Global Health and Foreign Policy : Health Employment and Economic Growth

A/RES/71/159View PDF

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 127 Global health and foreign policy, published in 2017.

Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

1 report · 2017

Year	Symbol	Title		Mandate resolution
2017	A/72/645	Options and modalities for the organization of the High-Level Meeting on Tuberculosis convened by the President of the General Assembly report of the Secretary-General		A/RES/71/159

What subjects does this mandate have?

6 subjects

Conferences Health Personnel Health Policy Health Services Technical Cooperation Tuberculosis

What’s in this document?

24 operative paragraphs

Takes note with appreciation of the notes by the Secretary-General transmitting the reports of the Director General of the World Health Organization on the state of health security¹⁴ and on global health and foreign policy;¹⁵

¹⁴A/71/598.

¹⁵A/71/601.

Reiterates the call for more attention to health, which is a state of complete, physical, mental and social well-being, 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 recognition that global health challenges require policy coherence across government and concerted, sustained and intersectoral efforts;

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

Calls upon Member States to promote and strengthen, as appropriate, their dialogue with other stakeholders, including civil society, academia and the private sector, in order to maximize their engagement and contribution to solving global health challenges, while at the same time safeguarding public health interests from undue influence by any form of real, perceived or potential conflict of interest, through the management of risk, the strengthening of due diligence and accountability and an increase in the transparency of engagement;

Encourages greater coherence among United Nations bodies and entities on matters related to global health and foreign policy, including through the consideration, where appropriate, of related actions;

Notes the adoption of World Health Assembly resolution 69.19, entitled “Global strategy on human resources for health: workforce 2030”,8 in which the World Health Assembly invited international, regional, national and local partners and stakeholders from the health sector and beyond to engage in and support the implementation of the global strategy9 and achieve its milestones for 2020 and 2030, in alignment with national institutional mechanisms in order to coordinate an intersectoral health workforce agenda;

Calls upon Member States to actively implement its resolution 69/132, including the development of effective preventive measures for the protection of health workers, and noting that the global strategy proposes policy options for Member States relating to this issue and facilitates World Health Organization support to Member States, upon request and in accordance with national legislation and priorities;

Encourages Member States to strengthen their institutional mechanisms to coordinate an intersectoral health workforce agenda encompassing relevant national policies and broader socioeconomic development contexts, in line with national priorities;

Urges Member States, in accordance with their obligations under relevant provisions of international human rights law, including the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, to promote equal access to health services and the development and attainment by Member States of resilient and sustainable health systems capable of responding effectively to outbreaks and emergencies and of implementing an effective response to the broader dimensions of outbreaks and emergencies that include access to basic health-care services, including maternal, newborn and child health and sexual and reproductive health, as well as food security and nutrition, housing and education;

Welcomes the establishment of the Global Health Crises Task Force by the Secretary-General to support and monitor the implementation of recommendations contained in the report of the High-level Panel on the Global Response to Health Crises,12 noting the ongoing discussion on the standard operating procedures for humanitarian actors in large-scale infectious disease events in humanitarian contexts, and requests the Secretary-General to provide periodic updates on the work of the Task Force and its recommendations, in close consultation with the Director General of the World Health Organization;

Notes that challenges in global health still remain and demand persistent attention and that this urgently requires the fulfilment of commitments to strengthen the global partnership for development, and emphasizes in particular in this regard North-South cooperation, the importance of South-South and triangular cooperation and the exchange of best practices, as well as capacity-building and the transfer of technology on mutually agreed terms, to address health inequities in the context of poverty eradication and sustainable development, in line with national priorities;

Calls upon partnerships for global health to support Member States, including low-income countries, in carrying out their primary responsibility to accelerate the transition towards universal health coverage, which implies that all people have equal access, without discrimination of any kind, to nationally determined sets of quality promotive, preventive, curative, rehabilitative and palliative basic health services needed and essential, safe, affordable, effective and quality medicines, while ensuring that the use of such services and medicines does not expose the users to financial hardship, with a specific emphasis on the poor, vulnerable and marginalized segments of the population;

