UHC2030 at the UNITE Global Summit 2022

From 5-7 December, UNITE will host its global summit in Lisbon, bringing together parliamentarians and leaders from the global health community to expand and forge new partnerships. UNITE is a global network of current and former members of parliament from multinational, national, state, and regional Parliaments, Congresses, and Senates committed towards the promotion of efficient and sustainable policies for improved global health systems, in alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals. 

Over the three-day summit, leading parliamentarians from across the world will discuss the most pressing issues in Global Health and set the agenda for the year to come. 

This year, the theme is ‘from pandemic to prosperity’ and each day of the summit will be focused on a specific agenda dedicated to one of three strategic themes: 

• pandemic prevention preparedness and response 
• the future of health systems 
• health as a human right 

UNITE is a member of UHC2030 and UNITE supports our work with parliamentarians in making universal health coverage a reality. The Parliamentarian Guide developed by the group of Parliamentarian Networks with UHC2030 is a key tool in helping parliamentarians translate global UHC commitments into tangible actions at the country level. This work is critical for a successful outcome at the upcoming United Nations High-Level Meeting on UHC taking place in 2023. 

At the UNITE Summit, UHC2030 will host and contribute to several sessions including the Summit Opening Segment, a short information session with WHO, and two sessions on the third day under the overarching theme of health as a human right. 

Registration is free for virtual attendees.

DAY 1

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Opening session Roadmap to 2030 - Multilateralism as a driver to global health and development

December 5th,  8:30 am – 9:20 am GMT 

Speakers will include UHC2030 members Francesca Colombo Head of the Health Division OCDE, Ilona Kickbusch International Advisory Board Chair, Global Health Centre, Graduate Institute, and Ricardo Baptista Leite, MP, MD UNITE President, as well as António Guterres, United Nations Secretary-General and Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General, WHO. 

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UNITE – WHO Collaboration  - A short introduction to the MoU and the 3 United Nations High-Level Meetings on Health 

Information session hosted by WHO 

December 5th 5:00pm – 5:30pm GMT 

UNITE and WHO signed an MoU on 18 0ctober 2022 in the context of the World Health Summit.  This agreement is particularly timely given that three High-Level Meetings on health will take place at the United Nations in 2023. 

WHO will present this strategic agreement and outline some of its priorities, as well the latest details available about the three HLMs and ways to engage in these major political moments for the advancement of the Sustainable development Goals. 

Speakers are Laetitia Bosio, Program Manager, Health Systems Governance and Financing, (UHC2030) WHO,  and Elisa Scolaro, External Relations Officer, Parliamentary Engagement, WHO. 

DAY 3

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Realizing the right to health for all through universal health coverage 

December 7th, 9:00 AM -10:30 AM GMT 

Speakers are Gabriela Cuevas Barron, Co-Chair of the UHC2030 Steering Committee, Former President of Inter-Parliamentary Union, Neema Kichiki Lugangira, Member of Parliament of Tanzania, Ibtissame Azzaoui, Former Member of the Moroccan Parliament, International Consultant in Public Policies, Marta Bravo Salinas, Chilean MP. Kinesiologist, general practitioner and politician of the Independent Democratic Union Party, and the moderator is Daniel Molokela Tsiye, MP Zimbabwe, human rights lawyer, founder and managing partner of the Molokele Law Chambers. 

Objectives 

• Share lessons learned from various parliamentarian initiatives to strengthening health systems, with a focus on equity and resilience at the country level. 

• Identify and connect with national UHC Champions 

• Promote Parliamentarians’ action on two “systems shifts”: investment and integration. This entails securing more and better-aligned resources for equitable and resilient health systems, including primary health care in an integrated way to achieve gains for both health security and UHC while empowering civil society and communities. 

• Discuss opportunities for parliamentarian networks to engage in the UHC HLM 2023 preparation process through UHC2030 and at the multi-stakeholder hearing in 2023. 

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Parliamentary dialogue: A regional dialogue on universal health coverage 

December 7th, 3:45 pm – 4.45 pm GMT

Speakers include Gabriela Cuevas Barron, Co-Chair of the UHC2030 Steering Committee, Laetitia Bosio, Program Manager, UHC2030 Core Team, and Akihito Watabe, Program Manager, UHC2030 Core Team. 

This Regional dialogue on universal health coverage aims for parliamentarians to: 

• Get familiarized with the State of UHC Commitment review’s latest data and the UHC Data Portal developed by UHC2030, understand how to use it, and find the information they need for their advocacy work in Parliaments. 

• Share their regional and local experience towards reaching UHC and feed into a global discussion on how to reach UHC by 2030. 

• Raise concerns and questions, directly related to their regional and local experience, and emphasize local particularities that might not be considered in the global effort to reach UHC. 

• Share good practices and examples they have witnessed in their regions and countries that might provide valuable lessons at the global level. 

• Learn from other regional and local responses and bring those ideas back to their national Parliaments and Governments, when applicable. 

Find out more about the UNITE summit 2022 and this year's program here: