2023-09-20 01:05:06
Without health, the world is seriously hampered in its race to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 goals. The recently opened 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly aims to change that.
On the agenda is a new global strategy to prevent, prepare for and respond to future pandemics, building on the hard lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 in 2020. International agreements are also in the works to combat the global tuberculosis epidemic and promote universal health coverage for all.
“We live in a world with many competing priorities, but we must maintain the focus of world leaders on health as the foundation of sustainable development,” said the Director-General of the World Health Organization (OMS), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Here are the top five things to know about the UNGA 78 health ministerial meetings:
1. New pandemic deal goes beyond COVID-19
A man receives his second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine during a vaccination campaign in Rajasthan, India (file photo).
Long before the COVID-19 pandemic paralyzed the world, the United Nations health agency was developing innovative ways to manage global outbreaks of deadly diseases and viruses. Just months before the global lockdown due to the novel coronavirus in March 2020, the WHO was discussing an international strategy. Today, a new agreement on pandemics is being submitted to the world at UNGA 78.
As nations around the world have painfully learned, no country is safe from a deadly, fast-spreading virus that is pushing health systems to their limits, killing more than 6 million people and setting back development progress over several decades.
Looking ahead, the goal is to make the world safer by protecting it from global epidemics and consolidating effective response plans for current and future generations.
The nations negotiated a draft declaration that world leaders are expected to adopt at a high-level meeting on September 22.
2. Health care for all
Mothers and their babies wait to see UN-supported health workers in Bhutan.
Many countries with the most advanced medical care systems have been surprised by COVID-19 due to their historic lack of investment in primary health care, according to the WHO chief.
On September 21, ministers will gather at United Nations headquarters for a high-level meeting on universal health coverage.
Reviewing a series of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the WHO chief said it made sense to provide universal health coverage.
He said strong primary health care (goal 3) requires long-term investment in health and care workers, and particularly in decent working conditions (goal 8). Additionally, investment in education (Goal 4) must be tailored to jobs and careers, with appropriate salaries and incentives, he added.
Given that two-thirds of the world’s health and care workforce are women, he highlighted that investments in the health and care workforce can also advance gender equality (Goal 5).
The draft political declaration expected to be adopted on Thursday aims for one main outcome: a healthier population.
3. SDG 3 Health Clinic
The Global Scrubs Choir from the Royal Melbourne Hospital in Australia performs at the SDG 3 health clinic at UN Headquarters.
As diplomats debate global challenges at UN headquarters, the UN health agency WHO has established the SDG 3 walk-in health clinic.
The Global Scrubs choir, made up of frontline staff from the Royal Melbourne Hospital, perform live at the WHO-run SDG 3 health clinic during the high-level week of the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly .
Visitors can sit on a friendship bench and explain to clinic staff why mental health is important to them. After all, health is not just the absence of disease or infirmity, but a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being.
Want music therapy? The Global Scrubs Choir will perform daily from 8:00 a.m. to 8:45 a.m.
4. Making history with a 30-year-old tuberculosis epidemic
Patients at a health center in Peru receive advice on how to avoid contracting tuberculosis.
A high-level dialogue on September 22 aims to intensify global efforts to finally end a decades-long tuberculosis (TB) epidemic that remains a leading cause of death worldwide.
This preventable and treatable disease disproportionately affects developing countries, and a quarter of the world’s population is infected with the bacteria that causes the disease. In 2021, an estimated 10.6 million people contracted TB and around 1.6 million people died from it.
Thirty years after the WHO declared it a global emergency, the epidemic still poses a critical challenge in all regions and affects every country in the world. Every year, millions of people with tuberculosis do not receive quality care, including access to affordable diagnostic tests and treatment, especially in developing countries, according to the WHO.
The adoption of the draft political declaration means that nations would commit to taking a set of actions to quickly change this situation.
Find the program and the list of speakers expected at the high-level meeting ici (in English).
5. Global Action Plan
The UN is supporting a cholera vaccination program in vulnerable communities in Haiti.
WHO established the Global Action Plan for Healthy Lives and Well-being for All, also known as “SDG 3 GAP”, in 2019, bringing together 13 multilateral health, development and humanitarian assistance around the world. Despite the growing challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, they have made hard-earned progress, showcasing their successes at the SDG Summit in an effort to help.
The goal is simple: to help countries accelerate progress toward the health-related SDGs. Together, they lead joint actions and provide more coordinated and aligned support to country-owned and country-led national plans and strategies.
“In recent years, we have experienced a perfect storm: COVID-19, climate change, conflict and other crises threaten the progress made over the past 20 years,” said Peter Sands, Executive Director of the Global Fund. to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, which is part of the global network.
“We can sustain and even accelerate progress if we work together to address the most acute health challenges and build stronger, more resilient health systems, but it is essential that in doing so we confront deep and widespread health inequities between and within countries. »
View the 2023 Global Action Plan progress report ici (in English).
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