Heads of state and government are meeting in New York for the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly, and a key concern is that progress on the Sustainable Development Goals is far off track. At the current rate, 575 million people will live in extreme poverty and 84 million children will not be in school in 2030.
We, the UHC Movement Political Advisory Panel, are deeply concerned about this stagnation and of the development in which world leaders are taking SDG 3 on good health and well-being off the highest political agenda despite the political commitment they expressed in 2019 and the global COVID-19 pandemic experience.
Yet urgent action and strong political commitment to health is the only way to reverse this trend that is leaving people without access to essential health services, compromising our health security, and exacerbating inequities worldwide. Health and achieving universal health coverage is critical for the implementation of the Agenda 2030.