Calls upon Member States to make greater investments and promote decent work with adequate remuneration in the health and social sectors, enable safe working environments and conditions, effective retention and equitable and broad distribution of the health workforce, and strengthen capacities to optimize the existing health workforce, including through expanding rural and community-based health education and training, to contribute to the achievement of universal health coverage;

Also calls upon Member States to strengthen the relevance, effectiveness and implementation of the World Health Organization Global Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel;6

Commits to support technology transfer arrangements on mutually agreed and advantageous terms with the objective of increasing the availability and affordability of medicines and related health technologies and to encourage the utilization of the multi-stakeholder forum on science, technology and innovation for the Sustainable Development Goals, created as a component of the Technology Facilitation Mechanism, to identify and examine technology needs and gaps;

Welcomes the convening of the high-level meeting of the General Assembly on antimicrobial resistance and the adoption of its political declaration,11 which reaffirmed the World Health Organization global action plan on antimicrobial resistance,¹⁶ recognized the grave challenge of antimicrobial resistance and the need for a multisectoral One Health approach, and requested the Secretary-General to update Member States on the creation and work of the ad hoc inter-agency coordination group, bearing in mind that its recommendations are to be submitted to the Assembly by its seventy-third session;

¹⁶World Health Organization, document WHA68/2015/REC/1, annex 3.

Also welcomes the convening of the 2016 high-level meeting on HIV/AIDS and the adoption of the Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS: On the Fast Track to Accelerating the Fight against HIV and to Ending the AIDS Epidemic by 2030,¹⁷ which sets targets to be achieved by 2020 and reaffirms the commitment to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030;

¹⁷Resolution 70/266, annex.

Further welcomes the report of the High-level Commission on Health Employment and Economic Growth, and recognizes the need for consideration of and action on its recommendations with the aim of contributing to global inclusive economic growth and the creation of decent jobs and achieving universal health coverage, and for the effective implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development¹⁸ and to meet the targets of the Sustainable Development Goals;

¹⁸Resolution 70/1.

Encourages actions in support of the creation of some 40 million new jobs in the health and social sector by 2030, paying specific attention to addressing the projected shortages of 18 million health workers by 2030, primarily in low- and middle-income countries, as recommended by the High-level Commission on Health Employment and Economic Growth;

Urges Member States to consider the recommendations of the High-level Commission on Health Employment and Economic Growth, including the development of intersectoral plans and investment in education and job creation in the health and social sectors;

Notes the initiative to hold, in Moscow in November 2017, a global ministerial conference on the fight against tuberculosis in the context of public health and the Sustainable Development Goals;

Decides to hold a high-level meeting in 2018 on the fight against tuberculosis, and requests the Secretary-General, in close collaboration with the Director General of the World Health Organization and in consultation with Member States, as appropriate, to propose options and modalities for the conduct of such a meeting, including potential deliverables, building on existing efforts in this regard;

Requests the Secretary-General to promote discussion among Member States and relevant stakeholders on appropriate policy options to promote access to medicines, innovation and health technologies, as well as other, broader aspects, bearing in mind, as appropriate, all relevant reports, such as the report of the High-level Panel on Access to Medicines and the report of the World Health Organization, the World Intellectual Property Organization and the World Trade Organization entitled Promoting Access to Medical Technologies and Innovation;

Also requests the Secretary-General, in close collaboration with the Director General of the World Health Organization and the Director General of the International Labour Organization, as well as other relevant international organizations, to report to the General Assembly at its seventy-second session, under the item entitled “Global health and foreign policy”, on the operationalization of the immediate actions and five-year action plan of the High-level Commission on Health Employment and Economic Growth.

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

What subjects does this mandate have?

What’s in this document?

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