The Commonwealth has long advocated for the realisation of UHC – with efforts being made to ensure equitable access to medicines, sustainable financing, global health security, healthy ageing, and a reduction in noncommunicable diseases, in successive meetings. WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus delivers his keynote address. They also agreed on priorities for accelerated action to address the increased burden of mental health conditions in the Commonwealth, particularly amongst children and youth, as well as promising to collaborate on strengthening country pandemic prevention, preparedness and response, including investing in sustainable manufacturing capacity, and to address climate change threats through an integrated and evidence-based agenda. They acknowledged the significant capacity shortages of health workers to ensure quality services are delivered at the PHC level, and agreed to build multisectoral partnerships in areas including training and to address international migration. Ministers agreed on a Ministerial Statement containing commitments to collaborate on efforts to monitor progress and share expertise on strengthening primary healthcare (PHC) services leverage increased investment for digital innovations to improve population health and pledged to work jointly with Commonwealth Finance Ministers to identify innovative and sustainable funding solutions for health systems. The WHO highly values our partnership with the Commonwealth, and we remain committed to working with you closely to fulfil the shared commitments in our Memorandum of Understanding.” We need to take those lessons and apply them. “We have lived through an unprecedented crisis, one that made crystal clear that health is central to development, prosperity, and national security.

Giving a keynote address, WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said: I look forward to supporting the outcomes from this meeting as part of my role as CHMM Chair in Office.” The deliberations today - on investing in primary health care, utilising digital health technologies, integrating mental health services and building greater country capacity for pandemic prevention, preparedness and response – will help us work towards a more equitable and healthier Commonwealth where no one is left behind. Whilst the Commonwealth had made significance progress on UHC before 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic exposed the vulnerabilities of many of our health systems, putting achieving UHC in the Commonwealth at risk. “It has been a privilege to Chair the 35th Commonwealth Health Ministers Meeting, and to discuss the critical need to accelerate action on UHC. If we succeed, we will have transformed the lives and prospects of millions of people in our Commonwealth Family.”ĬHMM Chair, Susan Nakhumicha Wafula, Cabinet Secretary for Health, Kenya, said: If we fail, we risk losing the impetus to transform our health systems for the better. We need to convert our focus and urgency into hard-headed action right now.

“If we have learnt anything from the pandemic, it's that investing in health for all is not optional – it is essential.ĭespite the Commonwealth making significant progress on universal health coverage before 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the vulnerabilities of many of our health systems and significantly eroded our hard-won health gains, putting the delivery of universal health coverage in the Commonwealth at risk…

Opening the meeting, the Secretary-General said: They agreed to work together to accelerate efforts to achieve UHC by 2030, in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), recognising that the COVID-19 pandemic has caused setbacks to hard-won UHC gains and exposed rife health inequalities within and between countries, including inequities of access to quality care.Ĭritically it was highlighted that the increasing daily threats of climate change continue to have an impact on the health of countries, their communities and their loved ones, and this needs collaborative action from all across health, finance, environment and climate ministries.

Unity transform