Last week, nearly 100 experts and policy makers from countries gathered in Geneva, Switzerland for the “UHC 2030 Multi-stakeholder Consultation: Building a Partnership to Sustain Health Systems.” Organized by IHP+, the consultative meeting brought together stakeholders from low- and middle-income country representatives, civil society organizations, and donors.

Their aim was to start a “movement for accelerated, equitable and sustainable progress towards UHC as well as the other health targets in the SDGs, including global security and equity”. In a key-note speech, Ariel Pablos-Mendez, Assistant Administrator for Global Health, discussed USAID’s vision for health financing and how to smooth the economic transition for countries.

USAID’s Jodi Charles, Senior Health Systems Advisor, and Bob Fryatt, HFG Project Director, participated in the session on health systems assessments and shared updates on the ongoing collaboration among USAID, the World Health Organization, and the World Bank.

“There were excellent contributions from senior representatives from governments in various countries who made a strong case for more aligned and coordinated approaches by international donors and agencies, citing some of the difficulties and inefficiencies caused by multiple overlapping assessments in West Africa in recent years,” said Bob Fryatt.

The meeting was held June 22-23, 2016 in Geneva, Switzerland. IHP+ is now focusing on broader health system strengthening involving a group of partners committed to improving the health of citizens in developing countries. Its objectives are to:

1) Improve coordination of HSS efforts for UHC at global level, including synergies with related technical networks;

2) Strengthen multi-stakeholder policy dialogue and coordination of HSS efforts in countries, including adherence to IHP+ principles and behaviors in countries receiving external assistance;

3) Facilitate accountability for progress towards HSS and UHC that contributes to a more integrated approach to accountability for SDG3; and

4) Build political momentum around a shared global vision of HSS for UHC and advocate for sufficient, appropriate and well-coordinated resource allocation to HSS.

Linked presentations from the sessions

Session one: Launching the process of setting up IHP for UHC 2030

Report on IHP+ Steering Committee decisions from 21 June by Amir Hagos, State Minister of Health, FMoH, Ethiopia

Report from Ise Shima G7 Summit by Ambassador Koichi Aiboshi, Asst. Vice Minister for Global Issues, MOFA Japan

Session two: Keynote panel on general discussion of role, mandate and strategic direction

Slide on Vision for Health Insurance from presentation by Professor Srinath Reddy, Public Health Foundation of India

Video presentation by Viroj Tangcharoensathien, Senior Adviser, International Health Policy Program, Thailand

Session three: Civil society engagement mechanism

Report on civil society engagement with IHP for UHC 2030 by Bruno Rivalan, Head, Global Health Advocates, France

Session four: the role of IHP for UHC 2030 in strengthening advocacy and accountability locally and globally

The political economy of UHC and leaving no one behind by Jesse Bump, Lecturer, Harvard University

Health Data Collaborative: data for health and sustainable development by Ties Boerma, Director, WHO

Session five: IHP for UHC 2030 in tying together existing partnerships for HSS, UHC and knowledge management

Role for IHP for UHC 2030 by Agnes Soucat, Director of Health Systems, Governance and Financing, WHO

Session 6: Multi-sector aspects of UHC. The broader context and the potential role of UHC2030.

Essential Public Health Functions by Ed Kelly, Director, WHO

Health security by Satoshi Ezoe, MoHLW Japan

Session 7: Harmonisation and common approach for assessing country health systems – the way forward

Harmonisation and health systems assessments by Dheepa Rajan, Technical Officer, WHO

Session 8: UHC 2030 role in effective development cooperation (EDC)  

The work of IHP+ by Marjolaine Nicod, WHO and Maxwell Dapaah, WBG  IHP+ Core Team Leaders

Session 9: Areas where we need to develop better practice for ECD and HSS technical support: transition from low- to middle-income countries: smoothing the transition

Transition from low- to middle-income countries by Ariel Pablos-Mendez, USAID

Session 10: Areas where we need to develop better practice for EDC and HSS technical support: approaches for effective HSS in fragile states and countries under stress

Getting results in fragile settings by Nigel Pearson, Consultant, UK

Areas where we need to develop better practice by Agnes Soucat, Director, WHO