Global Health Strategy for 2025–2028 (Part Seven)

Health, wellbeing, and health security are increasingly central to national agendas for long-term stability and growth.

Moreover, despite stalled progress toward universal health coverage globally, about 30% of countries have improved both service coverage and financial protection.

There is a renewed commitment to a “radical reorientation” of health systems toward a primary health care approach, to enhance equity, inclusion, affordability and efficiency across the care continuum — from prevention to palliation — and a growing number of countries are demonstrating its impact.

At regional and international levels, new institutions and initiatives — such as the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, the African Medicines Agency, the EU Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority, the Global Digital Health Initiative, the ASEAN Centre for Public Health Emergencies and Emerging Diseases, and the Primary Health Care Alliance in the Americas — are strengthening cross-country collaboration and capacities.

New and renewed commitments at national and international levels have been made to fill health and care workforce gaps by 2030, especially at the community level.

Greater attention is being paid to better aligning international financing with government programmes and priorities to achieve universal health coverage.

In addition, new funds and financing instruments — such as the Pandemic Fund and the IMF’s Resilience and Sustainability Trust — have been established to provide sustainable long-term financing for pandemic preparedness.

Through the Health Impact Investment Platform, a core group of multilateral development banks has committed to work with WHO to deliver a new, more coherent approach to financing health in support of low-income countries, based on national assessments of context and local needs, with WHO’s backing.

It is increasingly accepted that policy decisions across multiple sectors are essential to build more resilient, wellbeing-centred societies, founded on a conception of health that integrates physical, mental, spiritual and social dimensions.

The clear and undeniable link between human health and planetary health has received growing attention, and new metrics — beyond gross domestic product — are being promoted to measure societal progress and guide public-spending priorities.

The WHO Council on the Economics of Health for All has issued 13 recommendations for fundamentally reshaping national and global economies and financing to deliver health and wellbeing.

There is an extraordinary number and diversity of health actors at all levels, from civil society organizations and youth groups to philanthropic entities.

New actors are complementing the work of governments, institutions, organizations, funds and international bodies that underpin national health efforts, including: the World Bank; UNICEF; UNFPA; UNDP; the World Food Programme; the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO); the International Labour Organization (ILO); UNOPS; UNEP; the Global Fund; Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance; CEPI (Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations); UNITAD; the Global Financing Facility; the Medicines Patent Pool; the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; Rotary International; the Wellcome Trust; FIND; and others.

Partners in the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network, the Emergency Medical Teams initiative, and the global health cluster — including international NGOs and humanitarian organizations such as the International Committee of the Red Cross, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, and Médecins Sans Frontières — play vital roles in reaching vulnerable and marginalized populations.

These are examples among the thousands of organisations engaged at national and international levels; more than 200 have formal relations with WHO and over 800 centres collaborate with WHO.

Key partnerships are expanding or consolidating, such as the One Health quadripartite to reduce health threats at the human–animal–environment interface; maternal-newborn-child health partnerships; the Global Action Plan for Healthy Lives and Well-being for All; and WHO-hosted research partnerships.

New partnerships are being formed to address emerging priorities, such as the Transformative Action Coalition on Climate and Health.

Moreover, the private sector’s multifaceted role is rapidly expanding, presenting both opportunities and challenges for advancing health and wellbeing.

Recent and ongoing advances in basic, clinical, behavioural and translational sciences have opened new opportunities to improve health and wellbeing for all.

Scientific progress has provided platforms for developing vaccines, medicines, diagnostics and other health interventions — recently yielding life-saving malaria vaccines and the successful deployment of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines — while also reinvigorating debates on how to ensure equitable access to the benefits of new knowledge.

Science and innovation in service delivery help overcome implementation barriers by using locally generated evidence and community engagement.

Digital technologies — such as artificial intelligence, telemedicine and point-of-care tools — have facilitated access, improved the timeliness and quality of clinical decision-making, and reduced costs for many people.

Increased access to information and communications technologies, especially in remote rural populations, has stimulated demand for health services, strengthened service delivery and improved key functions such as supply chains and micro-planning.

There is renewed attention to the potential role of evidence-based traditional, complementary and integrative health approaches, with growing appreciation of Indigenous knowledge and insights.