12 June 2018: The co-facilitators of negotiations towards a High-Level Meeting on universal health coverage have released the zero draft of a UN resolution outlining proposed modalities of the meeting, which is to take place in 2019.

Co-facilitators Katalin Annamaria Bogyay (Hungary) and Vitavas Sriviho (Thailand) will present the draft to UN Member States on 19 June, and will convene the first informal consultations on the resolution on 22 June at UN Headquarters in New York, US. The High-Level Meeting is organized to support commitments made in SDG target 3.8, which seeks to achieve universal health coverage by 2030, including financial risk protection and access to quality healthcare, medicines and vaccines.

The zero draft indicates that the High-Level Meeting is planned as a one-day event, with plenary segments and multi-stakeholder panels on the overall theme of ‘Universal Health Coverage: Together for a Healthier World.’

Following adoption of the SDGs in 2015, the UN General Assembly underlined the primary responsibility of Member States to accelerate the transition towards universal health coverage (resolution 71/1159) on 15 December 2016, and decided to hold a high-level 2019 meeting on the subject (resolution 72/139) on 12 December 2017. Also on 12 December 2017, the General Assembly agreed to proclaim 2 December as International Universal Health Coverage Day (resolution 72/138).

On World Health Day, 7 April 2018, the World Health Organization (WHO) launched a campaign for Universal Health Coverage. WHO emphasized that, to achieve SDG target 3.8, one billion more people must have universal health coverage by 2023. [Letter and Zero Draft] [WHO Web Page on Universal Health Coverage Campaign] [SDG Knowledge Hub Story on Co-Facilitators] [SDG Knowledge Hub Story on UNGA Resolutions]