The United Nations High-Level Meeting on Universal Health Coverage (UHC) was held on September 21, 2023, and following the meeting, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adopted a Political Declaration on UHC on October 5, 2023. Please refer to the original text.
(November 22, 2023)

The Health and Global Policy Institute (HGPI) Planetary Health Team has presented a written request titled, “Expectations for the 2023 UHC Political Declaration from a Planetary Health Perspective.”

In conjunction with the UN General Assembly in September 2023, three High-Level Meetings (HLM)* on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response (PPPR), Universal Health Coverage (UHC), and Tuberculosis (TB) are scheduled to take place and discussions will be held by countries.

The UHC High-Level Meeting in 2019 adopted the UHC Political Declaration, an important milestone for governments to recognize its importance at the UN General Assembly, to confirm their views, and to promote measures in their countries. It also serves as an important guideline for international organizations and UN agencies to promote international measures in the future.

The Government of Japan has been working on the international promotion of UHC as an important diplomatic issue, and in May 2022 it formulated the Global Health Strategy, in which UHC is a central topic. It is expected that the Government of Japan, as chair of the G7 in 2023, will further promote UHC to improve the health of the human community and lead the national and international discussion on ‘Planetary Health’, in step with the international community.

HGPI has proposed amendments to the six paragraphs of the 2023 Draft Political Declaration on UHC including the addition of a planetary perspective to the focus on human health and the inclusion of conditions such as climate and environment in the description of health risk factors.

For details, please see the PDF linked below.

Click here for the previous “Political declaration of the high-level meeting on universal health coverage”, and “Rev2: Political Declaration of the High-level Meeting of the United Nations General Assembly on Universal Health Coverage”, the second draft of the “Political Declaration of the 77th Session of the United Nations General Assembly on UHC”, published by WHO Tracker, is here.

■Letter from the President of the General Assembly – Health-related Processes Political Drafts:
On September 1, the outgoing President of the UN General Assembly (for the 77th session) released the latest drafts of official statements for three important UN meetings. These drafts aim to capture the common ground reached on various issues. However, agreement couldn’t be reached on a few political matters that are not directly related to health. Now, it’s up to the new President of the UN General Assembly (for the 78th session) to decide whether to keep negotiating on these issues or to present the drafts as they are for approval at the UN meeting.

*The “– Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response – Program and Speakers” letter from the President of the 78th General Assembly has been published. According to the letter, Japan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs is scheduled to participate.

*The “- Universal Health Coverage – Program and Speakers” letter from the President of the 78th General Assembly has been published. According to the letter, Japan’s Prime Minister is scheduled to participate.

*The “– Tuberculosis – Program and Speakers” letter from the President of the 78th General Assembly has been published.
According to the letter, Japan’s Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare is scheduled to participate.