What Does Global Health Architecture Reform Have to Do With Universal Health Coverage?

Global health architecture reform has gained significant momentum in the lead-up to the 79th World Health Assembly, with multiple initiatives seeking to reassess and reshape governance, financing, and institutional arrangements to better respond to current and future health challenges. The forthcoming WHO-led joint process on global health architecture reform presents an important opportunity to define both the direction and the legitimacy of these efforts.

The success of broad reform depends on its ties to specific action agendas and realities. Attaining coverage of equitable, affordable, acceptable, accessible and quality health care must be among the ultimate goal of any reform process. However, actors and stakeholders working on UHC may not see global health architecture reform as an arena for ongoing engagement, or may not have been invited to engage in processes to date.

Evidence from recent HEAR CSO consultations and global survey data highlights a critical gap: while communities and civil society actors—particularly those directly impacted by health inequities—are highly prepared to engage in reform discussions, they remain largely excluded from existing processes. Nearly three-quarters of respondents report readiness to participate, yet fewer than one in ten have been directly engaged to date.

This dynamic session will feature panelists and presenters working to bridge gaps between health issue areas, such as universal health coverage and health architecture reform, and between impacted communities and reform initiatives.

Objectives

  1. Strengthen civil society awareness and understanding of how global health architecture reforms impact progress towards UHC goals
  2. Amplify and validate findings from global consultations on the future of global health architecture reform that included many civil society participants from around the world
  3. Identify areas for common action and provide clarity on ways to get or remain connected to influence and inform GHA reform