity
2015	A/RES/69/132	Global health and foreign policy	2,545	19%Compare
2014	A/RES/68/98	Global health and foreign policy	2,252	19%Compare
2013	A/RES/67/81	Global health and foreign policy	2,393	20%Compare
2012	A/RES/66/115	Global health and foreign policy	1,992	16%Compare
2011	A/RES/65/95	Global health and foreign policy	1,791	18%Compare

What subjects does this mandate have?

6 subjects

Consultations Development Policy Foreign Policy Health Insurance Health Policy Social Security

What’s in this document?

29 operative paragraphs

Notes with appreciation the note by the Secretary-General¹³ transmitting the report of the Director General of the World Health Organization and the recommendations contained in the report on improving coordination, coherence, and effectiveness of governance for global health and addressing the interlinkages between health and environment and health and natural disasters;

¹³A/67/377.

Calls for more attention to health as an important cross-cutting policy issue on the international agenda, as it is a precondition for and an outcome and indicator of all three dimensions of sustainable development, and for the recognition that global health challenges require concerted and sustained efforts to further promote a global policy environment supportive of global health and sustainable development;

Invites Member States to recognize the links between the promotion of universal health coverage and other foreign policy issues, such as the social dimension of globalization, cohesion and stability, inclusive and equitable growth and sustainable development and sustainability of national financing mechanisms, and the importance of universal coverage in national health systems, especially through primary health-care and social protection mechanisms, including nationally determined social protection floors;

Also invites Member States to adopt a multisectoral approach and to work on determinants of health within sectors including, as appropriate, through the health-in-all-policies approach, while taking into consideration the social, environmental and economic determinants of health, with a view to reducing health inequities and enabling sustainable development, and stresses the urgent need to act on social determinants for the final push towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals;

Calls upon Member States to value the contribution of universal health coverage to achieving all interrelated Millennium Development Goals, with the ultimate outcome of more healthy lives, particularly for women and children;

Recognizes that, although countries have realized important achievements, all countries have scope for further improvements in their health financing policies to enhance and sustain more efficient, equitable, inclusive and high-quality health systems for their populations, and that health financing systems in many countries need to be further developed in order to provide access to necessary services while providing protection against financial risk;

Reaffirms the leading role of the World Health Organization and the important role of the United Nations system in enhancing the visibility of health issues in the different international forums and in supporting Member States in responding to the challenges of the implementation of universal health coverage;

Social protection and universal health coverage

Recognizes the responsibility of Governments to urgently and significantly scale up efforts to accelerate the transition towards universal access to affordable and quality health-care services;

Also recognizes that effective and financially sustainable implementation of universal health coverage is based on a resilient and responsive health system that provides comprehensive primary health-care services, with extensive geographical coverage, including in remote and rural areas, and with a special emphasis on access to populations most in need, and has an adequate skilled, well-trained and motivated workforce, as well as capacities for broad public health measures, health protection and addressing determinants of health through policies across sectors, including promoting the health literacy of the population;

Acknowledges that universal health coverage implies that all people have access, without discrimination, to nationally determined sets of the promotive, preventive, curative and rehabilitative basic health services needed and essential, safe, affordable, effective and quality medicines, while ensuring that the use of these services does not expose the users to financial hardship, with a special emphasis on the poor, vulnerable and marginalized segments of the population;

Recognizes that the provision of universal health coverage requires full and effective implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action,Error: Reference source not found the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and DevelopmentError: Reference source not found and the outcomes of their review conferences, including the commitments relating to sexual and reproductive health and the promotion and protection of all human rights in this context, and emphasizes the need for the provision of universal access to reproductive health, including family planning and sexual health, and the integration of reproductive health into national strategies and programmes;

Also recognizes that the provision of universal health coverage is mutually reinforcing with the implementation of the political declaration on the prevention and control of non-communicable diseasesError: Reference source not found and the Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS: Intensifying Our Efforts to Eliminate HIV and AIDS;Error: Reference source not found

Acknowledges that governance to move towards universal health coverage involves transparent and inclusive and equitable decision-making processes that allow for the input of all stakeholders and develop policies that perform effectively and reach clear and measurable outcomes for all, build accountability and, most crucially, are fair in both policy development processes and results;

Recognizes that it is essential to take into consideration the needs of vulnerable segments of society, including the poorest and marginalized segments of the population, indigenous peoples and persons with disabilities, in accordance with the principle of social inclusion, in order to enhance their ability to realize their right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health;

Urges Governments, civil society organizations and international organizations to promote the inclusion of universal health coverage as an important element on the international development agenda and in the implementation of the internationally agreed development goals, including the Millennium Development Goals, as a means of promoting sustained, inclusive and equitable growth, social cohesion and well-being of the population and achieving other milestones for social development, such as education, work income and household financial security;

Sustainable financing mechanisms for universal health coverage

Calls upon Member States to ensure that health financing systems evolve so as to avoid significant direct payments at the point of delivery and include a method for prepayment of financial contributions for health care and services as well as a mechanism to pool risks among the population in order to avoid catastrophic health-care expenditure and impoverishment of individuals as a result of seeking the care needed;

Acknowledges that the choice of a health financing system should be made within the particular context of each country;

Recognizes that improving social protection towards universal coverage is an investment in people that empowers them to adjust to changes in the economy and in the labour market and helps to support a transition to a more sustainable, inclusive and equitable economy;

Emphasizes that Governments should provide those who do not have sufficient means with the necessary financial risk protection and health-care facilities without discrimination;

Recognizes the important role of national and subnational legislative and executive bodies, as applicable, in further reforms of health financing systems with a view to moving towards universal health coverage;

Encourages Member States, in collaboration with other stakeholders where applicable, to plan or pursue the transition of their health systems towards universal coverage, while continuing to invest in and strengthen health-delivery systems to increase and safeguard the range and quality of services and to adequately meet the health needs of the population;

Calls for strengthening collaboration among Member States, in particular through the World Health Organization, through technical assistance and the sharing of best practices as well as working with partners, including civil society, to promote effective implementation of universal health coverage on the basis of solidarity at national and international levels;

Acknowledges that when managing the transition of the health system to universal coverage, each option will need to be developed within the particular epidemiological, economic, sociocultural, political and structural context of each country in accordance with the principle of national ownership;

Follow-up actions

Urges Member States¹⁴ to continue to consider health issues in the formulation of foreign policy;

¹⁴And, where applicable, regional economic integration organizations.

Recommends that consideration be given to including universal health coverage in the discussions on the post-2015 development agenda in the context of global health challenges;

Calls upon the Economic and Social Council to consider the issue of universal health coverage as part of its 2013 programme of work, with the participation of the World Health Organization, the World Bank, other relevant United Nations entities and other stakeholders, within existing resources;

Decides to continue consultations on the promotion of universal health coverage, regionally and globally, including on the possibility of convening a high-level meeting of the General Assembly;

Requests the Secretary-General, in close collaboration with the Director General of the World Health Organization and with the participation of relevant programmes, funds and specialized agencies of the United Nations system, and in consultation with Member States, to give high priority to universal health coverage and its links to social protection floors within their social programmes and policies;

Requests the Secretary-General to submit to the General Assembly at its sixty-eighth session, under the item entitled “Global health and foreign policy”, a report which compiles and analyses past and current experiences of Member States in the way they succeed in implementing universal health coverage, including links to nationally determined social protection floors, and in sharing, establishing and strengthening institutional capacity in order to generate country-level evidence-based policy decision-making on the design of universal health coverage systems, including tracking the flows of health expenditure through the application of standard accounting frameworks.