PATH statement on the high-level meetings at the 78th United Nations General Assembly

Last month, PATH delegates joined global leaders in three high-level meetings (HLM) on pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response (PPPR), universal health coverage (UHC), and tuberculosis (TB) during the 78th United Nations General Assembly in New York. As conflict, climate change, and COVID-19 derailed progress towards 2030 goals for health and exacerbated inequities in health systems around the world, it was critical that global leaders come together to prioritize global health equity and security.

PATH commends Member States and the international community for reaffirming their commitments to health through their political declarations, recognizing the challenges that persist and the opportunities to accelerate progress in achieving universal health coverage, ending TB, and preventing, preparing for, and responding to future pandemics.

As UHC by 2030 is essential to achieve of the aims of all three HLMs and the most significant way to advance health equity, PATH was pleased to see the political declaration detail a robust assessment of the gaps and solutions to reach this ambitious global commitment. Through the declaration, members recognized that UHC includes all facets of health care, including equitable access to vaccines, diagnostics, and health technologies; that global efforts for UHC need to prioritize support for communities most left behind by existing health systems; that a skilled health workforce is critical to health systems strengthening; and most notably, that primary health care (PHC) is fundamental to achieving UHC.

While we look forward to seeing how governments will act on their pledges, we know UHC cannot be achieved through political commitments alone. Every sector has a role to play if we are to make the fundamental changes in the delivery of public health necessary to achieve UHC by 2030. On our part, PATH is contributing to this goal by focusing on four major paradigm shifts to sustainably improve PHC.

We also acknowledge that while the declarations are a good step forward, they could have gone further. The political declarations on UHC and PPPR both fell short in establishing accountability measures to ensure states take meaningful action. It will take more funding to drive impact and require consistent advocacy to hold leaders accountable for their commitments to build the health systems capable of reaching these ambitious goals. Despite the relevance to all three HLMs, the declarations were also notably missing the chance to prioritize medical oxygen and failed to call for specific actions on climate change as it impacts health. PATH will continue urging leaders to prioritize access to medical oxygen, and we’ll be launching a climate and health strategy to ensure governments consider how climate change mitigation and adaptation measures can advance UHC and PPPR.