This week on 29th of April Alliance for Public Health has attended and presented comments on the interactive multi-stakeholders hearing on Universal Health Coverage at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, United States. This meeting was the preparatory process for the UN general assembly high-level meeting on universal health coverage on 23 September 2019 in New York, with the overall theme: Universal Health Coverage: Moving Together to Build a Healthier World. The President of the General Assembly, with the support of the World Health Organization and UHC2030, has convened the interactive multi-stakeholder hearing as part of the preparatory process for UN HLM. Permanent representative of Japan is the friend of UHC and Thailand and Georgia was the co-facilitators of the event.

The hearing took place from 10:00 to 18:00, in the General Assembly Hall at the UN Headquarters in New York. The discussion was focus on core themes around UHC, noting that UHC is a catalyst for social-economic development and a key contributor to equity, social justice and inclusive economic growth. Nearly 600 stakeholder’s representation from all over the world participated the hearing. In consultation with global CSO’s UHC2030 have submitted following key asks during the hearing and can be found here. Zahedul Islam, Director of Treatment, Procurement and Supply Management of APH has taken part in the interactive discussion and provided comments on

  • How to bring about actionable commitments from the member states during the HLM and ensure its implementation
  • Should CCM mandates be expanded to include UHC in the country level where all multi-stakeholder partners are involved
  • Should UHC integrate traditional medicine and other non-traditional medical practices while creating a UHC basic service package
  • How to leverage parliamentary platform to progress UHC agenda with policy makers in the country level

The outcome of the hearing will be published within the next few weeks and inform the preparation of the zero-draft political declaration on UHC that will be negotiated by Member States. APH is proud to be part of this multi-stakeholder hearing and UN high-level meeting process.